A Guide To Choosing The Right Breast Pump

Breastfeeding is one of the essential activities in the entire childbirth process and is something that every mother looks forward to. Yet, it is not always possible to breastfeed every time for working mothers. On the other hand, stay at home moms too need breast pumps at times especially when there is excess milk and the baby cannot breastfeed. Considering these problems, mankind came up with an amazing invention that has taken breastfeeding process to a portable and whole new level. This brilliant invention is- The breast pump.

You might have thought of buying a breast pump but the variety of breast pumps available on the market is enough to overwhelm anyone. Finding the ideal breast pump as per your requirements is very important and tough and to that effect, Medela has decoded the pump search process and has formulated 6 parameters that should be considered in order to buy the right pump.

1. Type of Lifestyle

The lifestyle of a mother signifies a lot about the type of breast pump that she should buy. Whether she is a stay at home mom, working mom or a traveling mom, the type of breast pump will vary accordingly. For a stay at home mom, the manual breast pump is generally recommended in which, you manually pump the milk using the device and a bottle is connected to it for storage. While for a working mom an electric breast pump is recommended where the mother only needs to attach the pump to the breast and the milk will automatically be pumped out and stored in the bottle.

2. Breastfeeding Goal

The next factor is the amount of breastfeeding/breast pumping that a mother wants to or is able to do in a day. While some mothers prefer to occasionally pump the milk and breastfeed the baby often, there are other moms who are not able to breastfeed every time and hence need to store the breast milk for their child. Also, sometimes too much milk is accumulated in the breasts and thus the mother needs to relieve herself, for that as well the mother essentially needs a breast pump.

3. Conditions of Childbirth

Feeding a premature baby and a full term baby are two very different things and thus the time when your child was born affects the breastfeeding routine and the time after which bottle can be used even with the breast milk. Thus, the type of breast pump will depend on the delivery conditions and the time it has been since childbirth.

4. Baby’s Health

Another important factor that needs to be taken into account while selecting a breast pump is the baby’s health. While a healthy baby will be able to latch on to the breasts easily and have a natural sucking rhythm, a comparatively sick baby like a low birth weight baby or a baby with facial defect will need a lot of attention and care as they will not be able to breastfeed naturally and thus the breast pumps that will need to be bought will differ accordingly.

5. Breast/Nipple issues

The process of breastfeeding takes its toll on mothers especially the skin around the breasts and the nipples. As a result of which, the nipples tend to crack or the breasts might become sore which in turn becomes painful for moms during breastfeeding while the child is not able to breast feed properly. Thus, using the correct breastfeeding pump based on the problems (if any) you are facing is very important and should be kept in mind when buying the breast pump.

6. Breastfeeding Challenge

The last factor that needs to be taken into account is the challenge that you are facing (if any). Challenges such as latching problem might affect the breastfeeding for both the mother and the child which can be slowly corrected by using a bottle with breast milk. Also, having twins or triplets also affects the feeding process and it is thus recommended to use breast pumps in this situation so that all the babies can be fed at right times.

Breastfeeding has many benefits for both the child and the mother including the great amount of nutrition it provides to the child. And as such, we would like to help you out in this journey. Thus, we bring to you an advisor with an inbuilt algorithm which takes your input based on all these factors and recommends the ideal breast pump for you. All you need to do is select the answers to the options and you will be set to buy the ideal breast pump for you.

Your ideal breast pump is now just a click away!! Get to the advisor Here