breast pumps

Hi Mums,

My bub is 6 months age and is wholly breastfeeding and just started solids. I want to use breastmilk to mix with her food. My current breastpump was given to me, which is a tiny manual pump job; it leaks, takes such a long time to pump out, not much suction, keeps slipping off my nipple.........I need a new one.
Any suggestions?

I loaned a breast pump off a friend and dreaded using it. (never got around to it) But you could always try borrowing one from a friend before you spend a lot of money. If the only reason you would like to express is to mix in with food and not to store milk for feeds, have you thought of mixing boiled water with the cereal/food? I don't add any liquid to any food except rice cereal. If you would like to 'wet up' the food, put a little in a dish and nuke it for a few seconds (maybe 10 depending on how much) in the microwave and mix it up a little. It goes nice and sloppy and smooth. It helped us with some of the thicker meaty foods. You could also try mixing some sloppy fruit like pear or apples or the pumpkin and sweetcorn is really sloppy too. This is just going on the tinned food. I mix some of the tinned food with some of our own pureed veges to make it a bit sloppier for him to eat. See how you go.
Good luck. Let us know what you come up with.
Ange

Hi! I had an electric breast pump that was 'Pigeon' brand. It would operate either on batteries or via an adaptor that you plugged into a power point. It had a little valve on it that you pressed to release the suction so that you could reproduce the sucking action of your baby. I found it very comfortable. I don't think they are that expensive - maybe $80-$100??
Good Luck

I have the Nuk version! I certainly can't compare but this does the job for me!
One thing i found important was an adapter, batteries run out quickly, and you need the full power!

When I was having my antenatal class the midwife advised us on what type of pumps to get. Avent Isis was higly recommended. Take note that it is manually operated, but not a piston type. If you can squeeze as sponge, that's how it feels like and no stress on your hand. Around $80, but you can always check ebay if you want to buy a 2nd hand one.

Hi Nance, I guess this post will be too late to help you but in case someone else is reading I thought I would add my suggestion. I couldnt breastfeed what I had to do was express and then feed it to my baby. We hired an electric breast pump from a chemist. It wasnt very expensive and you can hire over short or long term. The part you hire does not touch your breast milk in any way. You have to buy the pump that actually goes on your breast so its all very sterile. I had used the hand expresser in the hospital and had actually brought one before my son was born. I found the same thing as you it was very slow and my hand used to cramp. Instead of wanting to strip my breast of milk I was only taking enough for the baby to drink!!! We hired the pump from the chemist in the hospital on the day I left. I found this the best for me.