Pumps

For a road trip, a manual pump is a great option. Medela no has a manual pump similar to the Avent Isis, but no BPA and uses smaller neck bottles.

Another Medela product helpful on a road trip: wipes designed for cleaning pump parts when you don't have access to water. Leave no residue you'd have to worry about.

The manual pump may work fine for you at home too, but if time is an issue at all, you'll want a double electric. Prices range from $200-$300 and it will probably last through as many babies as you want to have!
suep bosombuddies

Medela... as many others have said. You may also explore renting one vs. buying as they are about 300.00. I had the double pump in style - LOVED IT!

I love my Avent isis iq duo pump. No milk can ever get in the tubing. it memorizes your pattern, which you can change. It comes with a manual pump as well which is great for road trips so you don't have to pull over, just pump straight into the bottle and feed. easy to use!

I do the same thing - pump for emergencies or just so I can go out on a date once in a while, or if we take my little girl to the zoo it's nice to have milk pumped. I know a lot of people have already mentioned these two pumps, but I have tried the Avent Isis (which worked great in the beginning) and the Medela Harmony (which in my opinion works better). The Avent was great when I first started breast feeding because I had so much extra milk all of the time anyway that it took very little effort to pump. However now that my daughter is 5 months old I haven't been able to get nearly the amount of milk pumped with this that I need, so I switched to the Medela Harmony, and it works great, is easier to clean in my opinion and I just like the pump overall better. The actual pump componant on the Medela can swivel, which makes it easier to pump comfortably, and the suction overall is just better. I would recommend the Medela, but the Avent works just fine when your milk supply is good anyway. Good luck!

Pumping and feeding will never be easier to me than just plain nursing. Nursing=Less to clean (you were going to shower anyway, right?), less to hassle with (no pieces to misplace or set up), less mental energy used on questions that keep you from enjoying your baby (When did I last pump? When should I pump again? How much milk did I pump and what did I do with it?). I understand expressing milk is a necessity for mothers who must spend time away from their babies, but for me, except in rare circumstances, it's almost always easier to keep Baby with me than strategize to be away from him.
That said, La Leche League has an excellent handout about choosing a breast pump based on your needs. They have saved my sanity dozens of times, and I highly recommend you check out their Web site and give your local Leader a call. The site is www.llli.org or www.lllusa.org and all services, including phone help, is free. You may be able to find that handout online, but a Leader would probably mail it to you. If you went to a meeting, you'd be able to visit in person with other experienced breastfeeding mothers and see how they manage breastfeeding with working at home, staying close with their husbands and enjoying vacations.
Best wishes!

I have Medela pump in style.... but I mainly want to say I think it is smart to introduce the bottle for just the reasons you have listed.
The best advice I was ever given was to introduce the bottle to my little one so I could leave the house or just have help from others when need be.
While I breastfeed FULL time I would give our daughter one bottle a day (usually at night) and it was wonderful. I felt like a great weight was lifted off of me knowing that she could take a bottle if need be.
I will say not all babies will take to it right away. I now have another little one and she didn't take to the idea so much. BUT we just kept at it and finally she just accepted the one bottle a day concept. Plus with this baby she needed extra calories so she also get one formula bottle a day and it has helped her sleep at night and not hurt my milk production at all! And that makes it nice for when we are out and about and I can't feed for whatever reason and she can take a formula bottle. Having 2 kids 15 months apart makes sitting down to nurse on demand a bit harder to do :)
I would also suggest renting one for a few weeks and make sure you like it and want to pump. Then you can spend the money if you feel like it is worth it.
Good Luck

You could practice hand-expression (I never did well with it) for part-time needs, but I used a manual Avent Isis for full-time pumping with both kids and loved it. It takes up little space, is very inexpensive, worked well for me, and is great for on-the-go (I've used it in restaurant bathrooms on anniversary dates, in the car while my husband was driving--not romantic, but absolutely necessary!, in the closet at work, at bed and breakfasts, etc.). I also love the Lansinoh milk storage bags for the freezer, which would be great for you to store some ahead to grab if you go on a date. If you have a higher milk production you might consider the First Years milk storage container, which holds them upright and in order--I always had milk bags falling on my head when I opened the freezer and loved the organizer. It also kept us from losing milk and having to throw it out later.

For bottlefeeding, when both of my boys were 3/3 1/2 weeks old, my husband would give them a bottle when he got home from work most days. I'd run and shower or something and he got to feed the baby, which helped both of them get used to taking a bottle regularly.

Medela is the market leader by far and is very trusted by hospitals, parents, etc. I used a Medela Pump in Style for a year with my son. I was a working mom who had only selfish reasons to stop nursing, so I pumped many, many times/day for his first year until he weaned.

I pumped with my daughter until 11 weeks when I started chemo.

One thing to consider about the trip is how to transport the breastmilk - especially in July. Air travel will be quite difficult with the quantity needed per TSA regulations.

When we traveled while our kids were nursing, I'd simply bring my pump with me, some bottles, some dishwashing detergent and use that to feed him when I couldn't nurse.

Just remember that once you open the box, you're stuck with the pump. Some pharmacies and hospitals allow you to rent pumps - I'd almost recommend that to see if you like a particular pump before spending a large sum of money on the investment.

Good luck!

I work full-time from home, and my kids go to daycare because they are 3 and 1. Too much of a distraction! When they were younger and I worked in an office, I used the Ameda Purely Yours. It is seriously awesome! But if you are thinking of only pumping sometimes, I'd recommend a manual pump. You can pump as much or as little as you like that way. Yes, each time takes a little longer, but it's pretty easy to get the hang of. I liked "First Years" pumps that were made of hard plastic, but I also have a Medela hand pump.

Good luck!

Word of caution - make sure to use low flow nipples - those immitating the breast - otherwise your baby may refuse to breast feed. And even with those, it can happen - happened to me! If it does, not the end of the world, but you do want to continue breast feeding from your breast as long as possible, so try to avoid / postpone it for as long as you can. Also, when pumping, try to empty your breasts - pump at least 15 minutes on each side. Remember that your milk supply is determined by demand. The more you pump - both in frequency and length each time - the more milk you'll likely have. I too used Ameda Purely Yours and it was a good quality pump, cheaper than Medela. But I agree that you may want a manual pump as well for the road trip. I'm not sure if you can get a car adaptor for the electric pump - maybe those are available. Just don't go more than 2-3 hours without pumping. When your baby gets older - after 6-7 month - if you still plan to breastfeed, you can go for longer stretches of time - 4-5 hours.

Medela! I have the single electric pump, and have used it through 3 babies, I never would have survived without it. I buy the gerber 4oz glass bottles to store the milk in my fridge, and get the lansinoh freezer bags for long term storage. You're right, KNOWING you're about to pump and store milk in case of emergency (or leisure) is a great comfort. Let me know if you have any additional questions about pumping (my son won't nurse anymore, but I am still pumping like crazy!) Best wishes!

I'm not up-to-date on pumps and models, but I love my Avent Isis pump that I bought when I had my first son 6 years ago. It's manual and small, so you can use it anywhere, even in the car. I've used it on road trips to pump and then immediately feed it to the baby in a bottle without stopping the car. Of course, then you can't use it again until it's washed, but it saves one stop per day.

I love it because it's comfortable. The only thing I don't love is that it only connects to Avent wide-mouth bottles. My babies don't like the Avent nipples, so I have to have bottles that my babies don't like.

Another advantage of an Isis is that you can probably get a used one cheap~ I bought mine for about $25 6 years ago!

medela breast pumps are wonderful. I have had mine for 6 and 1/2 years and have used it for all 3 of my kids and I am using the same one. Love it.

The Symphony by Medela is a really nice pump. In addition, it even comes with a portable pump for your purse. You can pump both breasts at the same time. Its electric.

Pumping after feedings and often will increase your milk production and allow you to get some milk stored up, while still satisfying your baby.

For bottles, I recommend to my clients the standard, 4 oz. glass bottles because glass is a great and they warm from cold quicker and then they hold the warmth longer, so baby enjoys the luke warm milk.

Evenflo 4 oz glass bottles. (Not wide-mouth)
Gerber 3 prong brown latex nipples (also the standard, not wide)

These are great and at a great price.

Or, a more sophisticated but expensive bottle comes from Dr. Brown. Great bottles. Get the standard opening on top with small lid not wide mouth openings. .

For a two-week old, 2 ozs to 3 1/2 oz feedings are the norm with burping about 3 different times. The most challenging part with newborns is to keep them alert and awake during feedings. If you can do that and get your feeding done in 30 mins. baby will not wear out and fall asleep before getting a full feeding.

D. M.
____@____.com
Littleton, Colorado

Best pump is Medela Harmony, but that's so expensive that people just rent it. (If you only need it for a couple weeks to get your milk supply established, it's DEFINITELY worth it.) I like the Medela "pump-in-style" but that might be overkill for your needs. (I pump twice a day every day at work so someone else can feed my baby while I'm away.) If your milk supply is good (baby's growing well, etc) and you just want a little milk here and there like you describe, you might do just fine with a manual pump, which is more like $20.

A part time pump is way less expensive than full time use (hooray!). There's a great book on Amazon that explains different pump choices called Balancing Breast and Bottle: Reaching Your Breastfeeding Goals. The book has a website with helpful info, too. It has a complete section on how to pick a bottle based on how your own baby sucks, too.

I pumped exclusively (both my kids had trouble at the breast) and I used the medela. It was awesome! It was the basic model, pump-n-style, and it held up great. I know you won't need it for all that, but I still recommend an electric versus a hand pump. Also, look into something called a hands free boustierre (spelling??) b/c it enables you to pump while doing something else, like say maybe working on the computer for your job!

It was a few years ago but I bought mine at Hackley Medical Supply on line and it was significantly cheaper than any where else. You might see if they are still available.

Good luck and get out there on a date, girl!