Essential Factors to Consider Before Purchasing a Breast Pump
Currently, a breast pump has become one of the most important things for breastfeeding mothers. The pumps make breastfeeding easier while allowing the mothers to engage in other activities without worrying about their babies’ feeding. Gone are the days when mothers needed to cancel all their plans to attend to breastfeeding infants. Today, you only need to express the breast milk and store it safely in the fridge so the baby can access it whenever needed. In addition, owning a breast pump helps you maintain or increase the milk supply. Thus, you have all the reasons to get a breast pump. Wondering what you should look for? Here are the essential factors to consider when buying a breast pump.
Portability
One thing about breastfeeding you should know is that you must pump or breastfeed often to maintain the milk supply. On most occasions, skipping your pumping or nursing sessions will negatively influence your breast milk supply. For this reason, it is important you choose a portable breast pump since it makes it easy to carry around. Also, get a versatile pump that can be used in different locations without anyone noticing or causing distractions.
Purpose
Usually, it would be best if you chose between an electric and manual breast pump. A manual breast pump will be suitable if you are a stay-at-home mom with having great milk supply. This way, you can use the manual pump when you need to relieve engorged breasts in the house. On the other hand, an electric breast pump will be sufficient if you are a career woman or your lifestyle require you to be away from home often. This pump will allow mothers to continue feeding their infants with breast milk even though they are not at home. Also, an electric pump expresses milk faster than a manual one, thus saving time.
Single or Double
Primarily, electric breast pumps are classified into double and single pumps. Single electric pumps are perfect for mothers planning to occasionally express milk for their babies. However, choosing a double electric pump will save you half the time for expressing milk. While it is pricier, a double pump suits mothers with busy schedules or who plan to pump at work. Another advantage of a double pump over the single one is that pumping milk from both breasts simultaneously boosts your supply.
Settings
Another significant factor you must not overlook includes your pump settings. It is best to get an electric pump with two expressions that let you choose between suction/expression and massage/stimulation. The massage or stimulation phase includes quick and light suctions that trigger the milk let-down reflex. On the other hand, the suction/ expression phase establishes longer and deeper suctions to express milk.
This feature improves the overall breastfeeding experience as you can select the ideal setting for you.
Price
It is always important to spend within your budget. Even though quality breast pumps tend to be costly, you should be open to other brands that offer the same results without straining financially. Nevertheless, you should never compromise quality for price, as low-quality items tend to be expensive in the long run.