Breastfeeding Questions Once and For ALL!!!

I know this has been gone over a million times. Michele, you have been super helpful, and recently FM'd me some info and I can't locate the FM - don't know what happened to half my FM's in fact.....but anyway.

I am going to be SAHM for the first 6 months or so. I plan on breastfeeding exclusively if all goes well. I have little need for a huge backpack of bfeeding accessories as I won't be lugging this to work at any point.

Do I get the Instyle Medela? It seems to be the best - but SO $$. What bottles go with that. What storage containers? What are the bags for. What makes it different than the Avent brand? Why do I need electric?

Should I just wait until I am in the hospital? Should I rent one? Does EVERYBODY need a pump? Does hand expression of milk EVER work?

Jenny I plan on BF for a year. The baby will be with me as he will attend the Day Care that I work for so I will be able to continue to BF while I am at work. I would wait to make sure that you have BF down before buying a pump. I didn''t start pumping until yesterday and Damien is 6 weeks now. I only did it because I took him up to Steve''s job and I didn''t know if I would be able to have a secluded spot to BF. (I wouldn''t feel comfortable doing it in front of Steve''s fellow co-workers) I bought the First Years Natural Comfort breast pump in BRU. It was only like $38 it works great. If you are going to BF exclusively for the first 6 months I see no reason why you need a Medula because you won''t be expressing as much as Mom''s going back to work(I''m assuming) I think it is perfect for the Mom who occasionally expresses milk. I am using the platex nursing bottles w/the drop in liners. I just attach them to the pump and it pumps right into the bottle. HTH!!!

Jenny...I think your first steps really should be to buy a good book (A Nursing Mother''s Companion is great!) and take a BFing class. It really does help to understand what to expect, and how to prepare yourself.

That said, if you''re going to be a SAHM, I don''t think you need to buy or rent a pump UNLESS you want to express your milk for DH to do some of the baby''s feedings. The only reason that I had to use a pump was b/c Paul was having problems latching AND my milk supply was suffering b/c of that. The electric pump was needed primarily b/c my milk supply was low.

Try to understand for yourself the supply/demand relationship in BFing...the baby''s proper latch very early on is a big key to success for any nursing Mom.
Good luck, and feel free to FM me for more info, if you need it.

I agree with the other posts. I think since you''ll be home for 6 months don''t expect anything now, and don''t make any decisions that will cost you money, or aggravation now. You have plenty of time. Just take the first few weeks to nurse, like you were doing it as a full time job. See what happens, enjoy this special time with your baby, and then after a couple of months you can decide what you are going to do. The nursing relationship takes a good 2-3 months to develop. You will have plenty of time to research pumps, and to start saving a stash in your freezer after this time.

Even though I'm permanently a SAHM, I had to run out and rent a hospital-grade pump b/c Lyla wasn't latching on properly. But, it was fine doing it at the last minute.

Jenny you will also need to express milk to put into cereal when you start giving that

Here is a great website as well

La Leche Breastfeeding info

Stuff I learned at my class and through a lot of speaking recently with a breast pump dealer:
Medela is the most well known breast pump company. Ameda is owned by the brother of Medela. Ameda makes a near exact pump to the Instyle called the Purely Yours, but they do not put the same $$ into the marketing and retail campaigns. The Ameda has some FDA approvals that Medela does not have. The cost of the Ameda is about $140 for the shoulder bag, BUT you can also purchase just the pump without a bag for about $60 less- which IMO would be perfect for a SAHM who doesn''t need a bag to go to and from work with. Link to Ameda/Medela Pump comparision
I have read and heard that manual pumps can be difficult to work with and get results from- again this is NOT my opinion, just what I have heard/read.
Personally, as someone who is about to be a mom I think having the pump ready to go is not such a bad idea- if your budget allows for it. You may need it to help with your supply, but you might also just get tired and need help feeding the baby. Having the ability to pump when you want to is not a bad idea IMO. Again, I am NO expert but someone who is getting ready for a baby. Of course, I will be returning to work part-time after 12 weeks so my prespective may be different. But I also know that after 8 weeks or so I would want to be able to leave the house and have lunch with a friend and pumping is the only way I can do that.

Now- there is also a new Medela Pump called the Instyle Advanced. It is a higher grade pump with a new technology that has a 2-minute Let Down pumping feature. I spoke to one mother who has used the hospital grade Medela, the Instyle and now this new model. She said the Advanced was more comfortable than the orginial Instyle and she said she likes it better. BUT she is a full time Mom so she needs to pump a lot. I am leaning towards this pump because of the fact that I will be going back to work and away from the baby 3 days per week.
Instyle Advanced

I guess it is a personal decision based on your lifestyle, needs/wants, ability to feed the baby without help, work schedule, etc...

Thank you for ALL Your advice!


I went ahead and read The Nursing Mother''s Companion cover to cover this weekend and am feeling much better. I think between that, and my bf class that starts in December, I''ll feel that the entire task is a little less daunting. I found my real confusion to be what goes on with pumping. I have decided (for now - we''ll see if I change from the class) that I will hold off on purchasing the pump and see how things go. If I find I need it, I can either rent or buy and can decide based on the advice of the lactation specialists at my hospital and my doctor''s advice.

So research was the key here! And of course you ladies helped much!!!! Thanks!

Jenny - good for you! Glad we could all help...keep those questions coming!

I think you got alot of good advice here and I think you made a good decision to hold off on the big purchase. I hope it all works out for you with the BF. I can say from personal experience that the way we plan stuff with our babies is definitely not always how it works out - it never worked out for us with Lukie BFing so he was purely formula fed - totally not how I thought it would go. So sometimes it better to wait & see. You are smart to get as much info as possible beforehand on BFing.

Good luck