Breast pump questions

[chickenchaser]

Hello Ladies, I hope you all had a good Christmas

I was wondering if you ladies could help me out with a couple of questions about breast pumps.

1, I would really like to breast feed, so will I need a pump? I was thinking if I can't feed then at least I could pump for the first few month instead, is this realistic?

2, If I do buy a pump, would you recommend a manual or electric? Single or Double?

3, Can any of you recommend which one to buy?

Thanks for your help

 

[_Lexi_]

Pumping exclusively is possible, but very time consuming. Don't assume you won't be able to breastfeed. The first few weeks baby can feed pretty much 24/7 which can make you question if they're getting enough. As long as you have plenty of wet/dirty nappies, they are!! They're just building up your supply. When pregnant, I bought a cheap avent manual pump. Electric pumps are expensive, and if you're not really using it, its an expensive ornament. They advise avoiding pumping for the first 6-8 weeks until your supply is established to avoid oversupply issues. Having a pump can be handy for the odd bottle after that time. If you do get electric, avoid open systems such as the medela swing, especially if buying second hand. Tiny spores of milk can travel into the pump, breed bacteria, and travel back into fresh milk. I'm almost at 7 months breastfeeding, and the women on the breastfeeding section have been fantastic with all my questions. Get plenty of breastpads, some lasinoh/lanolin nipple cream, some good nursing bras, and some nursing sleep bras (I leaked constantly overnight till about 4 months and had to sleep on a towel due to oversupply from having to pump during week 1 as lo was in nicu). Good luck!!xx

 

[chickenchaser]

Thats great Thank you X

 

[jd83]

1, I would really like to breast feed, so will I need a pump? I was thinking if I can't feed then at least I could pump for the first few month instead, is this realistic?
Not necessarily needed, unless you will be going back to work and will need to pump at work. When I was at home on maternity leave, I only used it rarely since the majority of the time I just breastfed at home. At around 4-5 weeks old, I started pumping once a day so hubby could do one night feed with the pumped milk while I slept, and it would get baby used to a bottle for when I went back to work. But unless you are planning to go back to work, a pump is pretty expensive and not really necessary unless you have latching problems and need to pump instead.

2, If I do buy a pump, would you recommend a manual or electric? Single or Double?
Depends on your needs. If you only plan to use it on occasion, not regularly, a single pump would be fine. If you plan to go back to work and pump at work, or if you have latching issues and need to pump I would get a good double pump. I used a Medela Pump In style because I needed to pump both sides quickly at the same time at work, and it was a really good pump.

3, Can any of you recommend which one to buy?

Thanks for your help :hugs

 

[Pearls18]

I have both as I BF DS1 and expressed occasionally, but in preparation for having him I only bought a manual, they are cheap and can be useful if you need to do a little expressing for whatever reason even if you're not planning on actually expressing a great deal, they are often half price. I wouldn't buy an electric until after baby is here and you see how the BF goes, they are more expensive and not the type of appliance to skimp on, price is usually an indicator of performance for them, so I wouldn't shell out until you know for definite it will be worth it for you, expressing is a pain I'm not planning on doing it much this time, just as and when, an electric pump is much more efficient and less tiring than manual though I have found. But remember if you are planning on exclusively BF it isn't recommended to introduce a bottle of BM until 4-6 weeks anyway so you don't need rush out for the pumps, but I would recommend having a manual in.

Good luck, hope it goes well

(Oh I have the tommee tippee manual and medela mini electric, love the manual, the electric does me fine for occasional expressing you'd probably want something more industrial if you were to exclusively express, medela is a good brand though, I would stay clear of the tommee tippee electric that goes half price frequently, I've heard terrible things, definitely research reviews for the electric, you can't go far wrong with a manual).

 

[Nevaie]

I bought a manual pump while pregnant. I'm also one of those people who ended up not being able to breastfeed. Well I could breastfeed, but after about a week of breastfeeding and my daughter losing 23% of her body weight, her doctor temporarily banned breastfeeding. We switched to pumping and formula, but it all had to be very strictly measured and recorded. By the time I got the go ahead to go back to breastfeeding, she wouldn't latch no matter what I tried We're up to almost 6 months pumping now though! Even in my case, not having an electric pump ahead of time wasn't a big problem. The hospital I went to had one I could use and I just went out and got my own when I needed it. I wouldn't spend that much money on what ifs unless you know you'll have a use for it ie going back to work/school. I'm sure you'll do great

 

[chickenchaser]

Thanks all for your help, im going to hang off for now and see how I get on. X