[Zumbi]

Hi there,
I was wondering if those who are experienced could tell me whether I should buy an electric breast pump or one of those manual pumps? I plan on mainly breastfeeding and only pumping to let my husband feed the baby occasionally, and also later on down the road, to be able to drop off at a baby sitter. I was thinking of not spending the money on the electric for those reasons, but others have been telling me that I will need an electric within the first few days of giving birth as it is a life saver.... But I thought that you had to wait to introduce the baby to the bottle (not sure how long) so that there wasn't a chance of them rejecting the breast afterwards. Anyone have any advice?

 

[alegna]

I really haven't used a pump at all. If you just want it for occasional nights out and such, I'd go with the manual.

And I wouldn't bother pumping to have dh feed- WAY more trouble than it's worth.

-Angela

 

[Quinn's Mama]

I haven't used a manual pump, but I have used an electric one and it works great. I have the Medela Pump in Style. I use mine all the time, but then I bottle feed only. After 3 weeks of nursing I couldn't handle the fights me and baby had at every feeding.

Also my insurance paid for most of it. It was a $300 model and I paid $41 after insurance. Your's may help you out too, it is worth looking into.

As far as introducing baby to a bottle, you are more likely to use a dropper in the first days if anything other than yourself. I didn't introduce my boy to a bottle until 3 weeks, but again I don't nurse him at all. It is really up to you.

You should also keep in mind that in the first week you will probably become severely engorged and a pump might be nice for dealing with that too. Of course you could just use cabbage leaves on your breast every 2 hours to help with that too. The cabbage doesn't hurt at all, just smells funny. I guarantee it works, I tried it and it worked really fast.

Good luck.

 

[Zumbi]

QM - cabbage?? Sounds strange but worth a try if it helps. What exactly does it help do? Does it decrease the pain from engorgement or does it help let the milk out somehow? My insurance is Medicaid for pregnancy only so I'll look into it, but I kind of doubt it.

 

[alegna]

I wouldn't *plan* to use cabbage.

I didn't use anything for engorgement and it worked itself out.

-Angela

 

[Macnamara]

If you are only going to pump occasionally, just get a manual pump.

 

[MamaChicken]

I am a WOHM and use an electric pump most days. However, if I'm going to be away for a short period of time (not at work) and need to pump I use the Aveda Isis manual pump. It takes a little longer to empty the breasts, but it is very comfortable to use and I get the same amount out.

The expensive electric pumps are really for increasing and maintaining supply, so it doesn't sound like that is what you need. I think of it like hobbyist vs a professional - if you are a seamstress by trade, you need an expensive sewing machine. If all you do is mend clothes or the occasional project, a cheap sewing machine is probably fine.

 

[txgal]

I used the Advent Manual Pump for exactly what you described and it worked great. I also would not recommend cabbage leaves or pumping in the first few days, if you are engorged the best thing is to hand express just enough to be comfortable and let the baby do the rest. The pumping can cause you to produce more than you need and then you have a harder time getting over the engorgement. Of course if you have supply issues then pumping might help that, if that happens I would rent a hospital grade pump for a couple months.

 

[Quinn's Mama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zumbi QM - cabbage?? Sounds strange but worth a try if it helps. What exactly does it help do? Does it decrease the pain from engorgement or does it help let the milk out somehow? My insurance is Medicaid for pregnancy only so I'll look into it, but I kind of doubt it.

The cabbage reduces the swelling of the breasts when they are engorged. My lactation consultant recommended it and it worked wonders. My normal size is A-B cup, I was engorged up to a DD cup, ouch! I was so engorged, I couldn't nurse or pump. Baby couldn't latch for anything and it hurt to much to pump or manually express. Once I used the cabbage the swelling went down and I was able to nurse again. I don't believe I lost any milk, just swelling size.

Good luck.

 

[Zumbi]

Thanks for all the advice. After looking at the Advent Isis Manual pump online, and hearing your experience with it, I think I'm going to go with that one...unless I hear otherwise before then

 

[alegna]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quinn's Mama The cabbage reduces the swelling of the breasts when they are engorged. My lactation consultant recommended it and it worked wonders. My normal size is A-B cup, I was engorged up to a DD cup, ouch! I was so engorged, I couldn't nurse or pump. Baby couldn't latch for anything and it hurt to much to pump or manually express. Once I used the cabbage the swelling went down and I was able to nurse again. I don't believe I lost any milk, just swelling size. Good luck.

Cabbage dries up milk- that's why the swelling went down. It's great when needed, but I wouldn't plan on it ahead of time.

-Angela

 

[PiePie]

I have both double electric medela and avent hand. however, when i had trouble in the first few weeks (latch problems caused nipple trauma) I went with a hospital rental pump -- super powerful electric. that was what my BFing class recommended for women who have issues during the first couple of weeks. it cost me $25 to rent for a week but was worth it.

 

[momma-molly]

Unless you have a lot of extra money (and who does these days!) I'd just get a cheap manual pump. I have an electric, which I love, but I work part-time, so it was necessary.

I wish I had taken advantage of my electric pump at the beginning, but I never tried pumping until DD was 3 months old and I had to go back to work. I never, ever got engorged. In fact, I was still wondering if my milk had come in after a week because I never got that horrible engorgment everyone told me about. I think it was because she literally nursed 24/7 for the first two weeks.

 

[spicyrock]

ideally, you are supposed to wait to introduce a bottle. but when i brought my baby home from the hospital she became severely jaundiced, she couldn't latch and became more and more lethargic (even though at birth she was very alert and ready to nurse, and we were happily nursing within a few minutes, and continued to nurse well and frequently in the hospital). she went from 7.8 pounds to 6.8 pounds (some weight loss is normal, but more than ten percent and they start to freak out) and the pediatrician i started seeing said that i needed to start supplementing with formula immediately and that if the baby had not gained weight within two days he was taking her away from me and admitting her into the hospital. i was devastated, and felt like such a failure. anyway, if i hadn't been able to start pumping milk with a fair degree of effeciency, she would have had more formula and my supply might have dropped- but since i had a double electric pump (a lansinoh- not the really expensive medela or anything- i think it cost about $170 after tax) i was able to provide dd with some milk and increase my supply. i was also really grateful for the few bottles i had on hand- since i had been planning to nurse dd almost exclusively i had not registered for much in the way of bottle feeding supplies. thanks to that pump, dd only had maybe five bottles made with formula before we could exlusively pump (it takes a few tries to figure out pumping), and then as her strength and weight went back up, so did her ability to latch and within the week we were exclusively nursing.
hopefully nothing like that will happen to you- but i just wanted to give you an example of when such supplies might come in handy.
it is also nice to be able to pump out some milk and keep it in the freezer for security of mind (i always worry something might happen to me and my baby will not have access to me for some period of time), and so dad can feed baby sometimes. fwiw, my dd never had any trouble switching between bottle nipples and mine, and (perhaps to alleviate my concerns) the pediatrician told me that such problems are less common than we are lately made to believe.