Our week at the hospital we were blessed to be provided with an electric Medela breast pump. Having twins has it’s perks! Pumping after each feed to ensure you have emptied your feeding breast helps to ensure that milk is replenished and your supply is really good. Regular feeding/draining of the breast increases your body’s drive to make more. “Saving up” for the next feed doesn’t work as it signals to your body that the need is reduced and it’s supply will follow suit. So even if you don’t store it, it’s a great idea to completely drain your breast after bub has fed or at least every 6 hours to ensure your milk supply isn’t hindered. I can’t speak highly enough of the Medela electric pump. Efficient and painless it was such a blessing but at the end of the week I went home armed with only the Medela manual pump. Though still efficient it took quite a lot of shoulder and bicep work to pump every 4-6 hours throughout the night and was very tiring. When you’re sleep deprived it’s the last thing you want to do. Luckily my partner got some sort of glee out of performing the task for me sometimes during the day (hey, who am I to complain?). But the novelty wore off come night time!

So if you’re  keen to breastfeed but for some reason can’t feed on the breast (eg: multiple babies, nipple problems or you need to go back to work) hire an electric breast pump. I found this information only after the time had passed. Once you’ve had your baby time flies and you’re tired and ideas may not present themselves for you. That’s why I’m building this website, to help new mums with my experiences and with ideas that may help smooth the baby journey.

Electric Breast Pump Hire

This site also good information on breastfeeding with a counsellor helpline available.