I have heard good things about the Avent, but I don't know much about the Tommee Tippee one.
The best pump for you will depend on quite a number of factors. Is there any particular reason that you want to buy a pump before your baby is born? How much expressing are you planning to do? Sometimes mums find it works best to see how they go after the birth and then decide on whether or not they need a pump, and if so which one. When you birth a healthy baby who is able to breastfeed, worrying about expressing during the first weeks can make it more difficult to establish breastfeeding. So in most cases mums don't need a pump straight away.
Initially when you start out breastfeeding, it's a great idea to avoid expressing so you can help establish your milk supply. I was like you when pregnant and thought about buying a pump 'incase' i would need one but didn't end up getting one which I'm glad because I would not have known which one suited my needs until I had bub with me. There are so many pumps for different needs. They are readily available if need be anyway. However it did turn out that I needed one in the early days even while in hospital due to my baby having very poor attachment and a weak suck therefore i needed to start expressing by day 3 to help bring in my milk supply and feed bub.
Hospitals have pumps you use when in hospital if you do require them in the early days which mind you, most mothers don't it's only if they encounter feeding issues like we did, which hopefully you won't.
I have a Medela Electric Swing it was $240 I think but I needed a very reliable efficient one as I was expressing 2-3hrly round the clock the first few weeks...... a small cheaper pump simply would not have coped.
You can hire pumps through the ABA also at a fee (cheaper to subscribers).
Loved the Avent Isis manual pump.
My SIL borrowed mine after she had trouble with a different brand and ended up getting the Avent one too. She seemed to think it was the silicone insert in the Avent that made expressing easier. I liked the idea of that too.
Good Luck.
I have the Electric Medela Swing aswell. It is great! Although I only need it to pump feeds when I go to work, I find it so easy and effecient. It may a good idea to wait till you see how bubs is?? Different pumps suit different needs like Mantaray said....
My friend had the Avent hand pump and got mastitis 3 times....she seems to think it was linked to the pump not emptying the breast properly. She had medela in hossie as her bubs was prem.... she didn't have any problems with that one. I guess everyone is different.
Anyway, I love the Medela Swing... they can be an expensive outlay (luckily my mum bought mine for me) but so worth it for the next one too that's what I keep thinking anyway!
Goodluck and all the very best for your birth
Rach xx
I only have an Avent, so can't help with the other.
I think it's great and it worked just fine for me. i expressed for a looong time when i went back to work.
My best advice though would be find out where you can get one from in a pinch, but don't buy it unless you need it. With DD I had terrible trouble and DH had to dash out one Saturday arvie and find one. It saved us.
BUT with DS I haven't touched it yet.....so would have been rueing the waste of money if I'd bought it specifically for him.
I agree with Manta Ray, expressing can be very stressful in the early days so I wouldn't bother unless you need to get one and if you do need a pump, I strongly suggest hiring a hospital grade pump first. It's good to do your research now but I wouldn't buy just yet.
I had all sorts of breastfeeding issues which started when DD was 2 weeks old. I had an Avent manual pump which a friend had given to me but I needed a double pump to help with the issues we had (low supply and DD not gaining weight) so we hired the Medela Symphony (hospital grade pump) from a pharmacy for about $35 a week. We spent about $50 on the membranes and milk collection bottles as well. It was so worth it though as I had to express around the clock and the double pump made a stressful job a lot quicker. It's amazing how hard it is to find 15 minutes to pump when you have a baby!
When all our issues calmed down (around 8 weeks), we took the pump back and when I wanted to express for a top up or to help with engorgement, I just used the manual pump. It works well but it is time consuming and takes a bit of effort. I don't express much at all these days so the manual one tends to do the job for me but if I do buy a pump, I'll get the Medela Swing or the Medela Advanced. I have used the Avent Isis and, it's just my opinion, but I hated it. I got more milk out using my manual pump! I don't think it worked well with my breast and areola size so that may have been the problem but I wasn't impressed at all. Also, I don't see the point using an electric pump which you have to manually pump as well, IYKWIM.
Hi there I started out with an Avent Isis manual, I found it adequate for occasional expressing. I guess it would differ from person to person but I found I could only get a decent amount out in the morning when I was really full. If I need some EBM, I'd give DS his first feed of the day from one breast then express off the other. If I needed to express more later in the day I'd have to feed him off one breast all day to let the other get full enough to express.
It's pretty simple to use and clean (there are a few small parts though, the valve can be easy to lose!) I found I could do a few quick pumps of the lever to get the milk to let down then I could just hold the lever still half way and the milk would flow easily without me having to pump, if that makes sense? You just have to make sure you hold it on your breast pretty firmly as the suction tends to release pretty easily.
I've now moved on to an electric pump as I need to express more often but the Avent served me well for those occasional epxresses.
Personally I would hire one from the Chemist. I bought the Tommie Tippee broke.. Then i bought the avent one .. didnt suck well..
So i went to chemist and hired it for a few months.. was hospital grade and fantastic, clean worked a treat and i didnt need to store it anywhere when done.. just took it back.. was fab!
breast pump advice
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that's what I keep thinking anyway!
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