Breast pump—electric or manual?

In my opinion, a breast pump isn't one of those essential items you need to stock up on before giving birth. If, right after giving birth, it turns out that you need one—for example, to get your milk supply going, or because the baby can't feed on its own, or for any other reason—then you can send your husband to the store, and he'll be back with a breast pump in a quarter of an hour (and maybe he’ll pick up a cookie or two on the way).

However, it may turn out that you won't need a breast pump until the baby is six months old—or maybe not at all—so I think you can wait to make the decision to buy one until “after the baby is born.”.

Types of Breast Pumps

The basic distinction between breast pumps is between electric and manual models. We plug the electric one into the outlet, and our only job is to hold the breast pump against our breast. This is the most convenient option, but if you only need a breast pump occasionally, you might want to consider buying a manual breast pump. A manual breast pump is, above all, less expensive, but unfortunately, it takes a bit of strength to use it. However, if our plan for maternity leave is to build up our biceps and learn patience, that will be a good choice!

Electric breast pumps

Among electric breast pumps, the Medela Swing Maxi Calma model definitely stands out. It's very quiet; you can plug it in or run it on batteries. Using batteries is convenient if it happens that it's time to pump milk while we're away from home, outdoors, or without access to electricity.

This model can be used to express milk from both breasts at the same time. If you're interested in this option—for example, because you have twins and need a lot of milk for a single feeding—it's worth buying a nursing bra, which Medela also offers. That way, while pumping, we'll have our hands free—just in time to pull a child who's running away out of the pond or pour some coffee into our mug.

Another noteworthy product from Medela is the Mini Electric model. Unfortunately, it isn't particularly quiet, and if you plan to use it at work, it's probably impossible to keep it a secret (if that's what you're aiming for).. Unless, of course, we lock ourselves in the bathroom and tell our coworkers that we'll be flying a drone in there. The Mini Electric is perfect for use at home or while traveling. It's lightweight, compact, easy to set up and clean, and it can run on either electricity or batteries.

Manual breast pumps

I think you can buy a manual breast pump if you plan to use it once a year, or maybe twice a year, or if you want to save money on a gym membership and burn a few calories while pumping (though that’s a bit pointless, since breastfeeding itself burns about. 500 calories!).

However, if you decide to go with a manual breast pump, Medela’s Harmony model is once again a great choice. The advantage of this breast pump is that you don't need electricity or batteries to use it. It's also very quiet. Basically, its only drawback is that it requires physical effort on the woman’s part, which means that milk extraction isn’t as smooth and consistent as it is with an electric breast pump, and for that reason, it may be less efficient. So we can just wave our arms around for two hours, get sore biceps, and it might turn out that the expressed milk barely covers the bottom of the bottle—but of course, it doesn't have to be that way at all!