Breast Pump options - (Indian Market) Apple, Pigeon, JustBorn

Buying and using breast pumps abroad is easy and a normal everyday task because there is a lot of awareness and help. Medela is one good brand everyone suggests but buying it in India falls into an expensive item list.

Challenge I - People who sell pumps, they themselves do not know the total functionality. in one shop, they didn't tell me how to clean the pump. In other shop, they showed the cleaning process, but didn't show me how to release the vaccuum. Manual available is most of the times not suited for the needs.

II - Our parents do not know about it to be able to advice. The count of experienced mothers is also very less. So, you get near to zero knowledge transferred from tried & tested people (again...its for me. But thanks to sree, she helped me out)

III - No privacy place in office for pumping, so you can't pump at work place, no pumping zone in short.

IV - Not all offices have fridges, or we feel a little shy to keep the milk in cafeteria fridge. I did work in big branded companies, but no office maintained fridge for employees. All the refrigerators are maintained by cafeteria people for their purposes.

V - Even if offices do have fridges, commute is another headache. My ped suggested not to keep the extracted milk outside for more than 1hr & refrigerated milk for more than 15-20mins. So, in Hyd, i do not think any one can reach home from office in less than 20mins :)

VI - They are costly as per our thinking. I did debate over whether to buy one or not, because after spending much money, i didn't want it to go waste bcoz i cant pump at work.

having all these challenges considered, i at one point, thought let the life go on its own way. No pumps, nothing. Let me go work and let the kid be managed how yesteryear's kids got managed when their moms worked. But, now i say a big NO. Please, Please do buy breast pump and make use of it as it is the best thing anyone has ever invented for working moms and babies and moms with babies having latching concerns.

I work between 9-3pm and the commute is of 1hr each side. So, all in all, its more than 8hrs. At present, i'm pumping everyday after i return from work. As soon as i return, i take a quick bath and get back to the pumping routine. I'm able to get about 6oz during the session. My kid drinks close to 5oz per feed when she is absolutely hungry.

before work, i make sure that i nurse the kid. If the kid is in deep sleep and not interested to take milk, i pump.

Because i nurse the kid before leaving, its mostly one feed before i return that is between 12:30 to 1PM. I return home between 4 to 4:30, pump the milk first and go ahead with nursing again. What an easy way to get away with lumps.

With the help of breast pump, kid is rarely on formula. For the people who are away from kid for more than 9-10hrs, 1 formula feed might be needed. But thats is till the baby completes 4mths, after that anyway in India, we introduce them to cerelac (I do)

So, finally i suggest do not have a second thought on buying breast pump even though you are not pumping at work. Just go ahead and you will easily be able to draw the routine based on your baby needs and your body style.

Which breast pump to choose:

• If pumping is a daily routine, do not choose manual one. Go for electric. Manual is very stressful. To tell you people. i bought one manual and two electric pumps (with this money, i could have got medala). Using manual pump for 3 days, my hand muscles pained like hell.
• Go for the one which has speed rotator, so you can adjust it and get near to child sucking pattern.
• Test it on your palm. Test the pressure the machine is releasing. Keep the shield on palm & ON the machine. If the shield is stuck to your palm, then its enough.
• Check the containers as well. Few will come up with their own range of containers. so, if need to buy the containers only which suit the pump, check for their availability and quality before you buy it. If they dont set properly in the slot given, the equipment doesnt work well, so go for the ones which can be set with any other feeding bottle that is available in the market. Also, since it is an expensive item you can pass it on to your friends or relatives and they can just throw away the old containers and by the new ones.
• Go for electronic or dual mode both battery and current operated ones, usage however is good and has good results when done in an electric socket.

My Experience on pump:
I bought one manual pump which is Apple (600rs). Sorry Apple, couldn't use it with the stress you are causing. I'm basically a person who can take strain pushing the comfort to back chair. Still, i couldn't do away with it. Its so much stressful.

I bought one electric pump - Pigeon (2,200rs). I'm almost mad with it. It is basically a battery operated one, which is compatible with power adopter as well. It didnt come with one though. I bought one for it. It worked Okay for first 1wk-10days. and then, it started slowing down. Air pressure is very very less. And there is no speed rotator as well. I had hard time pumping the milk. So, warranty undi kada ani shop ki teesukuni velthe, he said as long as it is working it does not come under warranty limits anta. Its working, but not meeting my needs. Its almost waste. He also said that it is my fault that i didn't take enough precautions in cleaning the pump and water might have gone inside. What the hell?? Machine loki water velthe, poorthiga pani cheyyakoodadu kanee, performance enduku tagguthundi...dont know.

I landed up with JustBorn pump(2000rs) which is my darling now :) Its meeting all my requirements. It has speed rotator, massaging nipple shield, power adopter, compatible with any branded bottle feeder (johnsons, hello baby, wipro...) It is compact in size aswell. I'm 200% satisfied with it.