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When Should Pregnant Mums Start To Buy Breast Pump

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Dear Pregnant ladies / MOMs

Im 6 months pregnant and this is my first pregnancy. I think now will be the perfect time to buy baby accessories bit by bit. I have a question in my mind, should i buy breast pump now or after my delivery?As the price of breast pump is not cheap, what if my milk supply is limited and it will be a waste to invest in breast pump. Appreciate if you could advice me on this, especially experienced mothers :)

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You should buy a breast pump the moment u decided to breastfeed. All mothers have milk (matter of amount), you just need to persevere. What I did was, I bought a manual pump 1st as it is cheaper than an electric pump. After deliver and once my milk kicks in, before I return to work, I got myself a duo electric pump.

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I learnt from the forum that it is recommended to buy breast pump nearer to delivery (perhaps 1 months earlier or maybe 2 if you worry of early delivery) because the warranty starts from the date of purchase and not from the date of delivery.

However if you really have not bought it yet when and you happened to have an early delivery, you can always buy online and delivery is fairly fast. The recommended website I got from this forum is enjoybreastfeed (I'm in no way associated with this website). While you wait for your breast pump you could perhaps try to hand express first (if you really have difficulty with latching on). Or perhaps you can ask if your hospital provides breast pump rental. I have asked my hospital and unfortunately they do provide that.

Hope that helps.. I'm currently 31 weeks pregnant and plan to buy breast pump by 34th week. I was very tempted to buy earlier on during merdeka sale because I saw some good deals, but then decided against it as I felt the warranty is more important than getting a cheaper deal.

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I got my single electric pump few mths before delivery, okie it is a used-set but well maintain and of cos the warranty oled no longer valid, but I'm happy with it =)

I try to latch on for the first month but due to lack of experience end up I got many round of milk duct and eventually turn into pumping and my girl on bottle feed. And starting from there on I work on single electric pump which take up roughly 40-50 minutes to finish the pumping session for both breasts. Then later I invest to duo electric pump that really save me a lot of works, at least reduce the time by half.

If you don't mind you can arrange a rent set or any of your friend is willing to rent you one. I know some hospital/website do give rental service.

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I planned to just latch on & direct feed baby for the 1st month so I didn't get a breast pump until he was 1 week old. A lot of people told me that you'll get engorged if you don't use a breast pump after delivery but my milk came in late and my baby was drinking milk nearly every hour so I didn't see the need for it.

And also like the others mentioned, the 1 year warranty for breast pumps start from the date of purchase.

It's good to survey now, read up brand reviews & pick 1 that you like.

After you deliver and if you've generous friends, maybe you could ask for gift vouchers to a shop that stocks the breast pump that you want as some friends prefer to give gifts instead of ang pows.

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i find that by just reading on the breast pumps reviews and other moms' experiences will just give you a guideline only. for my case, i planned to get a Avent single electric pump at first. but my Gina Yong (the breastfeeding lactation) strongly suggest me to get a double pump. my collegue who successfully breastfed her baby for more than 6 months said a single manual pump will do. so i was flooded with too many "suggestions". end up i don't know who to follow. a week closed to my delivery day, a friend of mine lent me her extra pump - Spectra3 electric pump. so i stop surveying for pump.

after the delivery, i find that i actually don't have time to pump at all. it was bcoz baby was on my breasts most of the time. when baby is sleeping, i try to sleep as well, so really no time to pump. but when my mom sees me getting so tired she advice me to pump so that she can help to feed baby so that i can sleep longer. then only i start to use pump. i tried the Spectra3 pump, noticed that it is not so comfortable for me, and it didn't help to pump out alot. then another friend told me, i may need to practise pumping using a manual pump so she lent me her avent manual pump. it is more comfortable but the result is worse than the electric one as i can only pump out something when my breasts are very full, if not i can't even get a single drop. then she recommended me to use Freestyle Medela pump, the model that she used. i bought a second hand one and use till today.

so based on my experience, i will say don't buy a pump too quickly as you won't know what you want at first. as other mentioned above, you can buy a pump online or just get your hubby to buy for you at anytime. as i know breast pumps are always available at shops. but if you worry, you can just prepare a manual pump first.

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Mine was medela freestyle and planning to let go =P cause I'm stop breastfeeding already.

Yes, warranty is the issue cause it starts the date you purchase, so best don't get it too early, can survey and ask around.

If there's someone can rent let you a set, use it first.

I still encourage you to go to latch on for the first month and second month onward switch to pumping, as to get your breasts used to pumping speed and ready for you to return to work.

My breasts are 'sensitive' to pumping speed and latch on speed. I feel sad that I stop latch-on on the 3rd week and switch to pumping till the date I 'retired' from pumping =P but I'm glad that I'm able to give her breastmilk till she is 13 mths old +

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Besides having a breast pump on standby to relieve engorgement, I believe the other thing you may need to consider is to prepare for any unforseen circumstances (i.e. emergency c-sec or preterm delivery) that may prevent you having direct latch on.

Also, like what others suggested, ask if your hospital provide rental services. I've already asked mine and they don't so I have more or less decided to have one breast pump on standby before delivery. The question now is whether manual/electronic and single/double!

A lot of people will suggest to buy a single manual breast pump first before investing on a more expensive (i.e. double electronic) when you have decided to breast feed for long term, as sometimes things do not turn out as planned even though you were very determined to BF and you won't want your expensive breast pump to become a white elephant!

Anyways, there's always a market for pre-loved items so worse come to worse, you can always sell if you really didn't use it.

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Do shop around now & try out some of the pumps available just to have a feel. Decide on which pump you would like & buy them just after your delivery to maximize the warranty period (can buy online or get hubby to pick up from the shop). If possible, borrow a unit now as standby in case of early delivery.

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I bought my manual pump as standy about a month b4 my edd. I decided if I have milk, after that I will buy my double electric pump. I bought my double electric pump when my manual one couldn't cope, I got too much milk. My bb drinks one side but the another side was dripping, so rather than let it go to waste, i use the manual to pump the other side. By his next feed, both breasts already half full, he's contented with just one side's milk and i still have to empty the other side.

To optimise on warranty, i suggest u buy after u delivered but do ur survey first on which one u intend to buy, so that u dun 'kelam-kabut' last min.

If u are still hesistant to buy, trying looking for pre-loved breast pumps or better still see if u have any friends who have stopped breastfeeding but intend to keep the pump for the next bb, whether they can loan it to you temporarily. I lent my pump to my colleague cos I already stopped pumping, but she use for two months oni. She find it not convenient to pump at work, so she took medicine to stop the milk. What a pity, she had so much milk. I already did my part in lending her the pump and encouraging her to continue, but then, the final decision is still hers.

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