Breast Pumps

[samuelboy]

Hi everyone

I am looking at buying a breast pump and was hoping someone could give me some feedback as to a good one to buy. I'm only after a manual one and a friend has recommended the Avent pump which she has used. I have only read good reviews and was wondering if this was the one to buy.

Can anyone else recommend this one or a different one to buy? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks :)

[kurtsmum]

I have the avent breast pump and find it very effective, not that I've tried any other pumps, before buying the pump I just manually expressed.

[earthmother]

I have been using the Avent manual breast pump and it is excellent! Thought I wouldn't use it much, but here I am with almost 8 month old DD and still pumping away! :o

[razzle]

Hi Peta,

Just to confuse you even more ;) ... I know you've said you want a manual pump but I was originally looking at the Avent one and nearly fell over at the price! My DP went of and bought me the NUK electric one instead (which from memory was about $120) and I thought it was fabulous.

Perhaps you could borrow your friend's one and have a trial?

[xkwzit]

Hi Peta
I have an avent manual breast pump and it is terrific. I've also used a medela breast pump (the piston kind that can be manual or hooked up to a heavy duty electric motor) and when it comes to manual breast pumps, Í like the avent because it works a bit like a trigger spray bottle in that you can work it with just one hand (the medela required two hands and it just takes A LOT more work). The avent was fantastic to take to work, I just put it in a small cooler bag with an ice brick to keep the expressed milk cool until I got home.

Electric pumps are great if you've got to do a lot of expressing, but you can hire them as required. I hired one a couple of times with DD1, but didn't need to for DD2.

I would agree with boomtish, borrow one to see if it works for you before splashing out. I borrowed a friends avent pump, so I was sure it was going to work for me.

Cheers

[nickosmoo]

Hi

I've got a Pigeon brand pump and have found it to be quite good - you can adjust the suction on it which is handy. I've been happy so far with it and it seems to be pretty durable - I've only used it about 7 or 8 times so far but I'm sure once I'm off the 2 hourly feed - if that ever happens, I'll have more of a chance to put it to use.

[jakobsmum]

I love my Nuk electric one too :p Most pharmacys hire out breast pumps, you just need to purchase some parts for hygiene purposes. Good luck :)

[Chickadee]

I've used both the Avent and a Medela electric. The Avent was great, very comfortable against the breast, but if you're using it lots you may find your hand or wrist getting tired from the pumping. As someone else said, the Medela takes two hands to use manually but if you're expressing more than a few times a day then the electric is worth it & the Medela double electric really saves time (though I felt very much like a cow being milked!). The kit for the Medela double was about $80 and the pump can be rented for around $20 per week from chemists.

This may sound a bit odd and isn't for everyone, but you may be able to buy a 2nd hand breast pump through the classified ads or 2nd hand baby/mother stores. I think alot of mothers try the pumps once or twice and then abandon them, so quite often they're nearly new. Everything comes apart and gets sterilised anyways.

[jarrahsmumma]

i have been using the avent pump and finds it works really well, even better without the plastic insert. I had used a medela electric pump and this hurt my nipples so much they bleed and could not express for four days, i would ask your homecare midwife or home nurse if the hospital has any for sale, i recieved mine free as the hospital recieves free samples from different companies.

peace
natalie (21), steve(27) and jarrah(4wks)