Flashback to some of our Tot Sauce posts on breastfeeding, or discuss it and the items here below!

I used a Medela Pump, so I have no comment towards this pump.
But the breastmilk bags are a little on the high price. You can get the Lasinoh bags, 50ct for a $1 more. They work really well.
I Would also recommend buying the breastmilk bags in bulk from Honeysuckle. They are awesome bags and you can get 300 of them for around $40.

Wow, these prices are high. I get the nipple butter for 4.99 at Walmart and you can get a 300 pack of honeysuckle milk bags for 44 bucks on Amazon. These bags are almost twice the price per bag. The honeysuckle bags are the only ones I will use after trying about 5 different brands and thousands of oz frozen.

edit: woops, I didn't see that kittyboo also recommended the honeysuckle bags. Sorry for being repetitive and redundant.

Ooo I'll have to try the honeysuckle bags- although I may have enough lansinoh to last me. I also use a Medela pump- and from what I've heard from others and online, very few others are comparable. I almost bought the Ameda purely yours- but was talked out of it by my LC.

So I can get the bottles for $16 with shipping and have them sometime in the next few weeks, or I can pay $12.80 on Amazon and get them Thursday. Since Amazon fulfilled the last couple of orders I placed here anyway, seems like I should be able to use my Prime to make it somewhat of a deal. I think woot has lost its wootiness, especially on these side "deals".

ntkeppler wrote:Ooo I'll have to try the honeysuckle bags- although I may have enough lansinoh to last me. I also use a Medela pump- and from what I've heard from others and online, very few others are comparable. I almost bought the Ameda purely yours- but was talked out of it by my LC.

I exclusively pump and have been for 8 months, so in the beginning I was pumping about 10 times a day and now I pump about 5 times a day, at least a half hour each time. I use an ameda purely yours. It does the trick and is about half the price of a medela. My lactation consultants that I had when my son was born were useless when it came to knowledge of pumps and were brainwashed by medela with the little knowledge that they had. According to them I wouldn't make it a month exclusively pumping and now I have a few thousand oz of milk frozen. I digress. Anyways I wouldn't use anything other than a medela or ameda if you plan on pumping more than occasionally. Cheap pumps can be hard on the nips and have lousy customer service.

hizzeraud wrote:I exclusively pump and have been for 8 months, so in the beginning I was pumping about 10 times a day and now I pump about 5 times a day, at least a half hour each time. I use an ameda purely yours. It does the trick and is about half the price of a medela. My lactation consultants that I had when my son was born were useless when it came to knowledge of pumps and were brainwashed by medela with the little knowledge that they had. According to them I wouldn't make it a month exclusively pumping and now I have a few thousand oz of milk frozen. I digress. Anyways I wouldn't use anything other than a medela or ameda if you plan on pumping more than occasionally. Cheap pumps can be hard on the nips and have lousy customer service.

I've been Exclusively pumping for 8 months also. I heard the Ameda pumps are actually better than the medela pumps, because they are closed systems. I'm not sure what that means exactly, But I had already ordered my Medela and I have had to replace my tubing twice, but that was my own fault for overflowing and not realizing it. Had mold grow in my tubing within a week or so.

kittybooboo04 wrote:I've been Exclusively pumping for 8 months also. I heard the Ameda pumps are actually better than the medela pumps, because they are closed systems. I'm not sure what that means exactly, But I had already ordered my Medela and I have had to replace my tubing twice, but that was my own fault for overflowing and not realizing it. Had mold grow in my tubing within a week or so.

It's funny- that's why I was going to get the Ameda- because it was advertised as a closed system- which from my understanding loosely means the milk doesn't travel through the tubing- just into the receptical. However, the Medela is a closed system too.

ntkeppler wrote:It's funny- that's why I was going to get the Ameda- because it was advertised as a closed system- which from my understanding loosely means the milk doesn't travel through the tubing- just into the receptical. However, the Medela is a closed system too.

Closed system means that there's no way for milk to back up into the tubing and/or the pump itself. The personal Medela pumps are NOT closed systems, but the hospital-grade ones are (which is one of the reasons they can be used by multiple people, no possibility of cross-contamination). Another advantage of the Ameda ones is that they all use the same tubing/connectors, so for example I had bought the Purely Yours and changed jobs when my son was 4 mos old to a place that actually provided Ameda hospital-grade pumps to use and I didn't have to buy new tubing/connectors to use them. Medela is just much more aggressive at marketing, not only to consumers, but also to providers (LCs, etc.).

Ladies; is the The First Years Nursing Care Instant Relief System worth it or are there better deals or better items out there? We just had a girl 2 weeks ago and every time she latches on my wife makes a face or lets out a gasp of pain. This is our second breast fed baby.
She uses the Evenflo Comfort Select for pumping and seems to be working well for her. She got it on clearance at target, around $20.

burndtjammer wrote:Ladies; is the The First Years Nursing Care Instant Relief System worth it or are there better deals or better items out there? We just had a girl 2 weeks ago and every time she latches on my wife makes a face or lets out a gasp of pain. This is our second breast fed baby.
She uses the Evenflo Comfort Select for pumping and seems to be working well for her. She got it on clearance at target, around $20.

I just had my 2nd breastfed baby in March and had a similar issue - the best value is having a lactation consultant or midwife or breastfeeding consultant check the latch instead. A cream won't help if the latch is causing pain.

I am an IBCLC (internationally board certified lactation consultant) and as the experienced moms here have mentioned please, please, please don't expect a low end pump like one of these to maintain milk supply if you are using it more than just occasionally. Additionally, low end electric pumps such is these or the Evenflo (someone else had mentioned) can do some serious damage to a mom's nipples.

For exclusively pumping the general recommendation is to rent a hospital grade (either medela or Ameda)- though as has been mentioned here for some women a good double electric can be adequate (Medela, Ameda, or recently Lasinoh seems to be working well for moms). A good double electric is also a must if you are going it be working full or nearly full time. If you are the occasional pumper then it is cheaper and easier to go with a good hand pump such as the Avent Isis or the Medela Harmony. Also consider that you may not need a pump. There are many breastfeeding mothers who go their entire nursing careers without a pump because they are either home with their babies, have their babies at work (or WAH), or have someone bring their babies to them. Or they hand express.

burndtjammer... I would concur with others to try to get your wife some serious hands-on help. If you have seen someone and they haven't solved the issue please try someone else... either an IBCLC or a La Leche League Leader, particularly if this is different from her previous experience. In the meantime she might want to try to get her Dr. to call her in some All Purpose Nipple Ointment (APNO) . Also check out these websites to try to hunt down what might be the root cause.... www.kellymom.com and/or www.drjacknewman.com.

Good luck and feel free to pm me.

I have most of the First Years collection.

The bottles/nipples work well for my baby, although she's almost exclusively breast fed. Haven't had any issues with nipple confusion by switching back and forth, which was important a few weeks ago when I had to be hospitalized for a few days and other people were feeding her.

Also, during the hospitalization, the pump was nice to have. I actually really like this pump because it's so portable and it works really well. The highest setting I've used on it is 4. I don't believe I'll ever need to use the highest setting. For the few days I needed it, it was enough to maintain my milk supply, but I don't think I would rely on it if I pumped exclusively.

I rented a hospital grade pump with my first daughter, and, although that was a loooong time ago, I don't see much difference in function between the two. That said, if I was working out of the house now, I'd probably invest in a higher-end pump. Preferably a closed system.

The drying rack is nice. I keep it on the counter and simply store my bottles/nipples/etc. right on it. My only complaint is that it seems a little cheaply made, but it won't live in my kitchen forever and it does what it's supposed to do.

burndtjammer wrote:Ladies; is the The First Years Nursing Care Instant Relief System worth it or are there better deals or better items out there? We just had a girl 2 weeks ago and every time she latches on my wife makes a face or lets out a gasp of pain. This is our second breast fed baby.
She uses the Evenflo Comfort Select for pumping and seems to be working well for her. She got it on clearance at target, around $20.

With my second it hurt like a son of a gun when my son would latch on, but it was because my uterus would contract as he was breastfeeding and I would just sit and cry. It got better after about 2 weeks once everything was more "back in place". I would wince knowing it was coming though. 3rd time around I didn't have it as much though thankfully and she's 8 weeks now, I did have some tenderness, but lanolin and breast shields helped with that. If it is her breasts that hurt then, yes I agree with the others and to consult a doc or a lactation consultant.

Congrats to you and your wife on the new addition!

jesskm wrote:I am an IBCLC (internationally board certified lactation consultant) and as the experienced moms here have mentioned please, please, please don't expect a low end pump like one of these to maintain milk supply if you are using it more than just occasionally. Additionally, low end electric pumps such is these or the Evenflo (someone else had mentioned) can do some serious damage to a mom's nipples.

For exclusively pumping the general recommendation is to rent a hospital grade (either medela or Ameda)- though as has been mentioned here for some women a good double electric can be adequate (Medela, Ameda, or recently Lasinoh seems to be working well for moms). A good double electric is also a must if you are going it be working full or nearly full time. If you are the occasional pumper then it is cheaper and easier to go with a good hand pump such as the Avent Isis or the Medela Harmony. Also consider that you may not need a pump. There are many breastfeeding mothers who go their entire nursing careers without a pump because they are either home with their babies, have their babies at work (or WAH), or have someone bring their babies to them. Or they hand express.

burndtjammer... I would concur with others to try to get your wife some serious hands-on help. If you have seen someone and they haven't solved the issue please try someone else... either an IBCLC or a La Leche League Leader, particularly if this is different from her previous experience. In the meantime she might want to try to get her Dr. to call her in some All Purpose Nipple Ointment (APNO) . Also check out these websites to try to hunt down what might be the root cause.... www.kellymom.com and/or www.drjacknewman.com.

Good luck and feel free to pm me.

That is an interesting ointment, but i have had great success just by treating those recalcitrant cases for yeast alone.

I used this pump along while breast feeding for 14 months. The BEST pump ever! I did try the Medela and the Evenflo along with 2 others I can not for the life of me remember. The nursing program from the local university had several they brought for me to try and report on. This one was awesome, quiet, the price was perfect compared to the others, easy to travel.

I sat at my desk at work and pumped. The others in the office had no idea I was tending to my own business without leaving my area.

I most definitely recommend this pump. Can't say anything on the other products as I had plenty with all the pumps we tried out.