It is the most personal question that deserves the most taylored personal answer. It’s like you asking me which are the best pair of jeans and me sending you to M&S. They probably won’t fit your bum! I guess that’s not really helping you right now. I get it. But hold on. I’m going to try to explain this so you can make that personal choice with some knowledge. So here goes. (Grab a cuppa and a hobnob, it’s gonna be a long one.).
If a pump is going to be right for you it need to be comfortable and it needs to be effective. That’s seems pretty obvious but hear me out. Most breast pumps will have some kind of flange (looks like a funnel) and this flange needs to fit at the time of expressing. If it’s too small or too big it may cause nipple trauma and not really be that effective at expressing. You’re going to have to measure your nipple diameter to get the right size flange. Your nipples are also likely to change size during your feeding/expressing journey so maybe having a few sizes available might be helpful. I’ve found this video very useful in ‘fitting’ breast pumps:
The next question you need to ask yourself is WHY ARE YOU EXPRESSING OR WANT TO EXPRESS?
I’m going to list some common answers below. By all mean, if your answer isn’t on the list, please send it to me and I’ll add it. (also if there’s a link attached to your questions it means I have also written a little blog post about those topics)
I want to express colostrum (before or after the birth): HAND EXPRESSION
My newborn isn’t latching/has never latched and I want them to have breastmilk and learn to initiate breastfeeding: HOSPITAL GRADE PUMP (HIRE)
My newborn has lost weight at their day 5 weight in/My supply is low/My baby hasn’t put their birth weight back on: DOUBLE BREAST PUMP/HOSPITAL GRADE PUMP (HIRE)
I want my partner to share the odd feed with me/let me sleep at the weekend and do a night feed once in a while: SILICONE BREAST PUMP/THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER
I want to mix feed (breast/bottle EBM) so everyone can feed the baby and I’m not the sole feeder: WEARABLE DOUBLE BREAST PUMP/DOUBLE BREAST PUMP
I want to mix feed with bottles only (EBM/Formula) WEARABLE DOUBLE BREAST PUMP/DOUBLE BREAST PUMP
I cannot/do not want to breastfeed but I want my baby to only have breast milk WEARABLE BREAST PUMP/HOSPITAL GRADE PUMP
God help me Chris, I can’t express anything EVER from a double electric pump and if I wasn’t changing SO MANY nappies I’d believe I don’t actually produce any milk but I REALLLLLLY want to have some milk in the freezer for emergencies: SILICONE BREAST PUMP
I have SO. MUCH. MILK. I could feed a village. My supply is mostly out of control and I worried expressing is going to make it worse: SILICONE BREAST PUMP
HAND EXPRESSING:
Hey guess what? It’s free and you can do it antenatally (to express colostrum) from 36 weeks and postnatally. It’s not recommended to use a pump to express colostrum because there’s so little of it that you’ll just end up coating the side of the pump and get nothing for the baby.
Here’s a video that shows you how to express colostrum antenatally made by my talented friend and colleague, Steph:
Postnatally, you might find yourself engorged, maybe when your milk transitions from colostrum to mature milk in that first week postnatal or a bit later on if your baby has missed a feed in the night and slept a bit longer (don’t brag ok… just enjoy how well rested you feel). The quickest way to remedy an engorgement is to hand express, more so if you now have a very hungry baby who is struggling to latch because your breasts are too full and hard. So same technique as Steph mentions in her video above. Best place is in the shower if you can but having a hot (not scolding) flannel on the breast will help soften the tissue too.
SILICONE BREAST PUMP:
These are great at collecting milk, they are inexpensive and can be used as soon as the milk has transitioned from colostrum to mature milk. It can be used at the same time as feeding. I mean it *can* not *you have to*, that’s when all is grand, you’re not fretting about the latch and you are feeding your baby in a position that allows for said pump to attach to the other breast when feeding. When used alongside feeding, mum might find she can collect quite a bit of milk that way. I call that the twin effect, which allows one breast to let down milk at the same time as the other that is being fed (=stimulated) from. Oh the magic of our bodies!
This is a great little pump if you do not need to express religiously or if your baby doesn’t always feed on both breast equally and you want to even them out etc.
Also a go to pump for the overachievers in the room. So if you have an oversupply, and you are worried about creating more milk and at the same worried about mastitis from letting the milk sit there in the breast, this is the pump for you. It removes the milk without too much stimulation. WINNER.
I used the Nature Bond one which has been upgraded since I bought mine and comes with a little strap that you can attach to your bra to secure the pump. I could have done with that when Willow ninja kicked the pump making it fly across the room and emptying ALL the milk in the process.
I cried. 5 years on, I don’t think I have quite recovered yet.
WEARABLE BREAST PUMPS (HOSPITAL GRADE OR NOT)
The first company that started the movement was Elvie. I remember seeing this mum in a baby group with a little red light coming out of her top. I thought, shit the bed, she’s a fembot. Of course she wasn’t. The idea behind the wearable pump is simple. Pumping on the go. Yuss I hear you chant. Yes indeed. What more do you want. Well actually, they are not all created equal and some are far better than others.
Pros:
– Portability:
You’re not stuck to your house when you want to express and that’s pretty good for your mental health. It means you can go out an about and carry on with your life. These are ideals for the full time expressing mums who completely rely on a good stock of breast milk to feed their baby.
Cons:
– Power:
Some are not really that powerful, meaning they are not really emptying the breast (argh I hate saying emptying, as if the breast was ever empty, it’s not. But what I mean by this is the pump should remove a lot of the milk). That can cause a problem in how much mum is expressing each time and potentially generate a supply problem. It can also leave some milk sitting around which can cause blocked ducts which can then lead to mastitis (ouch).
Remember: the more milk we remove the more the body produces, and so if the pump does a half hearted job at expressing then the body is going to think we only need half so let’s produce less.
– Noise:
Some feedback on some of the wearable breast pump was the noise. Oh lord, it defied the mobile aspect of the device as they were so loud the mum couldn’t leave the house with them on. Waste of money.
So which ones are should you spend your hard earned cash on:
The High End (=expensive) Range:
There are 3 new (as off mid 2024) wearable pumps on the market which mums I know have been raving about. Here we’re talking about mums that are exclusively pumping. I take their feedback seriously because that’s some tedious work.
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| The Elvie Stride is labelled as a hospital grade wearable pump, meaning more power. It is meant to be stronger and more powerful than their original one and also a little cheaper. With this link, you get 15% off. | Currently the best wearable breast pump. Tried and tested by a handful of full time pumpers this pump has received the thumbs up against other brand. It is faster and more powerful, meaning it can drain the breast quicker and fully. As off 06/09/24, it’s 17% off and you can save an extra 15% with the code: EXTRA15 | This a serious runner up to the other 2. It’s lightweight feature as won many mums. It comes with 5 different flange sizes and 27 settings. As off 06/09/24, it’s 15% off on Amazon as a prime customer. However it currently out of stock from Momcozy directly. |
The lower end range:
Here we’re talking less money spent but still a good breast pump. These were tried by a colleague who felt not everyone had £200+ to spend on a breast pump.
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| This is a more budget friendly yet good wearable pump. The feedback is positive and this version has fixed some of the previous problems (noisy and slow). Currently 10% off on Amazon. (Sept 2024) | According to my colleague this is an incredible little pump. It’s more ergonomic than other of the lower range ones and offers 3 flange sizes. It’s quite powerful and has a good battery life. It’s currently £15 off on Amazon (Sept 2024). | Here is another underdog worth considering if you’re on a limited budget. Offers 2 sizes of flanges. It is more powerful and quiet than other lower range one. It’s currently £8 off on Amazon (Sept 2024). |
HOSPITAL GRADE PUMP (HIRE)
A hospital grade pump is the kind of pump that could potentially get milk out of an elbow. It is powerful and it means business. It’s the type of pump mum would use in a hospital setting if she had to express milk if her baby was being tube fed in NICU. Some hospital hire out these type of pump (you wouldn’t buy one, they are bulky and very very expensive.
It’s important to understand the amount that mum can express with a hospital grade pump will be much greater than with any other pump. It doesn’t mean that suddenly your supply has drop if you switch to a standard double pump, it just that they are not as powerful.
Check with your midwife if the postnatal wards have any of those for hire and how to go about it. Locally it’s a first come first serve, with a priority for those needing them in the hospital.
Should that not be available, Medela hire out their hospital grade pump for £49 for 2 weeks and then £49 per month.
DOUBLE BREAST PUMP
There are lots of different types of electric breast pumps out there but I’d definitely recommend getting a double one for ease. The thing is it can be a hard product to buy as they won’t fit the same and they may not all be as powerful as we need them to be. Some will still need to be plugged into the wall, whereas some newer models will be more portable and be rechargeable. And then you want to look at the sizes of the flanges, some may only offer one or two ‘average’ sizes, which might not suit you etc. See video at the top of the this post to help with sizing.
One of the pump that has, for many years, had the best review amongst mums is the Medela Symphony. It has recently had an upgrade with a new flange design and a built-in rechargeable battery making it an even better choice.
It is difficult to try before you buy, but if you had a friend or family member who owns a breast pump, ask if you can borrow it before committing to buy. They’re all quite expensive. Also the term buy cheap buy twice really applies here.
THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER
You want to express potentially one day. Maybe. You quite enjoy breastfeeding. It gets you out of doing the dishes and engaging with the people who visit the baby but that you don’t really like (we’ve all be there). Expressing seems a faff but at the same time you dream of having more than 1 hour free time to yourself and long to go out to the cinema without the baby and, having someone else do a feed in that moment seems quite nice.
If that more or less you, then you can take your pick out of all the options previously mentioned and decide what is best for you and your lifestyle. You could even pick & mix. If you can borrow a pump instead of buying one, even better. Save your hard earn mat leave for coffee and cake.