Home Forums Induced Lactation aka Adoptive Breastfeeding Medical Interventions to Induce Lactation/Increase Milk Supply Introduction / online purchase of herbs / pumps

Hello all. My name is Leasa. DH and I are in our early 30s and are expecting our first child via GS on November 14th. (Only 96 more days to go!! Can you tell I'm excited?) I have been on the regular protocol for five months now, and once I start pumping, I will have been on the protocol for a little over six months. Pumping begins on October 3rd (Excited about that too!).

Anyway, since October 3rd is only seven weeks away, I have decided to start looking into getting the herbs so I'll be ready to go when the time gets here. I was wondering if there is an online site that folks have used to purchase these.

Questions number two is in regards to pumps. I have been reading the posts on the message boards ever since I started the protocol and have noticed that pretty much everyone uses the Medela pump in style. My girlfriend has one of these and swears that it is not worth my money. She told me that her Avent manual pump was much better at draining all of the milk ducts and was relatively fast. I have a feeling that the fact that her Medela pump is four years old may have something to do with this, but I wanted to see what you ladies thought. She has offered to let me use her medela pump to try it out, but I don't want to waste my time with that, since time is of the essence as we try to build our milk supply. Any suggestions? Should I try her Avent pump and medela pump? Or should I just go ahead and purchase a new Medela?

Thanks for any assistance. Looking forward to getting to know you. Have a wonderful day.

Hi Leasa, Welcome and congratulations on the upcoming birth of your child! Now as for the pump. Get the Medela Pump in Style Original. This is the best for the protocol. Things can be a lttile different when you have given birth. I used various pumps in the past when I lactacted naturally and then a rented pump, a store bought pump and finally the Medela when I induced lactation. The Medela is by far better than all the others. Now this last baby I gave birth to I had a friend give me an Avent manual and yes it did work but I would never use it for the protocol. First it takes too much time and you cannot pump both breast simultaneously. My Medela emptied my breasts quickly while the Avent took awhile and was not as efficient. The hand pump can be convenient to have so you might take her up on it but get the PIS for the main bulk of your pumping.

Thanks for the welcome, Lalle. Quick question for you. How noisy is the pump? For example, if I pump at work, will everyone in the building know LOL?! Hopefully not . . . .

It does make noise but it is not overly loud. Definitely not loud enough for everyone in the building to hear it. You can also buy the car adapter and pump in your car if necessary. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

The cheapest place I've found to order herbs, and they have everything you can think of, is www.vitacost.com

I hope that helps you somewhat!

Kerri

Thanks Lauri and Kerri for the response! I will be ordering the herbs and pump soon. Am heading to Seattle tomorrow and won't be back until Monday. Until then . . . . . . .

Have a great weekend.