What Breast Pump and Bottles/nipple Combination Works Well?

Updated on October 04, 2006
L.R. asks from Bedford, TX
11 answers

Dear Mamasource Moms: There are so many different pumps and bottle/nipples on market, I'm wondering what you recommend. I think, but am not sure, some pumps work better with certain bottles. I'm inclined to go with some sort of bottle with drop-ins to cut down on sterilizing & washing so many bottles. Please tell me what worked well for you and why. Thank you.

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C.T.

answers from Dallas on

I loved my Medela pump in style. It was fast, comfortable, and convenient and came with bottles that you could use to feed. You may wish to speak with a lactation consultant before you invest in a machine.

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D.R.

answers from Dallas on

I use the Medela Pump in Style everyday twice a day for the past 4 months and it works great. I keep the milk in the 5 oz bottles that it comes with, and will freeze the milk in those as well over the weekends. I follow up with the Playtex Nurser and use the drop-ins. Its so easy! Measuring has never been a problem, though. For the nipple, we use the Playtex brand fast flow. He just gets fustrated with the slower ones. I wash everything by hand and it takes me about 10 minutes to wash 4 bottle sets. Hope this helped.

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R.N.

answers from Dallas on

I had a pump in style. I liked it fine. I will say that I tried the playtex bottles for the same reason you said-less cleaning. I decided that the environmental effects were similar if I just used regular bottles and ran the dishwasher often. So, here's what I did.
I bought a pump in style,
about 16+ bottles with the sealing disks (avent brand)
about 16+ nipples, collars, etc.
about 10 sets (20 total) breast shield/valve assemblies
an isis manual pump
four dishwasher baskets
the adapter kit so that my bottles would fit the pump in style (avent makes one) and LOTS of dish washer detergent

I am due again in Jan and I plan to use this plan again. The Lansinoh bags are the best in my opinion if you want to store in disposables. I ran the dishwasher once a day at night usually.

Lactation consultants generally agree that avent is best if you're switching back and forth.

Good luck!
R.

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L.S.

answers from Dallas on

Whatpump you use has no effect one way or the other on what bottle you use. Your baby will be the one to decide which bottle works best for him or her. For a young infant, it's best to delay introducing the bottle for as long as you can. This will help you better establish your breast feeding. Also, this will cut down on the hassle of cleaning bottles until you absolutely have to.

I'm assuming you're going back to work and that is why you want to introduce a bottle. Once you do, it's best to go with a slow flow nipple otherwise they just drown. If you have a healthy baby, there's no need to sterilize really. You can wash the bottles/nipples in the dishwasher and that should do it.

Regarding pumps... I would recomend a Medela. The absolute best are the hospital grade pumps which you can rent from a lactation consultant. Whatever you do, don't buy a cheap pump or you will be throwing your money away. Check out Medela's web site -- www.medela.com -- to find a lactation consultant in your area. You might want to talk to one in advance to get their take too. I would also highly recomend going to a La Leche League meeting while you're still preganant. You can ask any questions you may have regarding breast feeding and this will help you enormously.

Good luck!

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H.B.

answers from Dallas on

I love Dr Brown's bottles, I highly recommend if you have baby problems with gas or spitting up!!! They are high but worth it!!!

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A.M.

answers from Dallas on

Hi L.! I'm 29 yrs old and just had my 1st baby. He is 4 months old now. I went through 3 different pumps and a bunch of different bottles and pacifiers. From trial and error, the best electric pump for me is the Early Years single electric pump. Its so easy to take apart and clean after each use and the sucking pressure doesn't make me wince as much as the Medela Pump in Style did. The single pump also allows you a free hand so that you can do something while you're pumping.
I store the milk in the seal and go storage bags and freeze. I fill only 2.5 oz of milk in each bag to avoid waste b/c once you unfreeze the milk, it has to be used or be thrown out as it cannnot be frozen again. The bottle that my child likes best is the Playtex Nurser system with the drop ins. I use the slow flow nipple. The fast flow nipple causes them to overeat and makes it more difficult to continue nursing because the milk that comes out of the breast comes out in sporatic slow flows. If you get your child used to a faster flow bottle nipple, he'll get frustrated when he nurses. But if you plan to simply pump and bottlefeed,the fast flow nipple should be ok although I'd wait until he is at least 4 months old to introduce it. I'm not sure what the normal oz intake per feeding is at 4 mo but my son has been eating 4 oz a feeding since he was a little past 3 months old. Up until then he was eating 2.5 oz a feeding with the exception of the 1st month. I think it was only an oz then. Now that my son is 4 months, I am going to start introducing cereal once a day on a spoon(in addition to breastmilk of course). Today will be our 1st day with this experiment!
Oh and about pacifiers: the one my son took to was the Avent brand. The silicone ones. His favorite are the ones with the little bears or puppies on the front. I was told not to give him a pacifier because it would confuse him with breastfeeding but I never found it a problem. But I waited until after the 1st week to give him one so that he could get used to breastfeeding 1st. You will find that the pacifier is a lifesaver when you are in public. It keeps him from crying and the sucking effect is very soothing for them and lulls them to sleep. Do not ever give your baby a pacifier when he is hungry though or he will get very very angry! :)
I hope this information I gave you was helpful. Good luck and congratulations!

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K.K.

answers from Dallas on

Hi L.,
I love the Medela pump in style advanced....could not have breastfed without it especially when I was working out of the home. We found a conversion kit for the Avent bottles so you could pump directly into their bottles....not sure if there are other kits for other brands or not. Both of my girls would not take the avent very well, so we went to the playtex nursers....they both did GREAT with these and they are the drop in type.

Good luck.
K.

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M.F.

answers from Dallas on

To answer your pump question: If you plan on using it daily, the Medela Pump-in-Style (I believe they have an "advanced" version too now) is the best there is. Even though other pumps may be cheaper, they are a waste of money if you need a pump every day.
As far as bottles: I don't think it's necessary for pump and bottles to fit together. The pump comes with 4 standard 50z bottles. It was never a problem to pump into these, then transfer into feeding bottles to leave with the sitter. One note on freezing breastmilk though, we tried lots of different storage bags and the Gerber brand was best. All the other brands (Avent, Lansinoh) split and leaked upon defrosting.
With a regular, full-term, healthy baby, there's no need to sterilize every day. On which bottle to use, I used to think that the baby would take whatever bottle he/she was given. My children proved me wrong. With my first, we used Avent bottles. We washed them in the dishwasher. You can get a little basket that holds nipples and nipple rings in the dishwasher. I tried the same Avent bottles with my son and he could never really latch on to the bottle (regardless of flow rate). Bottle feedings were frustrating for the him and the sitter alike. On a hunch, I tried a friend's Playtex nurser (with drop-in liner) and he drained the bottle in less than 10 minutes (as opposed to 45 min feedings with the Avent).
Other than the child's preference, the benefit with the Playtex system was that they took up less of our precious little cabinet space. We simply had two 8oz holders and 2 4oz holders, a nipple for each bottle, and the liners. Because there were so few nipples, I hand-washed these. The only drawback to the liner system is that you can't really measure the contents of the bottle accurately. I held on to a large Avent bottle for when we needed to mix formula on the go.
Oh, and for sterilizing, which I tried to do about weekly with my second child, Medela makes wonderful microwave steam sterilizer bags. You can buy a set at Babies R Us.
Good luck!

K.M.

answers from Dallas on

Hi L.,

I agree with the Medela Pump N Style! I have used it for my first baby for 9 months now and it works beautifully. I also used Dr. Bowns bottles ...You can pump directly into the bottle if you get the narrow bottles. They have ones that hold 4 ounces to start with that are great, and you can get the larger ones that I think hold up to 8 oz. The bottles really do cut down on gas and spit up. My baby hardly ever spit up.

I would also highly recommend a lactation consultant. I personally would not have made it past the first few weeks without mine...and then again throughout various changes with baby....teething etc. She has been a God send...very patient,kind & knowledable. She has gotten us through many rough patches with breastfeeding and answered my endless questions. I am not sure where you are located, however she will come to you. Her name is Wendy Blumberg ####-###-####.

Best of Luck to you and your new little one!

K.

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J.

answers from Dallas on

I am likely repeating what many others have said...

Get a really good breast feeding book and maybe attend an LLL meeting to get information about when to introduce a bottle. It is generally considered best to not introduce a bottle or any artificial nipples (pacifiers) for four to six weeks while you are establishing breast feeding.

That being said, the bottles that are best will depend on your baby. I have tried Dr. Browns, Avent, Second Nature, Playtex Nursers, Medela, and the generic old store brand and my baby is yet to find a single nipple she will accept. Don't invest a lot in any one brand until you know what your baby will take, instead try to gather one of a few different brands to try out when you are ready to introduce bottles.

Your pump doesn't have to match the brand of the bottles. Get a really good double electric if you are going to work after your baby is born. If you just want a pump for rare or occasional use, then a good hand pump may be all you need.

I pump into the bottles that came with my Medela pump and then pour into the Lanisoh ziplock style bags later. My baby won't take the nipple, so I have over 500 ounces in the bottom of my freezer! When I do make up the rare bottle, I just pour from the bag into the bottle or drop in that I will be using.

There are great resources that answer your question better than I just did. Go to http://www.kellymom.com and you will get so much more about breast feeding, pumping, bottles for breast fed babies, introducing bottles, and breast feeding problems.

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N.J.

answers from Dallas on

I just figured this out at the end of breastfeeding. I used the ameda pump- I would line the bottles with the Gerber drop in bags- that have a ziplock top to store in the freezer. If you want to go straight into the Playtex drop in- you can rubber band the drop in to the pump- this takes practice, leaks, but will work.

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