When to get a breastpump?

[Anonymous]

Is it best to rent one from the hospital? I'm not sure how soon you tend to use one if you're planning to be home with the baby for at least a few months. Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

there are 2 schools of thought on this: don't buy one til you absolutely need one, or buy it and have it ready for when you do need it.

It would be nice to have a good one before if:

1) you know you are going back to work at 3-4 months or earlier and want to continue BF/pumping at work
2) you might need to pump to increase your supply if baby isn't gaining enough in the beginning months.
3) you might have BF problems and a pump would help relieve engorgement etc.
4) you can sterilize everything (or at least wash it) before you need it. and maybe take some time to read the instructions (it's not hard though)

That said, it is pretty easy to just go out to babies r us and get one one night once the baby is born. Just get the medela pump in style and you'll probably be fine.

What I would do is buy one a few weeks before you are due, but don't open it, and have it at home for when you need it. BBRUS has a great return policy if you don't open it.

If you're planning to stay home with the baby and not go back to work until after 6 months or so, I might hold off longer on getting a pump, just because you probably won't need it daily for a while.

Hope this helps.

[Anonymous]

This is really helpful! Thanks to OP for posting the question.

I am due in a month and a half and have been wondering about the whole pump thing. I'll have one month off from work and will be able to work from home during month-2. Then, it's back to work. The baby will be home with my mom, who's going to stay with us for a few months.

Does this mean I'll be pumping at home for the most part and not at work? Would I need to pump at work during the day?

I don't mean to hijack the post, but I think any advice on breast pumps would be helpful.

[Anonymous]

you'll need a pump for any time you want someone else to feed the baby with breast milk in a bottle and you're not available, or perhaps if you are engorged and need to relieve some milk, or if you want to increase your supply artificially, or if you ever want to "pump and dump" because you're on medication, etc.

For the person working from home for month 2, you could probably feed the baby sometimes and pump sometimes. My lac consultant said not to introduce a bottle until week 3-4 anyway for a variety of reasons anyway.

A couple of other things: see a lactation consultant, or contact the breast feeding center in DC, or take a breast feeding class. The bf class in particular helped me in the beginning with questions like these. You can take these through the hospital and before the baby is born. I found it one of the most useful pre-baby classes if not the most useful.

[Anonymous]

If you can swing it, I'd have one ready to go at home when you come home, whether you rent one or purchase it. It turned out that I needed one, and getting my hands on a good pump was a source of stress that I just didn't need with a 2 day old. Luckily the Breastfeeding Center on K Street will deliver their pump rentals!

[Anonymous]

The previous posters really gave you some great advice so I won't bother repeating it with my suggestions.

The only other tidbit I wanted to offer was to look at Target's selection of breast pumps. I bought the Ameda Pump In Style from the hospital since it was the cheapest, but switched to the Medela Pump In Style. It sells at Target for $249 (at the time there was a $5 Target gift card as a "rebate"). Avent and Evenflo are also two other brands that Target sells.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Worse case scenario, when the time comes, talk it over with the lactation consultant (hopefully you'll have a good one) and weigh your options.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

I'm going to disagree with PP's and suggest waiting to buy a pump. You may have the best intentions to breast-feed (as I did) but it may not work out for you. If you need a pump for the first few weeks for supply issues (as I did), I recommend renting the hospital-grade pump which is better and faster. FASTER is the key... pumping is SO hard with a days-old baby, and you will want to get it over with as quickly as possible. The monthly rental fee is not that high (sorry I can't remember exactly how much). Then if BF-ing works out, you can go out and buy your own pump later. Anyway, those are my 2 cents...

[Anonymous]

Quick question re pump rental. I understand that it's fairly common to do that, but is there an "eew" factor associated with using a pump that potentially a hundred other people have used?

[Anonymous]

Only hospital grade pumps may be safely shared, so no, there is no "eww" factor. You get all new tubing and supplies, and the design of those pumps is such that no fluids or anything gets into the pump. (Sorry I'm not an expert but it's something like that.) The pumps you can buy in the stores, however, aren't supposed to be shared, although I know many people do this. Personally I wouldn't...

[Anonymous]

I rent a hospital-grade pump at Georgetown and they charge $60/month. If you're considering going that route, call your insurance to see if they would cover it (mine will).

Just as one PP, I would also recommend you wait - or at least buy the pump and not open it so you could return it. You never know how things will turn out. I had an unplanned c-section and my daughter was in NICU for a few days, and I needed the hospital-grade pump to make my milk come in (still took a whole week). Now I have low supply and absolutely need the hospital-grade pump in order to make anything come out (I am committed to BF, otherwise I would've quit a long time ago, it's sometimes painful to see how little I am able to pump). Hopefully you won't have any issues with BF or your supply and all this will be useless to you, but again you never know ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I rent a hospital-grade pump at Georgetown and they charge $60/month. If you're considering going that route, call your insurance to see if they would cover it (mine will).

PP, which insurance do you have?

[Anonymous]

I agree with the PPs who recommended waiting to buy a pump until you're sure BF will work for you. You can use one for free while you're in the hospital and then rent one from them or the BF center on K Street while you test things out. At the hospital, they will give you brand new tubing that works with the hospital-grade pumps. If you do wind up buying one, you can buy a new Medela Pump-In-Style (which literally every friend of mine used, so I just went with it) on e-bay for cheaper than in a store. If you decide to BF, it is great to have a pump on maternity leave, because then you can pump and have others feed the baby while you're out of the house--or better yet, sleeping! My husband always did the 5am feed, so I would get to sleep from the 2am feeding through until around 8am, which was heaven. Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I rent a hospital-grade pump at Georgetown and they charge $60/month. If you're considering going that route, call your insurance to see if they would cover it (mine will).

PP, which insurance do you have?

I have CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I rent a hospital-grade pump at Georgetown and they charge $60/month. If you're considering going that route, call your insurance to see if they would cover it (mine will).

PP, which insurance do you have?

Re renting, I have CIGNA. Not sure if they'll cover it. Anyone else have experience with CIGNA and Breast Pumps?