Expressing for the first time

Hi ☺

I have been breastfeeding since day one (I have done a post on my experience so far with it, but as EmJ is going to be going to nursery one day a week from September I thought I should start trying to express instead of leaving it till the last minute and finding that I can't do it! Plus if I start now then hubby can feed her during the night too....bonus!!
We originally had the tommee tippee manual pump but somehow we have managed to lose it somewhere in the house (I think hubby has thrown it out while tidying up as it was just in a plastic box) so we had to go out and buy another one. Hubby did some research and decided that the tommee tippee one wasn't for us as a lot of people have given very bad reviews of it, so we went to boots to see which other ones they have.
I was looking at the mendela manual pump as I used the electric version in the hospital when EmJ was being cup fed, but hubby said that the Phillips avent manual pump had the best reviews, and it was on offer (£23.99) so we got that one.

It comes with a 4oz bottle, two day time breast pads and 2 night time breast pads. The pump itself is very easy to take apart to clean and sterilise (which you have to do before using it) and very easy to put back together although there are instructions too. There is basically 4 parts to it that need to be washed and sterilised.

The instructions state to express before or after a feed (if baby hadn't emptied the breast) or when the breast is engorged. It also tells you to start by doing short fast pumps and then when the milk starts to flow hold the pump for 3 seconds to mimic the way the baby feeds.
I used this for the first time today and I am finding it hard on one breast.  My nipples were already a bit sore when I started to express, so when I started pumping it did hurt initially but not in the same way that it does when EmJ feeds,however for me it does stay a little uncomfortable the whole time whereas when EmJ feeds it is only uncomfortable for the first 30 seconds or so.
One of my breasts also expresses quite easily and I have managed to get 6oz out of it today (on 2 occasions so 3oz twice) but the other one I struggle to get 1oz per time. I'm not sure if this is because there is less milk in that breast or if it is a problem expressing it as I don't know how much milk EmJ manages to get from it.
I would recommend this pump as it does what it is meant to and isn't overly uncomfortable, and there are different sizes of breast cushion available to buy if needed which I'm not sure if other pumps have.

As we have tommee tippee bottles and this is a Phillips avent pump, we only have the one bottle that came with the pump that fits the pump, so after every time I express I am currently transferring the milk into a tommee tippee bottle to be kept in the fridge, or a tommee tippee storage tub if there is only a small amount. This allows me to wash and sterilise the Phillips avent bottle to be used again the next time. It is easy to do but I do think it would have been easier if we had the pump to match the bottles that we had!

We have already tried to feed EmJ with the bottle just to make sure she would take it, and she wouldn't take it off hubby but would for me. I think this is because she associates me with food whereas she has never got food off hubby before so she probably wasn't too confident about it but we will keep trying as he will need to feed her while I am at uni.

Has anyone else expressed milk? What pump did you use? Did you find it easy?

💖 xxx