breast pump

Gday everyone,

Just wondering about breast pumps. I'm not too sure whether to buy one or not. Are they necessary? Will I use it? I really dont know.

Oh and also bottles. I plan on breastfeeding (fingers crossed), but have been told it is a good idea to have bottles on hand, just incase. Has anyone else been told this also? If so, how many do you need? I have bought 2 avent newborn bottles (i have an avent steriliser), is this enough??

I know these are trivial questions which you've probably answered a million times, im sorry! This is just my first baby and i am really clueless (can you tell?? haha). Im starting to stress that i dont even have nearly enough organised!

thanks
tellytubby (29wks)

Hey TT, I needed my breast pump in hospital as my bub was in the Special care Nursery. Once he got out, I still needed it as he wouldnt latch on properly.

Then I had to purely express for 4 weeks as he still wouldnt latch on properly. So my suggestion is to buy one.... I have the Manual Avent Isis and I LOVE it!

I would also buy two more bottles JIC.

HTH :)

Hi, first time round I didn't buy a breast pump until I needed it, however I did learn to hand express in hospital and that got me through the first few weeks (not to mention being very very handy when I got mastitis)!

Re the bottles - I *never* owned one. DD was always given EBM using a very small cup, after a few months old she was happy enough to suck on a sippy cup spout. Avoided any teat confusion. I just wanted to put that out there because you can get by without them.

Good luck, what an exciting time for you! :)

I just had the bottles etc. which came free in my avent steriliser, i think there were 2 newborn and 2 next stage, and 4 teats, 2 slow, 2 faster. We didn't give DD a bottle until 6 weeks to save nipple confusion but i'd pumped MASSES by then - enough for about 4 days worth of feeds! I had loads and loads of milk in the beginning and DD didn't take it all, so i used to pump one side while she drank the other. It took longer for my milk to "settle" than normal (because if you keep removing the milk the breasts keep replacing it) but it made a huge difference to me when my milk started to go (health problem, WON'T happen to you so don't fret - you'll be great :)) being this far ahead in terms of what i could replace with EBM.

I had the Avent Isis Manual pump too, and it was great for general use. For building up milk you might need an electric but a) you almost certainly won't need to do that, b) you can hire one IF you ever need one.

HTH

Bx

Hi TT,

Don't worry about getting things organised. Sometimes you think you need things that you won't use, and need things you don't have...

I went out to buy an Avent Isis manual pump about 3 weeks after my DD was born. The problem is she LOVES my nipple too much and I haven't been able to get her to drink from a bottle yet. I started trying when she was 6 weeks old and sh's now 11. We try most days. The Avent pump is great - easy to wash, sterilise, use, but I've heard heaps of people say that their kids didn't like the avent nipples - maybe that's my DD problem!

We bought a medela pump in style. Cost to buy one is expensive but we originally bought a medela mini and the motor blew on day 3. The medela mini is only to be used for no more then 2 express sessions a day we found out. If you use it for anything extra and something does happen you aren't covered in the warranty. Just a little info for future reference. In my situation I needed it so it was money well spent. However when i had my firstborn I used a kanesten (sp?) hand pump and that was enough for me. Hand would get a bit sore but it worked for me and it cost less than $40 to purchase. So I wasn't disappointed when my son weaned, the pump cost very little.

Good luck.

I think a couple of bottle should be enough - they will serve you in an emergency and you can get more if you need them. I had 2 bottles and I was glad I did because when DD was about 5 days old, one nipple was so badly cracked I was feeding solely off the other side and in the middle of the night, I felt like that side was empty - DD was screaming and I couldn't feed her. so DH rushed out for a tin of formula from the servo (next time, I will have some formula sachets on hand JIC) and the next day he went out and got me a pump - the Avent Isis one. I used my pump a LOT for the first 3 months until my nipples healed but once they were all better, I never used it again.
So point of my rambling... you mightn't need a pump at ALL. If you aren't planning on stocking the freezer with EBM you won't use it that much. I think it is one of those things you should buy when and if you need it - they are pretty widely available so you could send DH or someone down the chemist to get one. Maybe do some research and decide which one you want so if you want one later, you can get someone else to get it for you? If I had my time again, I would get the Avent IQ (it is the same as ISis but with a motor) but I never looked into them beforehand because I didn't think I would need it.

I needed neither pump nor bottles. Probably best to wait to find out if you need them, you might save yourself some cash. They're pretty easy to get in a rush if you need to as there are many late night pharmacies that sell them.

it is usually a good idea to have one or two bottles on hand (you never know what will happen, but they aren't too expensive so it doesn't hurt to have them even if you never use them). As for the breast pump... that one you really can wait and see. I bought a cheap manual one last time, but only used it in the first three weeks (so dh could give a bottle while I slept). I had to stop using it as the plastic discoloured and went yuk (probably what i get for buying a cheap one), plus it is usually easier just to breastfeed. This time I have debated about whether to buy one or not, and have put the Nuk mini electric on layby (cost $85, from target). the only reason I done this was I remembered a few times when Jelly was older (six months and above) where it would have been good to have some expressed milk handy rather then having to rely on sachets of formula, particularly when she decided to wean at ten months. I also bought a steam steriliser (used milton last time), so hopefully I don't have the same problem with the plastic this time.

I've been told that the Tommee Tippee bottles ones are the closest to breast, so I've bought a TT Breast Pump & Steriliser (in their new "Close to Nature" range).