To Pump or Not to Pump
January 29, 2014
When I was pregnant with Phoebe is 1995 I took a birthing class and a breastfeeding class. In week six of the birthing class the teacher brought in a guest – a woman who rents breast pumps. The businesswoman made it clear that if a person was to be breastfeeding she would need a good quality pump.
Phoebe and I struggled for a few days but got the hang of nursing and all was well. The pediatricians were impressed with her weight gain and were nearly shocked I was exclusively breastfeeding. Looming in the back of my mind was that little voice of the woman “you need a breast pump, you need a breast pump.”
After about four weeks I found a local pharmacy that rented pumps and plopped down my $212.32 for a two-month rental with all of the supplies. I brought it home and it sat…
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mamamilkandme 
January 29, 2014 at 9:29 pm
I ended up exclusively pumping for my son. I tried nursing him for the first three weeks, but he wasn’t gaining any weight and as time went on, I got panicked about it and needed to know how much he was getting. In retrospect (I’ve since nursed and pumped for another child), I probably overreacted, but that was where I was at the time. I pumped for him exclusively for 14 months.
One thing I would say from my own experience – I did not need a hospital grade pump to establish supply, a double electric pump (I have a Freestyle) worked fine. I have two friends that also used a Freestyle or PIS to establish supply, and all three of us exclusively breastfed our babies using a pump for over a year.