Should u buy a breast pump before hospital or when u get home?

[little sprocket]

And also (sorry im sooooo new to breast feeding) do all hospitals supply breast pumps?

Also again sorry, why do u need to use a pump in hospital? Is it to help your milk supply come in or maybe to give baby more milk and of course if your baby is in special care for some reason and u cant breast feed cos they are using a tube or something.

If your baby is jaundice, do they have to be formula feed? Does feeding them more make them heaps better after this?

Sorry just want to be prepared. Its not that Im obsessed with boobies

[~Debbie~]

i think the general idea is, if you have one, then take it to hospital. You cant always be guaranteed that the hospital ones will be avilable when you need it.
So, i have brought a manual one, and i have it packed and ready to go. If i need it, then great, if not, then doesnt matter.
I think some peoples just leave it in their car, or on hand at home, so its easy for their DH to grab it if you decide you want it.

[Beach Mama]

Hi there,
I has a c/s and my milk didnt come in until day 5 when i went home so i expressed in hospital using their pump to top her up as Izzy was big and hungry all the time. Not that i got much at that time. Im sure all hospitals have a pump = mine had an electric and i bought a manual one for home- i prefer being in control of the pumping action as i have had reallllly sore nipples - but for some people they find it tiring. I have alot of milk so am able to express about 130 mls in about 6 mintues on each breast. I bought the Avent Isis Manual.
So after all that babble - i would say wait and see if you like the one in the hoslpital, you can hire them for chemists too - usually the Medela that they use in the hospitals i think!
Good luck!~

[Trillian]

Most hospitals will have them but like Mum2be said it may not be available when you need to use it. Hiring is also an option, but if you think it is something you can see yourself using a lot, then buy one.

As for baby having jaundice they do not have to be formula feed at all. Encouraging more breastfeeds so the baby has more bowel movements will help. is there a reason why you think your baby might get jaundice?

[~Raven~]

Most hospitals should have them but ask JIC.

I used the hospitals breastpump to express off a bit to relieve the pressure.
I ended up stopping off at the chemist on the way home from hospital to buy my own.

Jaundice isn't a reason for a baby to be fed formula. Jaundice can make them a bit sleepy and not seem interested in suckling but as Sherie said more breastfeeds will get the system moving and help the liver to get working.

[little sprocket]

no reason really about the jaundis I thought I read somewhere about bottle feeding when babies have that but it was expressed milk so my bad. Sorry about that.

[Trillian]

Don't worry about it. It is something that can possibly come up and it is handy to know.

[Yael]

I would think bf is better if the baby is jaundice, as formula fills them up more so they feed less often, and the best way to get rid of jaundice is to have constant feeds

My hospital had a pump, but i only used it once

I only bought one a few weeks after hospital, so you might not need it at all.. maybe hold out and get it only when/if you do. A lot of pharmacies sell them, so you can probably still pick them up at strange hours etc

[LizzysMum]

I went in without one and bought one from the hospy. I would say a definite yes. There are a few reasons you may need one. I had not thought about it at all!

I had to express some of my milk off at every feed because it was coming to fast for poor DD to drink and she was choking

I used it alot. I bought the manual type.

[Janie]

My hospital had plenty of pumps, I had one that I kept in my room for the five days I was in there. I already had the manual part, so I used that in conjunction with the hospital's electric pump. At home I tried using the manual pump, but it was way too tiring, so we hired an electric pump from the chemist. Still using it now, and loving it!

[Tobily]

They will probably try to tell you in hospital to give your baby some formula if s/he has jaundice...this seems to be the fairly standard experience and it happened to me with my DD. They still encouraged me to comp feed her even though my milk came in fairly quickly and I had TONS of it
If you don't want to do this no one can make you and there is no reason to. I was lucky, my DD was comp fed for a week but I didn't have any problem ditching the formula when I got her home.

RE the breastpump: I didn't buy one before my DD was born and I had to do a midnight run to the chemist to buy one because I was horrendously engorged - and DD was 4wks early, jaundiced and sleeping alot so I couldn't get her to feed enough to relieve it.
I took it to the hospital with my second baby and used it very sparingly to pump a little milk off to help him attach easier when my milk first came in. I expected to be really engorged again and I was.
Word of warning - be sparing with the pump. I caused myself HORRENDOUS oversupply problems pumping all the time with my first bub. I kept getting engorged, then pumping and of course then I would make more milk, get more engorged etc...it was a vicious cycle and ultimately I ended up giving up feeding when DD was only 2 months old. So you need to be a bit careful not to get too carried away with it.

[little sprocket]

That was another things I was going to ask too. My other cousin on the other side of the family was comp feeding from birth onwards. She would do breast,breast,bottle(formula). Is this a common thing to do and do hospital encourage that if your milk isnt coming in or your baby is really really hungry (Sorry here I go with the boobies again).

[Pandora]

My other cousin on the other side of the family was comp feeding from birth onwards. She would do breast,breast,bottle(formula). Is this a common thing to do and do hospital encourage that if your milk isnt coming in or your baby is really really hungry (Sorry here I go with the boobies again).

It depends on a number of things.
My milk did not come in til day 5, and DS did not attach well.
The oncall paed (who I never saw) wrote him up for comp feeds.
The midwifery staff and the LC's discussed it with me, and we chose to not give them to DS. I kept him with me the entire time. I was expressing (or attempting to) on a hostpial pump every 1.5 hours, and we were feeding this to DS.

It did help that he was 10lb 4oz and his 10% borthweight was a lot more than a small babies would have been.

I was quite comfortable with not giving him the comp feeds.
He was really really hungry. I believe all babies are, and (again my opinion)their cries help your you milke to come in and are a signal to your body
Babies stomachs are so tiny for the first few days, than he could get by on the colostrum and small amounts I was able to express.

[ShootingStar]

Id say buy it afterwards. I bought one and was only about to breastfeed for 9 days. Hopefully ill be able to breastfeed next bubs, otherwise its a waist of money.

[Cynthaz]

I never needed a pump (or bottles) and my son was breastfed up to 12 months. So my advice would be to wait and see if you need one as they're expensive.

There won't be anything to "pump" until you milk comes in anyway (which is not for a few days).

[Deejoy17]

You`ll find your hospital will most likely have brest pumps on hand, I have never expressed and I have breastfed both my sons #1 till 14months and #2 I`m still breastfeeding @ 10.5 months.

As for jaundice, the midwives will suggest that you breastfed as the breastmilk is the best thing to reduce the jaundice, sunlight helps also but breastmilk is the best.