Nature has designed the human breast milk to meet a baby’s nutritional needs, so both breastfeeding and pumping are excellent methods to feed breast milk to babies. Breast milk is the natural food for infants and breast pumps are a great option for moms who cannot breastfeed. Gone are the days when the mom must be present to feed the baby with nutrient-packed breast milk. With breast pumps, mothers can avoid switching to formula. First, let’s take a quick look at some of the benefits of breast pumps.
Benefits of Breast Pumps
- Access
Breast milk is the nourishing goodness for babies. However, it is not always possible for mothers to breastfeed their babies, especially for moms who are working outside the home. Breast pumping, on the other hand, lets the baby continue to have access to the mother’s milk when she is not around.
- Control over feed timings
With breast pumps, mothers or caregivers can make a schedule to feed the baby, which means they have more control over the timing of feeds and can get more organized.
- Sometimes breast pump is a necessity
At times, pumping may be the only option to feed mother’s milk to babies in the NICU or the ones who cannot be nursed. Thanks to breast pumps, babies under these circumstances can enjoy the health benefits of breast milk. Nonetheless, moms in such scenarios also feel a greater sense of contribution to their baby’s recovery.
- Helps increase breast milk supply
Pumping after breastfeeding can help increase milk supply. Alternatively, keeping a stash of milk ready helps mothers who deal with a low milk supply to feed their babies.
- Bonding opportunity for fathers
Feeding time is also a bonding opportunity with the newborn and pumping allows the father a chance to share in the love.
- Break for tired moms
Tired moms can get a break on midnight feedings as fathers can feed babies with already pumped milk and share the responsibility.
Breast Pumps
Here are some of our picks and breast pump reviews.
- Spectra S1 Plus Electric Breast Pump
A closed system, lightweight, and portable breast pump by Spectra, it offers the option for single or double pumping. Moreover, it has a strong, adjustable vacuum pump and comes with a carrying handle.
One of the shoppers who had twins who spent some time in NICU reviewed on Amazon about this pump. She had a great experience with this pump. The features such as night light, timer, memory feature, vacuum control, portability, and super quiet working impressed her a great deal.
- Farlin Ele-Cube 2 in 1 Manual & Electric Breast Pump
The Ele-Cube pump by Farlin provides dual manual and electric pumping. With 9 suction levels and easy readable suction level LED indicator, its memory function automatically adjusts to the most comfy rhythm every time you turn it on.
- Haakaa Silicone Manual Breast Pump
The Haakaa Silicone Manual Breast Pump is affordable, portable, and offers a convenient way to store breast milk that may otherwise go to waste. All you have to do is attach it to the opposite breast from the one you are nursing your baby with to preserve milk that is let down at the same time. On top of that, you can use it to express a specific small amount of milk when weaning or trying to reduce your breast fullness between feedings.
A shopper reviewed on Amazon that with the help of Haakaa she was able to switch to nursing from pumping. It helped her manage the consistent oversupply of breastmilk while nursing the baby.
- NUK Luna Electric Breast Pump
The NUK Luna Electric Breast Pump is efficient, gentle, soft, flexible and comes with NUK First Choice+ Anti-Colic Silicone Teat, cap, stand, and a Breast Milk Container. Adjustable for maximum comfort, it is small and can also be used with one hand effortlessly.
One of the customers who reviewed this product on Amazon, said that it is easy to use and helps quickly get a good amount of breast milk.
- Tommee Tippee Made for Me Double Electric Breast Pump
Tommy Tippee’s Made for Me Double Electric Breast Pump is significantly quieter and a great piece of equipment for busy moms. This USB-rechargeable pump lets you simply charge it up which makes it ideal for on-the-go use. This Tommee Tippee breast pump gives 90 minutes of cord-free pump time to mothers, whenever and wherever they need it.
A mother reviewed it on Amazon and she was impressed by its relatively compact size, ability to extract a good quantity of breast milk, and portability.
- Pigeon Milk Saver Pump
Made with food-grade silicone, the Pigeon Milk Saver Pump is designed to stimulate production and also collect the milk that leaks from the second breast during lactating.
A first-time mother posted breast pump review on Amazon that this is a great help for mothers who don’t produce much breast milk for their newborns.