Are electric breast pumps better than manual?

[bigglet]

I've been using an Avent Isis manual pump which worked fine with DD but now my DS seems to be consuming more EBM than I can express - for instance he will have 3 bottle feeds of about 130ml in a day but at work I can only seem to express about 120ml all day!!! :(

When he is breastfeeding he seems to get enough out of me but I just can't seem to express much - and one breast especially gets practically nothing.

I'm working 3 days a week so trying to keep supplies up for him on those days is hard!

I was wondering whether another breast pump would help - maybe an electric one?

Any suggestions? :confused:

[missie_mack]

I had supply issues when DS was born and didnt get to successfully breastfeed. However I do have 8 weeks full time experience with an electric pump and manual pump ...
I used the type you get is hospy that I hired from the ABA and found it was kinder for long term use than the manual and I could be on it longer but never really got more out if I was doing 5 minutes electric or 5 minutes manual. From what I have learnt since not everyone who successfully breastfeeds can successfully pump either but you could try boosting your supply to help with the pumping like lactation cookies, medication and all that
My manual pump was the avent petal one and the electric one was the medela swing (I think from memory)

HTH

[forbetoel]

Not in my experience.

I found the manual pump great.

[Shakey]

Hey chick

I have found my Avent pump just as good as the electric, and I actually find the manual better than the smaller at home electric pumps, I seam to get more out with my manual

I think what your going to have to do, is pump more often in the day, both at work and at home if you can, instead of just pumping when he would normally feed, pump about 30mins to a hr after he's had a breast feed, and when your at work, see if you can pump a bit more often,

its normal after bubs is a few mths to not being able to pump out as much as what bub can get out himself, babies are more efficent at getting it all out than any pump on the market

[Electric Mumi]

I would only use an electric pump. I used one for 3 months when DS was still in hospital. I had a Medela ( i think that is how its spelt) and it was great.
Manual is just too much work

[Sammilee]

I'm currently using the Avent electric pump and find that it's great. The pump can also be used in manual mode, and when comparing both modes I definitely get more mls in a shorter amount of time if it's in electric mode than the manual mode. It's also kinder on the hands (manual pumping is a lot of work! I'd imagine you'd get RSI if you did it for months on end :D). HTH.