Breastfeeding Pumps - Choosing a pump - Healthination

MELISSA NAGIN: Hi, I'm lactation consultant Melissa Nagin. Breast pumps and accessories cater to every shape, size and situation. Watch this video to make sure you have all the right gear to make your pumping as pleasant as possible. MELISSA NAGIN: What have you been using? FEMALE: Uhm, I have been using a single electric, sometimes while he is nursing on one side and I'll be pumping on the other MELISSA NAGIN: Okay FEMALE: Or, I if I have both hands free, which isn't often at home, as a new mom, I do use a double pump that I have, a double electric. uhm, in the beginning I had a hard time with the breast shields and figuring out it why it was pinching me and it sort of took me a little while to learn that they come in different sizes and I one breast is larger than the other so actually, I use two different sizes. MELISSA NAGIN: Youﾉyou should be sized and in a lot of breastfeeding specialty shops, they will have someone just like with the bra fittings, that will actually size you for the proper ***. And you also mentioned about one side being larger than the other: very, very normal, very, very common uhm, we but that's why they have to sort of size you up. There's nothing abnormal about that FEMALE: [LAUGHTER] MELISSA NAGIN: Uhm, and there are also many different inserts as well; I see, you know, there are soft, softer inserts for some who really can't handle the hard plastic; there are a lot of different, uhm, accoutrements out there now that we can use to make pumping an actual pleasant experience. FEMALE: In the beginning I also was not getting that much milk and I was getting very freaked out that I'm gonna go back to work and nothing's gonna be coming out and he's going to starve at daycare, or something, or I'll have to run back and forth so, I've been concerned that is it a pump issue? Is it I'm not practicing enough issue? And I just haven't known what to do in terms of that. MELISSA NAGIN: A lot of women think that turning the pump all the way up, up to the highest suction and highest speed is gonna get the most milk out; but we actually want you to go slow and low because the baby, as aggressive of you might have a very aggressive baby with the nursing, they're still believe it or not very slow and low in their with their with their rhythm. So we really wanna mimic exactly what the baby's doing and a lot of women have found, once they've changed that, all of a sudden they're responding much better to the pump. With that said, uhm, if you need a more powerful pump, like a double electric, the single electric's really not gonna help you uhm, it's not it's not gonna maximize your potential, so to speak. Hospital grade pumps are fantastic; they're very, very strong. FEMALE: I'm concerned that a hospital grade rental would just be really expensive and it's probably not worth it for me if I plan to do it for so long then Iﾊshould invest in a really good pump. MELISSA NAGIN: Most places and, or sometimes lactation consultants, hospitals, clinics that rent pumps, the rental fees are actually not exorbitant uhm, for the hospital grade pumps but that is absolutely true. If you actually calculate sometimes a certain amount of months, you've already bought your pump. Uhm, and then you'll also have it for Baby Number Two, Baby Number Three, Four, Five however many you're planning on having FEMALE: I'm not that ambitious MELISSA NAGIN: [LAUGHTER]