Breast pumps?

Hi all, my daughter had her son last Saturday. Her milk came in
yesterday and her breasts are engorged so that the baby is
having trouble feeding. She's thinking a breast pump would
help...I don't know as I never needed one. Anyone have
any ideas? Her hubby will pick one up on his way home
from work later today, or I can go buy one and take it to
her. Brands, features to look for????? Help would be
most appreciated.

Thanks,
Sue D.

On Mar 21, 4:09 pm, Sue D. wrote:
Hi all, my daughter had her son last Saturday. Her milk came in
yesterday and her breasts are engorged so that the baby is
having trouble feeding. She's thinking a breast pump would
help...I don't know as I never needed one. Anyone have
any ideas? Her hubby will pick one up on his way home
from work later today, or I can go buy one and take it to
her. Brands, features to look for????? Help would be
most appreciated.

Thanks,
Sue D.

Will she be going back to work? If so, I'd recommend an electric pump
- Medela PIS or Ameda Purely Yours.

If not, and it's only for the occassional bottle, any of the manual
pumps are ok (I use one that came with the Ameda PY electric kit). If
it's just to make it easier for her baby to nurse, then hand
expressing worked well for me when I was too engorged for DD to latch
on.

On 21 Mar 2007 14:16:16 -0700, "cjra" wrote:

On Mar 21, 4:09 pm, Sue D. wrote:
Hi all, my daughter had her son last Saturday. Her milk came in
yesterday and her breasts are engorged so that the baby is
having trouble feeding. She's thinking a breast pump would
help...I don't know as I never needed one. Anyone have
any ideas? Her hubby will pick one up on his way home
from work later today, or I can go buy one and take it to
her. Brands, features to look for????? Help would be
most appreciated.

Thanks,
Sue D.

Will she be going back to work? If so, I'd recommend an electric pump
- Medela PIS or Ameda Purely Yours.

If not, and it's only for the occassional bottle, any of the manual
pumps are ok (I use one that came with the Ameda PY electric kit). If
it's just to make it easier for her baby to nurse, then hand
expressing worked well for me when I was too engorged for DD to latch
on.
Thanks so much I will let her know...she does want to do the
occasional bottle but hand expressing would work for now.
Duh, why didn't I think of that!
Thanks,
Sue

"Sue D." wrote in message
...
Hi all, my daughter had her son last Saturday. Her milk came in
yesterday and her breasts are engorged so that the baby is
having trouble feeding. She's thinking a breast pump would
help...I don't know as I never needed one. Anyone have
any ideas? Her hubby will pick one up on his way home
from work later today, or I can go buy one and take it to
her. Brands, features to look for????? Help would be
most appreciated.

Thanks,
Sue D.

Hiya

I had Mothercare's own brand of manual pump and HATED it! The shell was too
hard, and so didn't fit me properly. However, I have heard from my SIL and
friends that the Avent ISIS one is good, and that the shell on that is much
better (http://www.avent.com/uk/en/breastfee...is_iq_uno.php).
However, after binning the mothercare one, I happily hand expressed for
months, the only downside being that I got the odd bout of RSI, but found
otherways to do it - breast compression etc.

If it's simply to reduce so that she can feed, I would just hand express -
lots less messing about.

Lucy x

Hi all, my daughter had her son last Saturday. Her milk came in
yesterday and her breasts are engorged so that the baby is
having trouble feeding. She's thinking a breast pump would
help...I don't know as I never needed one.

so she's looking to help feeding, rather than produce milk for feeding
later, what I did was to hand express, I didn't even try and collect it,
just absorb it in a nappy or similar that could be washed, literally just
enough to draw the nipple out and give a little softness around it so the
baby could latch.

It's not usually advised to pump much milk early one, firstly it stops the
engorgement from going away because your body thinks the milk is needed.
Secondly, milk changes and babies will often not drink early milk later on.

I had difficulties with my first with a very borderline milk supply (he had
a weak suck), so I decided to pump daily with my 2nd to tell my body I
needed that extra amount, though most of the milk was wasted.

Anne

If not, and it's only for the occassional bottle, any of the manual
pumps are ok (I use one that came with the Ameda PY electric kit). If
it's just to make it easier for her baby to nurse, then hand
expressing worked well for me when I was too engorged for DD to latch
on.

I don't think that's true at all, I think that manual pumps available from
people who produce good electrical pumps are useable, then the Avent Isis is
the one most people seem to get on with best, then there are numerous other
ones produced by companies who generally don't produce breastfeeding
products, such as EvenFlo, Maws, and many others depending on country, those
are to be steered well clear of.

Anne

cjra wrote:

If not, and it's only for the occassional bottle, any of the manual
pumps are ok (I use one that came with the Ameda PY electric kit). If
it's just to make it easier for her baby to nurse, then hand
expressing worked well for me when I was too engorged for DD to latch
on.

I'd quibble with this. For some women, any old
pump will work. For others, it matters a lot, even if it's
only for occasional use. Many have good luck with the Avent
Isis. I'm sure there are some others that of similar caliber,
but many of the inexpensive pumps are worse than useless.

The other caveat I'd offer to the OP is to be
judicious in the use of a pump to relieve engorgement
this early. Breastfeeding is a demand-supply feedback
loop. The more milk that is taken (by the baby feeding
*or* by pumping), the more milk the body makes. So,
pumping to relieve engorgement can just encourage more
production tomorrow. Sometimes you do need to do a
little pumping to allow the baby to nurse or for
comfort, but you want to do as little as possible so
that supply lines up with demand well. Or, she can
decide to start banking some milk and find a convenient
time to pump and plan to do that consistently to build
up a little stash of milk for the future.

Best wishes,
Ericka

"Ericka Kammerer" wrote in message
. ..
cjra wrote:

If not, and it's only for the occassional bottle, any of the manual
pumps are ok (I use one that came with the Ameda PY electric kit). If
it's just to make it easier for her baby to nurse, then hand
expressing worked well for me when I was too engorged for DD to latch
on.

I'd quibble with this. For some women, any old
pump will work. For others, it matters a lot, even if it's
only for occasional use. Many have good luck with the Avent
Isis. I'm sure there are some others that of similar caliber,
but many of the inexpensive pumps are worse than useless.

The other caveat I'd offer to the OP is to be
judicious in the use of a pump to relieve engorgement
this early. Breastfeeding is a demand-supply feedback
loop. The more milk that is taken (by the baby feeding
*or* by pumping), the more milk the body makes. So,
pumping to relieve engorgement can just encourage more
production tomorrow. Sometimes you do need to do a
little pumping to allow the baby to nurse or for
comfort, but you want to do as little as possible so
that supply lines up with demand well. Or, she can
decide to start banking some milk and find a convenient
time to pump and plan to do that consistently to build
up a little stash of milk for the future.

Best wishes,
Ericka

My only thought on this, was that was what I was told when my milk came
in... I couldn't turn round without spraying everything, and I was in tears
where they were so heavy from engorgement, and absolutely killing my back...
In the end, out of sheer desperation, I expressed *loads* on the first day
(well, I say expressed, more just held a bottle there for the first half an
hour while they did their thing, and then expressed) and never got it back
double. Yeah, there was the odd occasion after that when I had to remove a
little to feed in comfort, but I am so glad that I relieved the pressure of
the first lot.

Lucy x

On Mar 21, 5:42 pm, Ericka Kammerer wrote:
cjra wrote:
If not, and it's only for the occassional bottle, any of the manual
pumps are ok (I use one that came with the Ameda PY electric kit). If
it's just to make it easier for her baby to nurse, then hand
expressing worked well for me when I was too engorged for DD to latch
on.

I'd quibble with this. For some women, any old
pump will work. For others, it matters a lot, even if it's
only for occasional use. Many have good luck with the Avent
Isis. I'm sure there are some others that of similar caliber,
but many of the inexpensive pumps are worse than useless.


Fair enough - I've only used the medela from the kit and regularly use
the ameda from the kit. I was (wrongly) guessing the manual pumps
didn't vary that much.

The other caveat I'd offer to the OP is to be
judicious in the use of a pump to relieve engorgement
this early. Breastfeeding is a demand-supply feedback
loop. The more milk that is taken (by the baby feeding
*or* by pumping), the more milk the body makes. So,
pumping to relieve engorgement can just encourage more
production tomorrow.

That's where hand expressing worked best for me. I'd just lean over
the sink and express a bit til they weren't so hard, then latch DD on.
Then there was the time I was in DH's office and didn't bring the
manual pump, DD was desperate to nurse but I was too engorged. Didn't
have a nappy or anything, so I expressed into the trash can in his
office ;-)

"Sue D." wrote in message
...
Hi all, my daughter had her son last Saturday. Her milk came in
yesterday and her breasts are engorged so that the baby is
having trouble feeding. She's thinking a breast pump would
help...I don't know as I never needed one. Anyone have
any ideas? Her hubby will pick one up on his way home
from work later today, or I can go buy one and take it to
her. Brands, features to look for????? Help would be
most appreciated.

Thanks,
Sue D.

In all honesty, I don't know if I would invest in a pump at this point. No
idea what others have said, but is it possible to manually express? Just a
little, as the more you pump, the more you make. So it can be like a catch
22... Pump it out, feed the baby, make more for supply. Breast milk can
always be stored in the freezer, so that's not really an issue.
If she really wants a pump, I would recommend the Medela Symphony (although
not available for purchase) I know here it can be rented. It's a hospital
grade electric pump.
Any Medela is usually a good choice. The Pump In Style is a nice one to
buy, but again, kinda costly. Might not be worth the cash if it's only for
engorgement right now! That does eventually go away.

I would recommend staying away from ANY and all Gerber pumps. They are said
to be THE worst pumps out there - manual or electric. Medela is my personal
fav, or *blushes* I often found just using my own hands worked fine,
especially with engorgement at the beginning!