BFF 1: Breastpump

The Medela Freestyle Double Electric Breast Pump was one of the priciest but most ROI-d purchases we made when we decided to breastfeed.  I used it to pump milk for the Princess and the Baby Ball, and my sister-in-law was even able to use it to pump milk for her daughter!  It was the perfect pump for me, especially when I went back to doing full days at work.

I planned to be a full-time working mom after I gave birth to the Princess (in 2010), but I also wanted to continue giving my baby breastmilk for as long as I could.  So, the thing I had to figure out was how I was going to express and store milk at work.  Oh, and how about that 2-hour commute home? I would also need to pump while the hubby drives us home! So, one thing was clear: we needed a breast pump.

Investing in a good breast pump that works for you and your routine is a good way to prolong your milk supply, especially if there are long periods of time you’ll be away from your nursing baby. It’s a way for you to collect milk while also keeping up your milk production.  You can find good overviews of why, when and how to use breast pumps from babycenter.com here. There’s actually a lot of information out there on the topic, since more and more moms are choosing to prolong milk production and breastmilk consumption through using breast pumps.

Ok, so I knew I needed a breast pump solution that was portable, lightweight and durable since I’ll be lugging it to work.  I needed to be able to pump while using the computer or while I was on a phone meeting, so a manual pump won’t work. A hands-free one would be better. I needed one that had a rechargeable battery and long battery life, for those times when my meetings would take me out of the office.  I needed a pump that would collect my milk in such a way that it would be easy to store, especially when I was still out of the house.  I needed something that was easy to clean so I could pack away quickly and reuse the pump for later sessions.  And if I needed to pump at home, the pump should not be too noisy as well, since I might need to use it when the baby is asleep and misses a feed. Oh, and that means I should be able to use it in the dark too.

Daming requirements, ano?  We researched, asked around, talked about it, and we finally decided to invest in the Medela Freestyle. It came with all the parts you see here.

 

The double pump also means that you can express from both breasts at a time. It has a memory where you can store pumping/suction speed, as well as a timer.

And I like that it came with the cooler bag, ice pack and four bottles. No need to transfer the milk anymore (unless I have more pumping sessions), I can just pack these straight away until I can store them in the refrigerator or freezer at home.

One thing I’d like to note though, is that the breast shields it came with were not really my size. I didn’t realize this until I started pumping for the Baby Ball.  Kaya pala the fit didn’t feel right dati.  So, ayun, be sure to get breast shields that come in your size.

It also came with this handy breastfeeding guide.

Another winner from this purchase is also the tote bag! So classic and stylish, and very inconspicuous. We actually still use it now as our diaper bag, and it looks like this:

You can also read up on recent breast pump reviews here, here, and here.

So, all-in-all, this BFF (Breastfeeding Find, more about that here) helped me immensely in providing breastmilk to my babies even when I’m not with them, helped enable others to bottlefeed my babies with my milk (that’s bonding time for the hubby and the baby, and precious “me-time” for me), and helped me maximize my supply even when baby misses a feed.

Up next: BFF 2-Breastmilk Storage Bags!