Breast Pump - Madison Heights,MI

Like most of the other posts, I recommend a Medela pump. If you want to use Avent bottles you can buy an attachment so that you can pump directly into the Avent bottles. Also, someone posted that Avent bottles leak. They are fine unless they are left laying on their side when full. I used Avent with my first and Dr. Browns with my second (Avent did not have a BPA free option when my second was born. I did not know about the BPA risks with my first) If you are concerned about the leak factor Dr. Browns worked great for us. I was worried about cleaning the extra parts at first, but the only extra piece is the vent straw. But with twins I'd say the fewer parts the better and recommend the Avent with the adapter for the Medela pump.

some advent bottle leak. the ones I use where from johnson and johnson. I don't know hwats good and not.

I used the Medela Pump In Style Advanced. I pumped for about a year 3 times a day 5 days a week and it still works great. My advice if you get this or any other pump is to get at least 2 full sets of the horns/connectors - extras come in handy when you don't feel like doing the dishes and/or forget to put the set you washed back in the pack!

I pumped into the medela bottles and then put the milk into the Lansinoh bags to freeze (if I was going to freeze it anyways). Then, we'd use the Playtex drop-in nursers for bottles. If you are going to continue to breastfeed you should always use a newborn or size 1 nipple so that the flow isn't faster than the baby can get from your breasts so the nipple sizes don't really matter over that unless you're not breastfeeding anymore.

I really liked the Playtex bottles with the cheaper target brand drop-in liners.

Good luck!

EDIT - I just wanted to add on here that we tried the Avent, Dr. Brown, BreastFlow and 3 other bottle brands/types before finding one that both my daughter AND I liked. I guess what I'm trying to say is to not get very many of whatever you decide on because the baby may not like it and you'll be stuck with a bunch of bottles you don't need. Just get 1-3 of whatever one you want to like and if you do end up liking it, you can always go get more.

I have used only Medela - both the single electric & the double electric. Hands down, I love the Medela Pump In Style double electric. It's a time & life saver!

I didn't have much luck with bottles ~ we tried a bunch of different kinds, and my boys were picky. We finally settled on the Playtex with disposable (but NOT drop-in) liners.

Good luck ~ enjoy those babies!

B.

Since pumps are so expensive and you don't know how it will really be when your twins get here, why don't you just rent from the hospital? I rented a $2000 hospital grade double electric hands free pump (medela) for about $60 a month. And they give you all the accessories and stuff to keep and it's all brand new obviously. I didn't spend hundreds of dollars and when I was done pumping, I just brought it back. It was very time consuming to nurse and then pump, so I am glad I didn't buy one since I returned it about a month later. Good luck!

I LOVE the medela pump n style breastpump! You can usually get it better priced at the hospital than at a store ( good to know if you don't get it as a gift and need to buy it yourself.) Also some insurance companies will reimburse you part of the fee if you have an rx from your doctor and having twins I'm sure your doctor will give you one :) As far as the bottles are concerned... I didn't use them for very long because they are small so I pumped into their bottles and transferred the milk to another bottle. The medela bottle nipples are designed to be similar to the breast for easy transition from breast to bottle. Hope this helps!

T. ~
the lactation consultants that I work with recommend the Medela. You can use any bottle you want with them...they have a universal connection. Is there a reason you don't want to actually breast feed? It will take you twice as long to pump, wash/prepare bottles, feed the babies....with breast feeding you just feed either one at a time per breast, or both at the same time. Much less work and time in the long run, just takes time to get it all going and in a routine. I've seen many women breast feed twins.

good luck!
D.

I just want to say good for you for nursing your sweet twins. My daughter did this and tells everyone who's expecting twins that this is by far the easiest way to handle twins. Hey, you're going to be pretty absorbed with them no matter what you do! Give them the very best and nursing gives them lots more eye contact with a busy mama and special time with you. Sometimes my granddaughters tandem-nursed and sometimes individually. They did this till they were about 3. They are 20 today and doing well! One had special needs too - all the more reason to go the extra mile! Not familiar enough with pump brands to recommend one but I'd put them to the breast as often as you can and only pump if you really need to cause you can't be with them.

I have the Medela pump n style and really like it. We used the pump for bottles if I wasn't available and it was a great pump. You can buy a pump used if you know someone that might be selling their's.. you'd have to buy the attachments and things for it, but it might save you $100 to do that.. just a thought.

I actually like my Ameda Purely Yours better than I liked the Medela Pump in Style. No milk gets into the tubing, it's impossible. And it is less bulky.

T.,
I am a huge fan of Medela. I have the Pump n Style Advanced with the Metro Bag (http://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/products/breast-pump...) and would recommend it to anyone. I also would recommend the Lansinoh Breast Milk Storage Bags, I liked them the best out of all of the bags I tried. I do not like the Avent bottles, they always leaked for me and several of my friends. I'm glad to hear that others liked them as I was hoping I would too, but I could never get them to not leak no matter what I did. I use Dr. Brown's and love them. I don't care for all the pieces you have to wash, but I still love them. There is another bottle called Born Free that I'm thinking of trying. It looks similar to Dr. Brown's but the pieces are a little different. I think everyone just has a different experience. I hope whatever you choose is right for you regardless of what we all recommend! :)

Congrats on your pregnancy!

I have an 11 month old son. I use the Avent Isis Duo Electric pump. It has been phenomenal. There are several great things about it. I REALLY liked that you can pump directly into the bottle and seal it, freeze it, thaw it, and feed baby without every having to transfer the milk to other containers. The seals make traveling with the milk very easy and leakproof. The several different nipples and sippy cup spout and training handle options also make the avent system wonderful. The nipples have a built-in Air-Flex valve so my son didn't get overly gassy and you don't have to wash or keep track of extra pieces like you do with other brands. You'll find washing them is very easy too because of the wide opening . . . not so narrow like most others. I am expecting my second and very excited to have this system to use again. Hope this helps!

T.,

The Medela is the best on the market. I used the Pump In Style with both of my children for the first year - while I was working full time.

I would recommend the Playtex One Step Breast Milk Storage system. I've included the website below. It's what I used with my second child and wish I had for my first. The storage system connects directly to your bottle drop ins and then goes straight to your Playtex bottles. It's great!
In addition to that you have very little clean up at the end of the day!

http://www.playtexbaby.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?i...

Congratulations on the twins! This system would for sure make things much easier for you in the long run. As a previously full time working mother and nursing at the same time. You need things to be as easy as possible. :)

Good luck!

C.

I have a medela pump.. it worked great for me. You can pump directly in the bottle.. but if you are storing and freezing milk - you have to transfer the milk into a plastic ziploc storage bag. Medela pumps fit on standard bottles. not the wide mouth bottles.. so any standard bottle will work with the pump and you can choose from several nipple shapes. I thought my daughter was going to go to day care soI didnt want the avent bottles that everyone uses.. so her bottles would nto be confused.. I picked the gerber deluxe bottles.. very simple bottle... it uses the wide cap and wide nipples but they are pretty standard and easy to buy parts for.

I offer my support and encouragement for nursing twins... I nursed 2 kids.. and I have to say in those first few weeks. nursing is a full time job..and that is with one baby.. If you dont have a ready willling and able grandma nearby to help you I highly suggest finding a nanny/mohters helper to come by a couple of days a week to help you.

It will be very hard in the beginning but it will get easier..

T.-
I am a midwife and have demo'd about a dozen different brands of pumps while teaching breastfeeding to nurses and to parents. I think you are right - the Medela pump has a tremendous amount of research behind it, and in practice seems to be the easiest to use, best customer service, and actually the best pump overall. Many of the other pumps are actually produced by parent companies that also sell formula, and as a consequence their commitment to successful breastfeeding is shallow at best. The reason that the quality of the pump matters so much is that since breastfeeding is mainly a supply & demand system, if the pump does not fully drain the breast of milk, then the message to the body becomes "Don't need so much, Make less milk." Medela is also careful to make their pump as strong as it can/needs to be, but yet with attention to not damaging breast tissue or nipples, always a plus! I've had both employees and clients have problems with their milk supply when they have used inexpensive or used pumps.

The bottle and nipple you choose to use is completely independent of the brand of pump, and is often dictated by the baby. It's not uncommon for parents to end up trying a couple different nipples and bottles, until they find the one the baby happily accepts. Its for this reason that I often to suggest to parents that once they've picked a bottle/nipple that they like, to just get one or two of them at the most, until they see how it goes with their little one before investing the number of bottles to meet their own particular needs. Make sure you get BPA-free bottles and nipples, BornFree and Adiri led the way with this several years ago long before it became a media issue.
All of these things, and some great advice, can be found at www.VisitIndigo.com.
Good Luck!
B

I used the same Medela Pump In Style pump with all four of my children (each one for 12 months) and it still runs great! It is a fantastic buy. I also used the Avent bottles. I did have to buy a converter set because the bottles have large openings and the Medela pump is set up for standard size bottles. I bought the converter kit online because I had a difficult time finding them at stores. Just thought you should know, so you'll be prepared.

Good luck with everything,
J.

Hi T.! The Medela Pump in Style is great, very portable and effective. Blue Cross bought my pump for me once my deductable was met, so you might want to check with insurance.

We also use Avent bottles which my daughter takes better than any other brand. I store the milk in Lansinoh bags, which I found to work the best, though the Medela ones aren't too bad either.

Good luck :)

That is the exact combination I use - Medela Pump and Avent bottles!!! I really recommend staying away from the Dr. Brown bottles no matter what you hear - ugh - I gave those up after about 2 weeks and moved on the Avent and have used those for both my children now. Best of Luck!!!

I have to agree with the Medela Pump in Style! Loved mine - and I had a different brand before that one. Also wanted to pass on this info - check with your insurance company about whether they will cover a breast pump as part of your insurance coverage. All I had to do was get a prescription from my doctor and then I could either get one (with the prescription from a local medical supply store -OR- purchase a pump at the store and send the receipt along with the precription and the insurance company will send a reimbursement check! It was way worth the effort to check it out and se3nd in my receipt - they paid 90%! Good luck!

I love my Medela Pump in Style.

We switched from Medela bottles to Avent beacuse Avent holds more (as he got older, we needed bigger bottles) but I had a horrible experience with Avent. We have the BPA free bottles and they leak horribly, ALL the time.

We're sticking with Medela bottles for our next baby. The nipples and nipple rings fit perfectly on Gerber glass bottles which are also BPA free and are affordable.