MSE Pregnancy Club 21

digitalphase

I am planning to breastfeed, and have also bought a manual pump and bottles as I plan to express for when we go out anywhere. I'm sure in the first few weeks I won't feel up to going anywhere, so if we have visitors, they will just have to come between baby's feeding times :rotfl:

It's my first, so it's all plans and nothing else, will just have to see how we get on. My view is that the bottles will be needed at some stage or other, and the breast pump was only a tenner.

dustystar02

Apricot wrote: »

Yes Im going to get a pump - I was thinking of getting an electric one though as I thought it might be easier (haven't really looked too closely at them yet though). I've got some tommee tippee bottles ready though as my auntie breastfed her 3 children and none of them would ever take a bottle as she didn't try to introduce it until quite late 4/5 months - if possible I'd like baby to have at least one bottle a day just so they are used to it if I ever need to go anywhere without them.

Edit: Bargain Breast Pump here

I don't know where I would store expressed milk though - my fridge and freezer are both quite small. Anybody know how long breastmilk stays fresh in the fridge?

Thanks Apricot,

I have bought all the CTN bottles and was going to use my firneds avent manual breast pump but in thinking about it thought I'd prefer an electric one. Seen this on ASDA yesterday and was going to get it then but never got round to it - you've just saved me £15 :j

I was resisting spending the money incase I didn't take to b/f but these sell for around £30 on ebay so if I don't I can always resell

With my £6.50 moses basket I'm bargain central this week :money:

LabLover

Ive got Avent bottles etc so I assume I need an Avent breast pump , the electric ones are scary prices :eek: May just buy a manual one.Digital its all just "plans" with me , It may not pan out or it may work very well , lol.Also I will need feeding bras ? and Maybe feeding tops? Or do you lift top up or lift boob out neck of top? I really have no clue

jojo1978_3

Apricot wrote: »

Yes Im going to get a pump - I was thinking of getting an electric one though as I thought it might be easier (haven't really looked too closely at them yet though). I've got some tommee tippee bottles ready though as my auntie breastfed her 3 children and none of them would ever take a bottle as she didn't try to introduce it until quite late 4/5 months - if possible I'd like baby to have at least one bottle a day just so they are used to it if I ever need to go anywhere without them.

Edit: Bargain Breast Pump here

I don't know where I would store expressed milk though - my fridge and freezer are both quite small. Anybody know how long breastmilk stays fresh in the fridge?

Thats the breast pump i have and i have the tommee tippee bottles. I used the manual tt breast pump before and had no problems, so i'm hoping this one will be easier.
Lablover - expressing is fine, although can take up a bit of time, but i think its lovely to be able to let oh do a feed once a day as it gives them a chance to bond too. I have nursing bra's, but never bothered with nursing tops, as long as you can get your boob out of your top easily then you'l be fine, if you want to cover your dignity a little then you can always use a scarf or i have a tommee tippee blanket thing that sits over your shoulder and can be used for that and as a burping cloth (have loads of muslins for that tho)

edit-just to add, i never bought a steriliser aswell becasue the pump comes with a plastic tub that goes in the microwave to sterilise stuff and iirc it holds 2 bottles. So if you are mainly bf'ing you may not need to buy a steriliser aswell-see, i'm being very mse again

gratefulforhelp_2

Thanks all, furbaby is called Truffle. Will do pics when get organised.

krystal huge congrats, I had missed that.

breastfeeding/expressing prob a good idea not to express until milk supply is established, and you can lift up your top or go over it as you please, and depending on the top.

Managed to rearrange my scan for this week, instead of week 38 when babe will prob be here!!

mrsspendalot

I'm not bothering with a breast pump as I found it far too time consuming to express last time, and not very productive! I figure that if it comes to it and I feel I could do with one, I can always buy one after. I maybe only used my pump 3 times in 10 months of breastfeeing. I used the Avent Isis.

LabLover

Grateful, Im so jealous of your furbaby , we have a chocco lab shes 8 but doesnt look older than two , lol. People are always surprised when they ask how old our "pup" is lol. OH always says she about drawing her pension. OH was all set to get a pup before we found out about suprise baby , lol. Have promised him as soon as we move to somewhere bigger he can get one, not sure how my wee girl will take to having a doggy companion , she is very much a "human" and is OH's shadow. She also has a very strange tea habit , all visitors have to put there cups up on the window sill , lol

**confuzzled**

Sorry to butt in just wanted to add my 2 penneth on bfing/expressing:o:D

LabLover wrote: »

thanks Apricot , when I mentioned to my mum that I might express she said " youll have your baby glued to your breast for the first few weeks " Lol
Are you getting a breast pump?

You're Mums right!!:D hardest part of bfing is the 1st 4 weeks and expect tears & frustration if you're a 1st timer...but persevering is worth it, honest:D

I breastfed from the boob for the 1st 4weeks and then introduced expressed bottles but with a manual pump its time consuming and also quite depressing coz you don't seem to get much out(if my boobs aren't engorged I'm lucky to get 2oz per boob, if they're pammy sized then I can whack out approx 3oz per boob BUT that doesn't happen often & only when I've skipped feeding her myself while out & about) at 5weeks we introduced formula for while we're out(I couldn't get the hang of not flashing everyone while feeding:o:rotfl:) and she's been fine and had no breast/bottle confusion at all(we use TT CTN bottles and decant from avent pump), only issue we had was the puking but that was my fault coz I gave her a huge formula bottle instead of small amounts:o was like a scene from the exorcist:rotfl:

my co-ordinator at my breastfeeding group hates me saying this but....I've found formula to be a lifesaver, combination feeding has worked brilliantly for us so don't let the bfing Nazi's at hospitals sway you just nod politely and do what u want;), happy mum = happy baby:D

breast milk in the fridge, approx 1 week(never left it more than 5days myself) and in the freezer is 6months:D

God I miss being pregnant:( Lotties 14weeks now and I'm broody for another already:eek::D I'm so jealous of you lot:p
Appropriate vibes to all in need xxx

nic2075

LabLover wrote: »

Ive got Avent bottles etc so I assume I need an Avent breast pump , the electric ones are scary prices :eek: May just buy a manual one.Digital its all just "plans" with me , It may not pan out or it may work very well , lol.Also I will need feeding bras ? and Maybe feeding tops? Or do you lift top up or lift boob out neck of top? I really have no clue

If youve got Avent bottles then yes I think it need to be an Avent steriliser. The TT ones are wider I think.
I agree with waiting a bit before expressing.

A nursing bra i think is a must, I found it too hard to pop it out etc. Im sure you can do it if you dont want to buy them, but when your trying to be discreet, its not easy.
I got a few nursing tops cheap from H&M. I didnt really use them in the house but wore them when going out, again it made it less of a show when trying to be discreet. i always had a baby blanket or a large muslin to cover me if I couldnt get to a feeding area.

As you do it for longer, the baby latches on easy and you get used to lifting your top without showing your belly etc. I never made it that far but ive sat in a room with 2 frineds feeding 5 month olds and you would never know they were actually doing anything other than cuddling their baby.

TitchD

LabLover wrote: »

Ive got Avent bottles etc so I assume I need an Avent breast pump , the electric ones are scary prices :eek: May just buy a manual one.Digital its all just "plans" with me , It may not pan out or it may work very well , lol.Also I will need feeding bras ? and Maybe feeding tops? Or do you lift top up or lift boob out neck of top? I really have no clue

Morning Lablover!

Good on you for having a go at b/f. :T As everyone is saying, its different for everyone, so I'd have a go and see how you get on. Took a while to get going with my DS as he was so tiny, but persevered and it was the best thing I ever did. I needed a breast pump as his mouth was too tiny to suckle at first, plus it is such a relief to get rid of some milk when ou become engorged and baby doesn't want to/ can't feed!

I tried the manual tommee tippee one, but found it didn't fit me properly (leaked underneath), so I had a manual medela one, which was brill (and the ones they tend to use in hospital - though electric in hosp). The tommee tippee box thing that the pump comes in is fab for sterilising - just bung it in the microwave. They have them in ASDA for a tenner at the mo.

I kept my milk in the fridge for a 24 hours I think, but cant remember exactly. I froze most of it.

On b/f out and about, you get very good at it very quickly. I had a couple of b/f tops, but you don't really need them - one thing you do notice though, is that if you don't have one, you either expose your whole boob, or your tummy! So as jojo says, have a cloth or a muslin with you.

One of my friends had a b/f strappy top thing that she wore underneath so she lifted her t-shirt, unclipped the strappy top and she then had a gap to feed through (covering tummy and boob if that makes sense!!)

Sorry to ramble, but it all kept coming back to me :rotfl: