We get a lot of enquries from pregnant mothers that are
researching breast
pumps. The whole expressing thing certainly does get
confusing, so we thought I would answer a few comment questions
here.
These are based on questions that a lady just asked this
morning.
She said "I am due in a few months time and am starting to
explore breast pumps and bottles now. I am returning to work
when baby will be 7 months old, and will be wanting to continue
giving bub's as much breast milk as possible, fully if I
can. Obviously the aim is to breastfeed
completely, but I am aware this may not be a possibility and there
is no way of knowing till she is here. So from day one we will be
wanting to get her used to breast and bottle so that her Dad can
also feed her. This means expressing and the variety out there is
baffling!
Do you advise waiting till I know I can breast feed? Or getting
something anyway? What do people normally do?
In terms of what kind of pump, what do you suggest? I estimate in
the first 7 months I will be expressing at least 1-2 times per day
just so that we can freeze and my husband can feed to, and to
eleviate any extra. "
Here are a few of our thoughts.....
We think it's a really good idea to get your baby used to
drinking from a bottle, it relieves some of the ties/pressure on
you and its nice for Dads too. And it can often make things a
little easier when you do come to wean your baby onto a bottle
later.
Most people, if they know that they want to introduce a bottle
for their baby, or know that they'll be returning to work, they
usually buy a breast
pump in advance. The people that leave it to the last minute
are the mothers that plan to breastfeed but need a pump urgently to
relieve engorgement etc.
The type of breast pump that you choose really depends on how
often you'll plan on using it. A
manual breast pump is for occasional use, such as once per
week. The
Medela Mini Electric is for light use - about once or twice per
day. If you use this pump any more than that per day, the
warranty will be void as the pump won't withstand high
use. If you need to express more than twice per day, I
would recommend the
Swing breast pump. If you are expressing
ALL of baby's milk - then the
Pump in Style or
Free Style breast pumps.
The other thing that a lot of people forge to consider is where
you will be using your breast pump when you are at work. The mini
electric is very loud, wheras the Swing is really quiet. (We've
done some demo and sound videos on the product pages that you can
check out)