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Tommee Tippee Closer To Nature Freedom Breast Pump
by Chippytarka
Breast feeding is a very personal thing. Anything about bringing your children into the world is, but this is one of those areas that for any woman who has breastfed, has its ups and downs. For me, my intential thought when I first became pregnant was I wanted to breastfeed.Being quite a practial person I realised after doing alittle ... research, but more importantly knowing that things dont always go to plan, I knew I may be able to or not. Luckily, with both of my children I was lucky enough to breastfeed both for 15-16 months each.
My first experience with my son was a revelation. They tell you how important it is to breastfeed, it gives your baby the best start, helps build their immune system, helps build even more of a bond with your child with the the closeness of the act, but they never explain how for alot of people its painful to start off with, sometimes uncomfortable and just because baby needs feeding and is hungry, it doesnt mean you are in an ideal situation, time or place to do that and this is where this particular product is handy.
I bought this when it was on offer in Boots for £12.50.
What is this product?
This breast pump helps a nursing mother express milk from her breast by simulating a similar sucking action to the nipple area as a baby would, which means that if baby needed mothers milk but could not be fed directly from her, the milk could be given in a bottle/beaker/cup form to maintain feeding routine.
As you can imagine, Tommee Tippee have years of experience with providing top quality practical products for mums and babies/young children. Not just specifically for newborns or babies, but quite easily up to toddler age with alot of their weening products. So alot of thought has been put into this particular product.
Firstly, it only comes in three pieces so you dont have to worry about trying to fit zillions of pieces together. These pieces are the small bottle, which the milk is stored in.The pump area which slots into the bottle. This helps you release the milk, and the ' cup ' section which sits around the breast area. All three pieces are easy to clean.
The pump does come with the following other things which means you basically have everything you need to start off with:
Included inside: 1 x Closer to Nature Easi-Vent 150ml Baby Bottle, 1 x Milk Storage Pot, 6 x Disposable Breast Pads, 1 x Microwave Steriliser Box
The product is also BPA free-bisphenol A. BPA is a chemical used in the production of plastic that has been shown can affect the brain as well as prostate glands, so has been over recent years been avoided in production of plastic based products, especially those intended for children. In 2009, major manufacturies of baby products such as bottles, beakers, cups etc actually stopped using this chemical and have labelled their products BPA free. Why would they use BPA anyway in products? It adds strength and durablility to a plastic product and when used allows it to hold its shape more and be more resilient.
How do you use it?
Once you have put the three pieces together ( could be done blindfolded ), you simply pop the cup section over the breast area and with the pump ' dispenser ' gently press it down, continue to keep pressing down til milk appears and stop when you have expressed the desired amount of milk. Make sure pump is cleaned thoroughly after each use by using the provided microwave steriliser box and follow instructions.
How did I find this product
It is manual, so you have to put some welly into pumping. It wasnt hardwork as such, but depending how quickly and freely your milk would flow, it could be very boring and time consumming. To be sat there pumping away for an hour and look down and see the most smallest amount of milk ever is dishearting, as you cant really do anything else really while your doing it. But I would suggest to get some advice on how you can express more milk and quickly if you find it a problem, as different factors can affect it such as time of day, if your feeling stressed or unwell, if your baby is physically near you etc. So flow may be down to the body, not the pump.
The pump itself wasnt loud, alittle on the squeeky side ( if air got into it ) and it was quite comfortable to use. Something likes this can take abit of time to get used to and feel comfortable with, so its abit trail and error.
I bought this product to basically give me alittle break from breastfeeding. Fot the first six months, if you are solely breastfeeding then you have to be near in distance from your child, which sometimes isnt the easiest if you have to work, have other children or commitments or basically just need alittle time for yourself. My children though had other ideas. They werent that keen on taking bottle and much preferred me than anything else which was great for them, but at times made me feel alittle down to be honest as I felt very restricted, but I got used to it and worked with it rather than against. It is for quite a short period when you think about it, so I thought it was best to go with the flow.
When I did express milk I mainly used it to mix in with the childrens cereals when they were below 12 months old. I expressed milk and popped it in the fridge or freezer so I always knew there was some somewhere just in case I needed it. Since my children didnt benefit from drinking from a cup or beaker with breast milk that much, ithe pump wasnt needed in reflection, but a great thing for a back up and I still would buy it again just in case. And at the price I paid, it was still a good purchase.
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