A few months before I gave birth, a friend told me something that stuck with me. She said, “You have to remember that the point is to get breast milk into her body, not that formula is poison. And it doesn’t matter if it comes from your breast or a bottle.”
I had read a few points of view that said that formula was poison. Much like the epidural, my objection to formula was never because I was a purist. It’s simple, formula is expensive, breast milk is free.
After I had Angela, I could not get her to nurse. She was three weeks early and I hadn’t had time to get a breast pump yet, but the hospital had one that I could use while I was there. They also gave me a bag of accessories to go with it. I knew I didn’t plan on buying the compatible breast pump, so most of them were useless to me, but it did come with a hand pump, which would help to keep me stimulated over the next couple of days until I could get the electric one. I sent Lloyd out with a list of things to get from Target, including Tommee Tippee Single Electric Breast Pump.
Tommee TIppee is a brand that, if the box is to be believed, has been popular in the UK for years. I had heard of the bottles before. They’re slightly smaller, and have a wider mouth. I worked with a little boy who would not take a bottle because he was so used to his mom’s breast. Even he took this bottle because it was shaped more like a breast. I put these bottles and the breast pump on my registry. I got the bottles, not the breast pump, that we bought with a bunch of gift cards.
The entire system is wonderful. Let me start by saying that the breast pump I used at the hospital had a hard plastic cone to attach to my nipple and it hurt! The one I bought had a soft silicone cup that squeezed the nipple. I found this much more comfortable. It took weeks before I felt the need for nipple cream.
With the Tommee Tippee system, the pump attaches directly into the bottle. There are also inserts that fit inside the bottle before you attach to the pump that can be pumped into directly and then refrigerate. When you are ready to use the milk inside the insert, you simply fill the bottle with tap water as hot as you can get it, put the insert back in, and then attach a nipple. The inserts that come with the pump are 2 oz inserts, 4oz are also available, which I have also purchased. I also have a bottle warmer for occasions where I don’t use the inserts at all. I didn’t think that I would use it, but as it turns out, I do.
The only thing I regret about the breast pump is that I didn’t get the double. I go back and forth on this. I think it would be awkward to hold both cups at once, but it would take me half the time to pump. Either way, I already purchased the single. Maybe with my next child I will get the double. I can tell you that if I do have another baby, I’m taking this pump with me to the hospital.
There are purest, and quite a few of them, who say that I shouldn’t give up on nursing her directly and I haven’t completely given up, but pumping seems to work for me, especially with this particular system. I am not being paid any money from this company, (I wish I was that big), but I will say I absolutely love it! And if anyone from the Tommee Tippee company is reading this, please, send me free stuff!
No comments:
Post a Comment