Category: breastfeeding

When baby W was born and I started breastfeeding I remember looking into what to wear – should I buy a cape/poncho thing? some special ‘nursing’ tops and dresses? A lot of people recommended the double top method – wearing a vest that you could pull down, while a top over it keeps you covered.

In the end I didn’t buy anything – we had a hot summer, I lived in baggy T-shirts and I quickly became comfortable feeding him out and about, showing my bare belly (and probably more!) in the process.

Fast forward to Autumn and what a great time to review the Breastvest – I’d not come across it before but it’s a vest that basically is missing the top bit where your bra is – it scoops down below your bra, so that when it’s feeding time you don’t have to faff about with pulling your vest up or down. As I said, perfect timing as it’s starting to get a bit nippy so it’s handy to wear this underneath tops that I’d normally wear this time of year, to keep my belly warm!

I can confirm it’s a great bit of kit – works like a treat, I’ve tried it under a few different tops – tight tops and looser-fitting blouses and it looks great and seamless – although might look a bit odd if you wear it with a sheer top haha! The fabric is of good, soft quality and I can imagine it will last quite a while unlike the regular vest tops you might be pulling into all sorts of shapes underneath your clothes!

I know lots of mums feel self-conscious breastfeeding out and about, in part because of their post-baby belly and this could really help with that and hopefully give those mums a bit of much-needed confidence 🙂

It has adjustable straps which is great – I’m short and it’s a lovely length on me, just skimming my bum which I love, I love longer tops!

I honestly can’t think of a negative for this review – they start at £10 (limited edition colours, £15 for black/white) which I think is quite good value, but obviously if you wear it a lot you’ll want to wash it regularly – daily if it gets covered in breast milk! So perhaps the only con is that it could add up if you want to buy a few (although they do sell 2 for £25).

You can buy the Breastvest in a range of sizes and colours (black or white, but they do some limited edition other colours!) at their website but they have also kindly offered me one to give away… all you need to do is enter through Rafflecopter below where it will ask you to leave a comment about other useful breastfeeding items. The winner will be picked at random on November 5th. Only open to UK residents.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I was sent a Breastvest to review. I didn’t receive any additional payment. All views and opinions are my own.

When I was pregnant I remember researching breast pumps and wondering if I would end up using one, if I would end up breastfeeding etc.

During my research, one pump came into online conversation time and time again, which was the Medela swing. Everywhere from Facebook groups to forums hail this as la crème de la crème of breast pumps so I couldn’t wait to try it!

When it arrived even the packaging lived up to its expectations, I love the Medela branding and colours etc. To me it shouts quality and oozes a bit of class! I know I’m already starting to annoy you, but even the instructions were amazing… Why don’t more brands use photos/diagrams, colours and a decent sized font in their instructions?!

Anyway I digress, let’s get back to the main event…

How it works/how I use it

The pump comes in a few parts – 4 pieces make up the pump/bottle then you have 2 leads plus the main unit….

It’s easy to put together, helped by clear instructions…. the bottle has a valve system inside it…

You need to make sure you wash and sterilise the parts before you put it together as per the instructions. Once you’ve set it up, plug it in and hit the power button 🙂

As with using a manual pump, I didn’t really know what to expect in terms of how it would feel but it felt fine – painless and comfortable! It has a ‘2-phase’ method so it starts pumping as if a baby was suckling, then kicks into the expression mode 2 minutes later – but if your milk/let-down starts flowing within that 2 minutes, you press a button to go into expressing mode early. It has + and – buttons to increase/decrease the vacuum effect – I tend to use the + button to encourage the milk a bit when I’m struggling… and conversely I’ve used it when the milk is flowing well and can go quicker!

Result? In a good session when I have lots of milk in, I can easily express about 400ml of milk. While it’s not hands-free, you only need one hand to operate it so you can be reading/scrolling through the internet/ reading a magazine etc while you use it – essentially it does all the hard work for you!

A couple of times I’ve looked down and realised my nipple is no longer moving so it’s stopped working – it usually means a bit of my clothing has got in the way which stops the ‘vacuum’ effect from working. Once I realised I hadn’t plugged the cable in – doh!

Pros

Easy-to-use, light equipment, comfortable and very effective in expressing milk in an effortless way (especially compared to a manual pump!)

You can use it with batteries, and the main unit has a clip on it – so you could walk around the house doing it etc (you’d just need to keep your hand on the ‘breastshield’ (the funnel-looking bit!) as you do if you’re sat down i.e. it’s not hands-free!)

Cons

Probably just me being an idiot but I couldn’t get the UK adaptor bit to fit, so I’m using it with an adaptor plug instead!

If the bottle tilts a bit too much I have had a little bit of leakage – I think this is down to me not closing it tight enough rather than being a design fault but thought I’d mention it so you make sure yours is always closed tight, and always use the stand it comes with when you’re placing it down on a surface!

Other bits

The set also comes with a handy drawstring bag for when you’re out and about (I’ve not taken it out so not used this yet, but you can see from the photo that it’s a decent size – more than enough room for the main unit and all the accessories!)

As I said, you can use it with batteries so in theory is transportable but I’m not sure how discreet it is – I wouldn’t say it’s loud but I wouldn’t say it’s really quiet either – I wonder how mums get on with it when they’re pumping in work etc?

The set also comes with a Medela Calma teat to use as with the bottle. I’ve not used this as we’d got baby used to the Tommee Tippee bottles and I don’t want to confuse him, but I’ve heard good things about the Calma as it’s supposed to mimic the way a baby breastfeeds.

Overall result

I love the Medela swing – I now use it daily so it’s become an essential part of our routine and so much easier than using a manual pump. Even when I had a cold and my milk dried up a little, I managed to express a little using the Swing – although I have no idea how effective it is, if you have problems breastfeeding – hopefully it can help!

The Medela swing retails at around £130 and I don’t think it’s discounted often (or ever!) – this is likely to be a big chunk of your baby budget, but if you’re exclusively breastfeeding then it’s the money saved from not buying formula milk! You can buy it in places like Mothercare and Boots so maybe you could ask family and friends for vouchers towards it 🙂 Also, I think some of these retailers (and NCT) have rental options.

I hope you found this useful, have you tried the Medela swing or any other electric pumps? How did you get on?

Disclaimer: I was given this product in exchange for a review, but views and opinions are my own! 

I always hoped I’d be able to breastfeed, and express when baby came along. I remember researching breast pumps while I was pregnant and I decided that I would go for an electric pump instead of a manual one as they sounded easier, more comfortable etc.

But as the saying goes ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’ and a member of a Facebook group I’m in for mums due in the same month, kindly send me a Tommee Tippee manual pump, as she had already had one but had been given another as a gift.

When it came to giving it a try when baby W was 7 weeks old, I was quite nervous – breastfeeding had been entirely painless but now I was staring at a contraction that looked like it could cause pain… and actually when I tweeted that I was about to use it for the first time, a few people said they’d had a tough time using it….

How I got on

So after washing it, sterilising it and getting my head around it, off we went…. after a few minutes of pumping, milk started dribbling through and in my first session I managed to pump over 100ml of milk – I was so pleased!!

I used this pump for another week or so before moving over to an electric pump. Personally I don’t think there’s a huge difference between the manual and electric pump in terms of output- I prefer using the electric one now as it’s lazier – I just have to hold it whereas with the manual one, you need to keep pumping to keep the milk flowing.

At first it feels like a strange sensation, but I quickly got used to this. I don’t think it should feel uncomfortable – perhaps if you’ve tried it a few times and it still hurts then for whatever reason it’s not the pump for you?

Closer to nature bottle

This bottle comes free with the pump, it’s what you use to catch the milk before adding a teat on to it to feed baby. Again, I was nervous about how baby would take to a bottle (if at all) after 6 weeks of exclusive breastfeeding and I’m delighted to say he took to it straight away and we haven’t tried any other types of bottles since so that we don’t jinx ourselves!

I believe these bottles/teats are supposed to be good for mums who are still breastfeeding, as the teats are supposed to be quite similar to the nipple thus making it easier for baby and reducing the chances of ‘nipple confusion’

My verdict?

I think this a great, value for money product. The RRP is £29.99 but I think it’s quite often half price in places like Mothercare which makes it even more of a bargain, so if you’re on a budget this could be the breast pump for you!

It’s very easy-to-use and I found it comfortable – I quickly got into a rhythm and learnt how to do it one-handed etc! You’ll know from my breastfeeding story that I have a plentiful milk supply, so I do think that helps with this pump – and I recommend you use it just after feeding, or when you feel that milk has come in – this will make it easier to use and you will get more milk that way! With that in mind, I wouldn’t bother buying this or any other breastfeeding products until you’re in ‘established breastfeeding’ i.e. been doing it for a few weeks!

As well as being easy-to-use, it’s very easy to clean and steriliser as it’

Another huge plus is the bottle you get with it – again, before rushing out and buying a huge set of bottles you can try this one and see your baby gets on.

The pump also comes with a steriliser travel box, milk storage bottles and breast pads but the girl who sent this to me had quite rightly kept those for herself – shame, as the steriliser travel box sounds really handy and I’m sure I’ll end up buying that!

When you add it all up, I think you get a lot for your money (especially if you can get it on offer!)

Any cons?

I honestly can’t think of any other than you have to do the work yourself by pumping – so this is not suitable for lazy people 🙂

Was this useful? Did you try this pump and find it as good as I did or did you struggle with it? Leave a comment to let me know, thanks 🙂

Disclaimer: I wasn’t asked to review this by anyone, I was given it as a gift and wanted to share my thoughts!