Breast Pump buying online? A customer recently asked me this question about which breast pump would be suitable for her needs.
She said “I need a breast pump that can be used regularly as I will be using it everyday while at university. But I also don’t have alot of money to spend on one. Thanks for helping me with this, I am feeling a bit lost.”
Okay, the type of breast pump ultimately comes down to how often you plan on using it, and also where you plan to use it.
Have you thought about where you’ll be using it ? Are there any rooms or quiet places that you could go, and which also have a power socket. Hopefully you don’t have to resort to a toilet. The location of where you will be using the breast pump is an important thing to consider.
So we’ll assume you’ll be using it once or maybe twice a day while you are away from baby…. In which case I’d suggest the Harmony Manual or theMini Electric. The Swing is the pump that I recommend most highly, because it is quiet and powerful, but its probably too much of an overkill for what you need
The Mini Electric is really noisy – which I think is a really important factor for your circumstance. See our breast pump demo videos
That really leaves us with the Harmony Manual. Now the very good news about this, is that it has a two phase method. It starts of pumping fast (for stimulation), then you turn the handle around and it goes into a longer slower motion. This is actually an advantage over the Mini Electric which only has On/Off and for some women its not as efficient. So the Harmony manual has the same way as working as the Swing breast pump, just that its hand powered rather than a motor.
A lot of women do find that the Harmony Manual is very efficient at expressing, and not too hard to use. I actually recommend this one more than the Avent manual – as that one doesn’t have the two-phase method and also the trigger makes your hand sore very quickly with that.
You’ll also need to think about storing and carrying around the milk with you. (Do you have a locker?) We recommend getting a small Chilly Bag – like you’d take cold beers to a BBQ. You don’t need the expensive medela branded ones. And then some freezer bag things that you freeze overnight.
If you have access to a fridge thats even better.
Please contact us at Breastmates if you would like an assessment and personal reply, about deciding which breast pump is suitable for YOUR needs.
