1. Electric or manual?
The major advantage of using an electrical breast pump is pumping hands free! If you have limited time for pumping (especially those who are working and need to steal time pumping during work), consider a double electric pump. With practice, you could pump both side of your breast together while typing! If budgets allowed, buy one with optional electric power source (operated with either a power adapter or batteries). You will never know when you would need to pump outside without power source easily available! There was once I have to pump inside a ladies toilet while attending meeting outside as the place is not BF friendly!
However, if you are worry that you will not have enough milk supply, or you are not going to breast feed for a long time, or if you do not want to spend too much money on breast feeding, consider buying a manual pump.
I have came across many new mothers to be worrying that they will be wasting money purchasing a proper electrical pump and end up not breast feeding and hence could not decide on what kind of pump to buy. For this kind of mother, a cheap and useful manual pump would be the answer! If you are going back to work and continue pumping later, you could still upgrade to purchase an electrical pump while using the manual as a spare.
I bought a double sided electric breast pump at less than RM500 two years ago (Autumnz brand) and it never fail me until today. Except for one side of the pump was once spoiled due to back flow and I got it repaired for free. Recently, I have also purchased a manual breast pump on line (looks like Avent brand) from Internet and I start loving it. I bought the manual pump as I am planning to travel with it soon and I thought it would be embarrassing if people could hear me pumping while traveling on a bus using my electric pump (electric pump could never be as quite as a manual pump).
2. What is your budget?
Depending on your budget, there are expensive and cheap manual pump as well as electric pump available. Brands like Medela and Phillips Avent are most popular and considered branded pump in this region. Medela Freestyle model double breast pump cost around RM2500 while Phillip Avent manual pump cost around RM200 in Malaysia.
Anyway, some medium range brand such as Autumnz (electric pump) which cost RM400 over for double pump, and Thinby (manual pump which looks like Avent) which cost less than RM100 are also a good choice based on my own experience.
3. Do you prefer a single or double electric pump?
My answer is always "double". It is much faster and in case where back flow happen and once side break down, you still have another side of the motor to be used!
Some of my recommendation as following:
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Manual Breast Pump
If you are still indecisive on what pump to buy, kick start with a manual pump which is good enough but will not break your bank.
Showing here the Thinby brand of manual pump which I have recently bought at less than RM100. With practice, pumping session completes in 10-15 min (both sides) using this :). You don't have to keep on pressing and releasing in order to pump. After the first few times of pressing and releasing, you only need to hold it there and milk will come out continuously. I rate this 5 star, value for money!
Double Electric Breast Pump (picture from internet)
Recently I have bought this double electric breast pump online at <RM400 to be presented to a best friend of mine. My friend complimented on the pump being very good suction and very quite. You can even pump when baby is asleep. I highly recommend this pump to those who is on a budget but still need an electric pump. The design is very similar to the Medela Freestyle breast pump which cost us more than RM1000 in Malaysia :)
Other Accessories that You May Need
After selecting and buying a pump, don't forget to get yourself some milk bottles to store milk, ice pack to keep the milk chill, cooler bag as well as back pack to keep all these together with your breast pump. If you don't have much time left to shop and are looking for option which are safe and value for money, try this shop: One Baby World. There are many franchises available and you can even purchase their products online conveniently at http://www.onebabyworld.com/. Among all brands available, I found Autumnz as one of the brand that value for money.
1. Breast milk storage bottles
I recommended getting a BPA free milk bottle of 5oz size so that you can use it for a longer period of time without transferring to feeding bottle. Besides, I also find it more convenient to stick to one brand so that you will not have to waste time finding the cover that fits later. I recommended Autumnz brand milk storage bottles. It come in a pack of 10 pieces in less than RM35.
Picture showing Autumnz brand milk storage bottles (adapted from www.onebabyworld.com)
2. Breast milk storage bags
You may also buy some milk storage bags to spare in case you have insufficient storage bottles. Buy those with good plastic material (with certain thickness) and BPA free. Again, I found Autumnz a great choice as it is good value for money.
Autumnz brand milk storage back, less than RM0.40 per piece (picture from Internet)
3. Ice pack and milk bottles bag
Don't forget that you will need some ice pack to keep your milk chilled while travelling back from work. The cheapest option like Autumnz (around RM20 for 3 pieces) will do the job just as great.
Ice Pack from Autumnz, picture from internet
4. Cooler bag and bag pack to carry your breast pump
Last but not the least, a cooler bag that could fit the numbers of bottles that you pump at work (minimum 6 bottles for example); and a bag that could fit in all your pump together with milk bottles with cooler bag.
Showing here cooler bag from Autumnz which is currently selling at around RM16 per piece (picture from internet). I have two of these so that I could give one to baby sitter while bringing one to work on the same day
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