Thanks to encouragement from Christine and Karen from their blogs, I had decided I would continue breastfeeding even after returning to work. It would mean having to express during working hours. For that, I made a huge purchase with my breast pump. After researching a lot during my confinement, I settled for the Ameda Lactaline Personal double pump, putting aside the initial Spectra 3 I was considering. I’m not one of those lucky women who find it so easy to pump even with a manual pump, for me, I really needed a good one in order get anything out. At the time, I wanted to buy this from UK, but it so happened that the site was not selling to Malaysia at that time. Well, they are, so this product is available at Pumps4mums for much much cheaper than getting it locally, for eg at Blessedmums.com. I got mine for RM700 plus, while from UK, one can get it for RM500+ including all the shipping charges etc.
I chose the Ameda because it is really lightweight, even know as the World’s smallest double electric pump. It is also important to use a double pump at work in order to save time, pump one side each would probably take 30 minutes, while a double pump only needs 15 minutes. I also find that the let down reflex would happen together at the same time for both sides, all the more why double pumps are necessary.
At the moment, I’ve successfully pumped at work for one week. Yea only one week, and getting the hang of it. Thank God at my work place, we have an extra room that I can use for this purpose. I pump three time at work, once at 10am, then after lunch at 1.30pm, and again at 3.30pm. Each time, I get about 4 oz-5 oz max. Then I have to wash up the parts with soapy warm water. I bring my own Amway Dishdrops for this purpose. I also lug around a big backpack with all the parts and bottles. Basically, the things that I need are these:
1) Amedia Pump and Electric adapter
2) A box to contain the parts, 2 shields, 2 Bottles, Valves and tubes
3) A cooler bag from Moms little ones, the backpack type to contain 3 ice bags and around 6 bottles for collection
4) Another box to store the bottles in the fridge at work
5) Tape to label the bottles
3 times of pumping at work is actually not enough for the next day’s use. So, I would pump again at home after baby’s night feeding, usually around 2am. I’d basically be up then until the 4am feeding if there is one, and then pump again early morning at 6am something if possible. Even right now, it’s 3.30am after I just did one time. On Fridays, the milk that I pumped at work have to be frozen right away, since I won’t be using it till Monday. Milk that is not frozen only last 2-3 days. It is best to use it fresh however. Josiah is already eating up to 6oz each time and feeds about 4 times during the my working hours. So I need to leave about 6 bottles of 4oz each time, and sometimes it’s not enough and my sis-in-law have defroze those from the freezer.