Breastfeeding

It all depends on how you’d like to breast feed! If it is just breast feed with no bottles you don’t need anything at all! However you may be an over supplier or get quite heavy during the night which is normal so you may want to get a Haaka or a manual breast pump to relieve that! If you plan to breastfeed and express for maybe when your partner wants to help I would say then a electric one is better I personally have a hands free one as I can pop it in one boob and baby girl still latches well so I can do both at the same time (some babies don’t like it and find it in the way so latch may not come easy) for comfort I would say a nipple cream is a must I had a little sample of the lansinoh which was amazing and then we ran out and my partner ran to get some last minute and only had my midwife expert which is also really good just more pricy and works the same! For the first few days boobs can leak quite a bit so boob pads do come in handy I personally only leaked for a week!

Nipple shields are also helpful if nipples are super sore but I would say you could wait and see if nipple cream helps relief if not then getting shields as they can be a little pricy

Honestly I'd just wait until they're here and see how you're getting on before getting a pump, they recommend not to pump in the 1st 6 weeks anyway as can cause over production as your body is still getting in the swing of it, but I'd highly recommend one of these milk collectors, so good to help relieve the pressure when they get really full and you can normally get quite a bit of milk with them without over stimulation! Having a box of the milk storage bags wouldn't hurt either but you can pick them up in Tesco with your shopping if you needed too! https://www.boots.com/lansinoh-silicone-breast-pump-10272372-?cm_mmc=bmm-buk-google-ppc-_-PLAs_HeroCompare-_--_-pmax_mother%26baby__gg_shopping__hc___pmedia&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA_9u5BhCUARIsABbMSPsxBOUZ1katvn8iupwtBdek_iV3FYik-QoKRIEsH5ouePLjiV1KCJ0aAmNmEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

i just wanted to add in as someone who couldnt breastfeed very long (just cause i feel like everyone who commented so far did insanely well with breastfeeding) just as it is possible you over produce, you can very much possibly under produce (like me). id recommend getting a pump (electric is definitely better in my opinion so you have some free hands lol) and you could always get secondhand to save on money (just definitely buy some new tubing). id recommend letting baby feed then pumping for 20ish minutes immediately after, every two hours or afyer baby eats then pump again. if youre breastfeeding, oversupplying is better than under supplying. you can always just freeze your extra milk (and breastmilk is great as a moisturizer if your skin gets irritated easily, so you could use it if you have a big supply)

I’d personally recommend a pump before hand because when your milk comes in you get extremely engorged and baby won’t get it all out when that happens and if you don’t empty your boobs you’ll be in a lot of pain! So definitely need a pump! You’ll either come across different issues or you won’t. As long as you have a pump already, you’ll be able to go and get stuff you need later, or when a specific issue arises. I have absolutely everything you’ll ever need for any breastfeeding issue cause i went through it! So I have a lot of products I now don’t use as I am successfully breastfeeding without having to use anything. On another note, I do recommend ice packs for when your milk comes in. It can be very painful xx

I always say. Get a pump through insurance regardless if you’re going to be strictly breasting. You might or might not need it. But if you do. You’ll have one from insurance in home. Instead of waiting for one. Milk bags, sure Haakaa regardless, because you can suck this on one boob for let down while you feed baby with other boob. Bottles nipples and bottle brushes. Bottle drying rack and or for pump parts. Nipple butter for sore nipples after feeding or for pumping.

@Victoria we don’t unfortunately don’t get pumps through insurance often we don’t have health insurance as the NHS is free and don’t need it. This reminded me though that you can borrow and rent pumps from community centres and sometimes hospitals in the UK too incase you don’t want to buy one first

My midwife lent me a pump at the beginning, then I got my own (with Amazon you can get things quite quickly, so I wouldn't worry too much). Nipple cream and breast pads, as you will certainly use them, you will want them as soon as you need them and anyway they're not expensive. Even if you are planning on EBF, get a few bottles of ready made formula just in case. Best case scenario you won't need it, but we ended up using some of it for the first couple of days until he learned how to latch. Nursing bras as well! You can hold off on nursing tops and decide if you want/need them later on.

I got a haka pump before hand and used that for colostrum. Also continued to pump after birth and didn’t go into over supply, I was actually under for awhile then found things that work for me to get my supply up

Oh wow! So much helpful info here. Thank you so much everyone. Really appreciate all the advice xx

If you don’t plan on going back to work/ separating from your baby for more than 3 hours at a time, don’t worry about it. You don’t need any equipment besides comfortable wireless bras, reusable 100% cotton nursing pads, lanolin nipple cream, and a Haakaa for a while. The Haakaa is great for relieving very full breasts and catching letdown while nursing (helps build a small stash). Once you’re breastfeeding for a few weeks, then I think you should decide what kind of pump will best suite your lifestyle (Spectra, MomCozy portable, Medela manual, etc.) if you choose to build a freezer stash to bottle feed. I spent so much money and time on pumping and bottle supplies just for my now 22 month old to never take a bottle. I used my freezer stash for milk baths and it sucked to see it all go down the drain. It’s exhausting to force production of more milk than what your baby needs. For my next baby, I don’t plan to pump at all because I plan to always be with my baby until they’re weened off

Boobs. You don’t need anything unless you want to pump and give your baby bottles. I just EBF and didn’t pump at all.

I was given an electric and manual… In the end, i preferred the manual one. It all depends on you as a person, so I would save those receipts.🧾 I also just had her on my boob. She wasn’t a binky baby, she just wanted me!! 😂😂😂

You don’t have to pump but if you do want to you can borrow one from the hospital to see if you get on with it :) otherwise I would get a breastfeeding pillow, nipple cream and a anti spill travel mug for tea ❤️ Follow the breastfeeding network on Facebook, you can private message them and a trained volunteer can reply to any questions you have before and while you breastfeed. They were absolutely amazing they helped me so much! Also, cluster feeding. Baby makes you make more milk by feeding and sucking a lot, it’s super normal and important ❤️ Baby makes you make the exact amount of milk they need so you don’t need to pump if you don’t want to, I couldn’t actually pump it didn’t work for me so please don’t panic buy a pump as I said you can borrow from hospital or midwife unit ❤️