Breast Milk pump - Need recommendations...

[boo boo]

Hi all

Expecting 1st child and need to buy an electric breast milk pump.  I thought I posted here already - was it deleted.

recommendations welcome please!

[milky]

Hi, i used Madela. It is cheaper than Avent and worked fine.I have the double one so it does both of the breast at the same time.It saves time.Which is lovely when you doing it two o'clock at night.

[boobies]

First of all you need to decide what type of pump you need. For example, are you returning to work (i.e. need to pump a lot of milk) or like me, you are a SAHM and wanted to pump 2 bottles a day to store and have Dad feed baby with a bottle. Your NEEDS will determine what type of pump you need. Then look on line. I've tried a few pumps and ended up happiest with the one that has a Med and ela in the name. I only needed a pump which pumped one great at a time. I used one with a motor as I am a but impatient 

Hav a look online then perhaps have a quick chat with one of the pro breastfeeding ladies that work at the baby clinics at Tanglin Mall or Shopping Centre.

Good luck feeding your baby, it's a nice experience. 

[breasty]

Don't fall into the trap I see some mums here doing, of getting the baby on the bottle too early and then the baby not wanting the breast after a few weeks. Also slow at first, breast is much quicker for an older baby and you can introduce a bottle at any age if you are patient. You can;t get them back on the boob though once they've forgotten how to do it, which happens v quickly if you move onto bottles too quick.

[NMS1]

You can rent the dual electric Medela pumps if you want to give it a try before buying or if you think you will only need for a short period. The place is somewhere in Bukit Timah - the hospital breastfeeding consultants will know.

[totallydisagree]

Don't fall into the trap I see some mums here doing, of getting the baby on the bottle too early and then the baby not wanting the breast after a few weeks. Also slow at first, breast is much quicker for an older baby and you can introduce a bottle at any age if you are patient. You can;t get them back on the boob though once they've forgotten how to do it, which happens v quickly if you move onto bottles too quick.

Babies "forgetting" how to breastfeeding and you "can't get them back" are you serious?!

I started my two on both breast and expressed milk in bottles from day one.  Neither baby was confused by this or started refusing the breast, and it was a lifesaver because I could go to bed early and leave at least one feed to their dad.  Most people I know did exactly the same thing with their babies, to no ill effect. 

Perhaps there are a handful of fussy babies (or dare I say mothers) out there but I certainly wouldn't go so far as to caution people against it like it's some kind of crime.

[breasty]

...Yes PP, you are quite right. I should have said this  can happen, maybe if you do bottles too much in the early days, perhaps? I don't really know as my own experience is only of introducing bottles later once BF is well established, but there does seem to be a problem for a significant amount of women - and bf supporters tend to caution against it. My rather hastily written comment comes because when I am out and about breastfeeding I get lots of people commenting on how bfing didn't work out for them. Several women have gone into more detail and commented on how fast my 5 month old was a finishing her feed when, in their experience, BF-ing was a slow and laborious process which of course it is early on at around the time they found their babies more happy to take a bottle. Maybe they were mixed feeding or they did something wrong that you and your friends have managed to get right...congratulations! I am in no way trying to make bottle feeding expressed milk out to be a crime...I would have happily tried it myself but I've never had a willing and available person on hand offering to do night feeds for me. Maybe I'm the sucker here

[totallydisagree]

...Yes PP, you are quite right. I should have said this  can happen, maybe if you do bottles too much in the early days, perhaps? I don't really know as my own experience is only of introducing bottles later once BF is well established, but there does seem to be a problem for a significant amount of women - and bf supporters tend to caution against it. My rather hastily written comment comes because when I am out and about breastfeeding I get lots of people commenting on how bfing didn't work out for them. Several women have gone into more detail and commented on how fast my 5 month old was a finishing her feed when, in their experience, BF-ing was a slow and laborious process which of course it is early on at around the time they found their babies more happy to take a bottle. Maybe they were mixed feeding or they did something wrong that you and your friends have managed to get right...congratulations! I am in no way trying to make bottle feeding expressed milk out to be a crime...I would have happily tried it myself but I've never had a willing and available person on hand offering to do night feeds for me. Maybe I'm the sucker here

It would be interesting to know if early introduction of bottles is cautioned against purely because seeing the convenience bottles can offer might tempt some people to give up BF earlier. 

I just have a hard time believing that it's the babies themselves who are making the decision.

If the above is true, then the baby bottle/breast confusion/preference theory is just spreading a myth and is patronising to women, who should be able to make their own decision once fully armed with the facts.

I'm no earth mother and found breastfeeding to be a bit of a slog after a while but was determined to see it through the first year.  I had one speedy feeder and one slow, fussy feeder.  Having said that, I wouldn't blame anyone for chucking it in after a while.  It takes a lot of effort not to be neurotic, wondering if they are getting enough milk (especially if they are sicking it up all the time) and attributing any further fussiness to hunger. 

I'm sorry if I bit your head off PP but I feel like there is a distinct lack of sisterhood where breastfeeding is concerned and we should spend more time helping eachother out rather than telling eachother what not to do.  If we were friends, I'd have offered to help you do night feeds 

[celine.llshb]

Just to share my experience. Five years that I have fully breastfed my three babies... I only used TollyJoy Manual Pump which is easy and fast for me. And I keep changing the new one every two-three months.

[sisterhood]

...Yes PP, you are quite right. I should have said this  can happen, maybe if you do bottles too much in the early days, perhaps? I don't really know as my own experience is only of introducing bottles later once BF is well established, but there does seem to be a problem for a significant amount of women - and bf supporters tend to caution against it. My rather hastily written comment comes because when I am out and about breastfeeding I get lots of people commenting on how bfing didn't work out for them. Several women have gone into more detail and commented on how fast my 5 month old was a finishing her feed when, in their experience, BF-ing was a slow and laborious process which of course it is early on at around the time they found their babies more happy to take a bottle. Maybe they were mixed feeding or they did something wrong that you and your friends have managed to get right...congratulations! I am in no way trying to make bottle feeding expressed milk out to be a crime...I would have happily tried it myself but I've never had a willing and available person on hand offering to do night feeds for me. Maybe I'm the sucker here

It would be interesting to know if early introduction of bottles is cautioned against purely because seeing the convenience bottles can offer might tempt some people to give up BF earlier. 

I just have a hard time believing that it's the babies themselves who are making the decision.

If the above is true, then the baby bottle/breast confusion/preference theory is just spreading a myth and is patronising to women, who should be able to make their own decision once fully armed with the facts.

I'm no earth mother and found breastfeeding to be a bit of a slog after a while but was determined to see it through the first year.  I had one speedy feeder and one slow, fussy feeder.  Having said that, I wouldn't blame anyone for chucking it in after a while.  It takes a lot of effort not to be neurotic, wondering if they are getting enough milk (especially if they are sicking it up all the time) and attributing any further fussiness to hunger. 

I'm sorry if I bit your head off PP but I feel like there is a distinct lack of sisterhood where breastfeeding is concerned and we should spend more time helping eachother out rather than telling eachother what not to do.  If we were friends, I'd have offered to help you do night feeds 

I agree about the sisterhood. I nearly gave up BFing my 2nd child as I was struggling with my milk after a traumatic C Section and premature birth. It don't come in properly for about 5 days and the baby lost weight. Then on top of that I had my MIL standing over my shoulder saying you are not doing it right, you don't have enough milk, he's not getting enough etc. etc. Luckily I found energy to feed him every hour and knock back a can of Guinness every night (I swear it helps!) and we made it.

BFing can be very stressful and you need all the support you can get.