What Breast Pump Should I Use?

Haven't breast pumps come a long way since this relic we found in small town's local history museum of all place - and thankgoodness for that!!!

Just the other day we had a mum write in because she was about to have baby #2, but has had a big gap between babies and like a lot of things that change over time, the world of breast pumps has too so she wondered which one is the best one to use these days.

And actually, it's a really good question!
It's been 9 years since I last used one too, so feeling out of the loop on the topic as well, I asked our wonderful Facebook & Instagram communities and thought it worthy of compiling some of the information and suggestions here so it can help other mums wondering the same!
I wish I'd had access to this kind of first-hand advice when I was in the throws of our breastfeeding journey that's for sure, because do actually remember feeling so completely clueless about this whole part of breastfeeding that I wouldn't have even known I don't think that there was different types or that different brands could work in different ways!! I know right? Clueless! I possibly even thought breast pumps still looked like the one in the museum!!

Firstly, like with everything breastfeeding related the Australian Breastfeeding Association is always a fantastic place to start and regardless of the brand of breast pump you end up deciding on they've published this useful guide to the types, depending on whether your planning on pumping short term or long term:

Source: Australian Breastfeeding Association (www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bf-info/breastfeeding-and-work/which-breast-pump-best-you)

Of course, while everyone will have a different preference in brand of pump they decide to use for often quite different reasons, when we asked the question over on our social media communities an overwhelming majority commented that they've found the Spectra brand useful because it seemed to have wider shields than others and some models are quite portable with a rechargeable battery option. Medela was also the other popular suggestion followed also by the Haakaa pumps.

If you'd like to view the full list of suggestions that all our other mums have found worked well for them, please click here for the Facebook post or click here for the Instagram post.