Pump it up

Following on from last weeks purchase of some bottles for when the day comes to introduce them to May I took the plunge at the weekend to buy a pump. I pretty much always knew that I wanted to get a Medela pump, but the cost involved is not insignificant. I procrastinated and delayed the purchase numerous times. However, on Friday night I saw a Dutch website was offering a deal on the Medela Freestyle offering what I think was a big enough reduction on the pump. It was time to suck it up and buy it.

The Medela Freestyle

Panic ensued as I didn't receive any confirmation email from the ordering website before I went to bed that night. I had visions of my credit card being ripped off whilst I slept and having to explain to my husband that I had given an online company our details. All of those worries were put to rest when I woke up to not only the confirmation email, but also the tracking number of the parcel which was already on it's way to being delivered before lunchtime. I was really impressed.

Once I have more experience with the pump I will write a review about it. But for now it has been easy enough to use. Though I have to admit I've only used it as a single pump so far as it doesn't come with a handsfree top and there's no way you can hold two bottles and operate the pump with just two hands. The only other drawback I can see with it right now is sterilising the various parts. The recommendation in the manual is to boil the parts in a pot for five minutes. We have a microwave steriliser but I am too afraid to use it for the Medela given how much it cost. I can't seem to find a definitive answer as to whether the parts can be sterilised that way or not so I am playing it safe for now.

Of course my husband thinks the pump is a 'toy' which isn't exactly how I see it, but I have to admit some excitement when the package arrived and I assembled the pieces (and sterilised them!) for my first pumping session. I read that for full-time breastfeeding mums, one way to start pumping without stimulating oversupply is to pump for a short period (I read 4 minutes) on each side following a feed. I couldn't believe it when I found that I had pumped 2 ounces after just 2 minutes of pumping after May's late afternoon feed on Saturday.

At the moment I am pumping following the morning feed, especially as I often have a full side that May doesn't eat in the morning. That means I pump around 3-4 minutes for the side she did feed on, and around 8 minutes on the side that she didn't. I normally manage around 6 ounces total give or take. This is all in the hopes of building up a reserve in our freezer before I go back to work so that there is less pressure to meet particular targets in order to have enough to feed May the next day. I am freezing the milk in quantities of 3 ounce bags as I also read that it is better to freeze smaller size quantities so that you waste less milk if the baby doesn't want a full feed. We have yet to give May a bottle so I am unsure how much she drinks in a feed, perhaps that would give me a better idea of the quantities I should freeze in each bag. But for now I'm pretty happy with my two little 3 ounce bags each day.