Here are a few questions that a customer recently asked us, regarding breast pumps and bottles.
“I have listened to the videos of the breastpumps and just thought the mini-electric was so loud! Hence the preference for the Medela Swing, seem like it would be so much more discrete especially in our small house! Is the swing significantly quieter in your opinion?”
Oh boy yes, there is a significant difference. We tried to show this in the videos by talking over them both in a normal voice so you could compare, regardless of what sort of speakers you have on your computer. With the swing, you can talk over it, and if you needed to you, you could talk on the phone with only a gentle noise in the background hardly audible. With the mini-electric you cant do anything except sit down and pump the noise is really loud. Expressing is certainly not glamourous that’s for sure!
Also take a look at the Chu Chu teat, which are a special teat that work the same way as a nipple. And they fit any narrow neck bottles, including the bottles that come with the swing pump of course. These teats are suitable from birth to toddler, just the one size works for all ages because the baby controls the flow rate.
“How many bottles do you suggest? We intend to do at least one bottle feed, sometimes two per day.”
Well you need at least one bottle and one teat. You’d just need to wash and sterilize it after every time that you use it. If you want to do more feeds, then it can make life a little easier if you have 2-3 bottles and 2-3 teats.
By the way, you can sterilize these with a microwave sterilizer, boiling in a saucepan, medela sterilization microwave bags etc.
“With the Medela swing would it be a sensible plan to express into the milk storage bags then serve in a bottle?”
Yes you can do that if you know that you will be storing it rather than baby drinking it straight away. You can express directly into the bags. Store the bags in the fridge or the freezer, and then serve to baby in a bottle. Defrost the bags in the fridge, and warm the milk by submerging the bottle in a jug of hot water. Never put breast milk in the microwave.
If there is anything else you would like to know or are worried about, please ask as Breastmates are here to help you. We know that this how expressing /feeding thing can get very confusing!
