Breastfeeding/pumping at hospital

Probably it's worth asking at the hospital as their all different probably. My baby had tongue tie so breastfeeding at the beginning was not possible so i was pumping. I wasn't prepared either about this. Hospital had a great electric pump. I'd say you can have just in case a manual pump. I was using st home both electric and manual. Lansinoh manual breast pump i was using. I stayed few nights so they gave me to use Milton cold water sterilizing equipment. And they had disposable bottles as well. Good luck! PS: i recommend getting just in case nipple shields we had Medela it helps in case tongue tie or just to protect nipples. But this is up to you

Our hospital had everything we needed. Disposable bottles/teats, pumps, sterilising equipment etc. if you planning on formula feeding they expect you to bring your own. If you are planning on breastfeeding and for some reason are struggling they will offer you some formula but we had to buy our own after that. They also didn't let me use a pump until my milk had come in as it can be overstimulating and you end up with a really painful oversupply. With number 2 you might not be in hospital for long depending on your type of birth. Just to say if you start with formula but your ultimate goal is breastfeeding it's important to latch baby/hand express colostrum in those early days regularly as otherwise your body might not react and make enough milk.

I’d try and express colostrum in syringes beforehand, to give you a bit of breathing room at the hospital. Pumping is a pain. Depending on your hospital, the nurses can be really helpful with breastfeeding at the start, to help you get a feel for it.

I took colostrum with me with my first but when I kept asking for it from the fridge they wouldn't give it to me. No idea why so I gave up asking. I took formula with me and I will do again. As my first had a really bad tongue tie and lip tie but it was never picked up until later on about a month later but I wasn't that arsed about it all. This time it is something I want to do and give it ago. So this sounds promising. I got given a pump to use on the 1st day but I didn't get any support with it but they probs could tell I didn't want anything to do with it all. I had a section with my first and I'll be having a section again with this one which is probs what delayed my milk anyway as it was almost 2 weeks before my milk came in. I've bought a hands free pump for at home. Can't wait to give this journey ago but still not putting pressure on myself if it doesn't last long. At least I can say I tried and also have it in my birth plan which is being put together in the coming weeks 😊

Sounds like a good plan! Try and make use of lactation consultants if you can, they can be really helpful. But as you said, don’t put pressure on yourself, especially as you’ve got another to look after as well. With breastfeeding, I found the first few months are the hardest part, after that it becomes much easier.

You can express colostrum and take that, I didn't pump until about 4 weeks in.

Your milk won't come in for a few days and it'll just be colostrum which is like liquid gold for babies.

Is there a reason you want to express and not breastfeed?

If you're looking to breastfeed, you are better of breastfeeding at the hospital then expressing at home once you're settled and you milk is in and your supply has settled a little.

Also, be warned. Expressing is far more work than just breastfeeding and even if you have someone doing a feed for you, you'd still need to pump while they feed the baby to maintain your supply so you get even less of a break.