I remembered once I made the decision to breastfeed LO, a big question for me is “How do I pump in office”? Working in a young company with a open concept office space (even our meeting area is “open” and not a room) is definitely not helping. Thanks to TS, I was made aware of my life savior – Freemie! It’s a breastmilk collection cup which I can slide it into my bra and goes handfree while pumping, enabling me to continue with my work (well, most of the time).
While this is not the only hands-free option – I can get a hands-free bra – I find using Freemie comparable more discreet to pump at my desk.
Next decision to make – what pump should I get? Again, thanks to TS, I was made aware of Spectra 9+, it’s a light weight and economy pump which runs on built-in battery – which means I do not need to consider about the power point when I pump in office.
I did consider other options given by other friends, staff from mothercare, and even staffs from bingbling.com.sg, but end up with this as I feel most comfortable with the combination of it’s size, price, and noise level it made. According to the staff from bingbling.com.sg, it’s more suitable for mummy with sensitive nipples, since I am not too sure if mine was sensitive when I made the purchase (I kiasu-ly bought it on the baby fair Jun 2015 when my EDD is on Oct 2015), so I go for the safer option. Glad I did so as it turn out that I really have sensitive nipples (endorse by my massage lady when I’m having my post natal massage).
So yah, I ended up with this combi when I pump at work:
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| Before set up – a lot of parts to assemble! |
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| After set up. |
When I’m pumping in office, I will bring the collection cup into the toilet and slide it into my bra, and also slot in the set of tubing I need to connect to the cup, put on my nursing shawl (told my boss it’s my DND – do not disturb shawl) and go back to my desk to connect the tubing back to the pump. Tada~ I can continue to work while pumping!
After 30 minutes of pumping, I will “detect” the tubing from the cup and bring a bottle along with me to the toilet to unload the breast milk – put everything into a plastic container, and place them into the fridge before I go back to my seat and continue to work work,
I would love to pump 3 times a day in office but failed terribly because my timing always get screwed up whenever we have a long discussion/meeting. 🙁 So in the end I keep to 2 times a day to make the goal more achievable.
I like the fact that with this set up, I can pump hands-free while continue with my work, discussions and etc. I do not need to change into a hands-free bra in order to do so.
But on the other hand, I find that there are quite a lot of parts to wash at the end of the day. Also, I do find suction much weaker than normal flanges, the bra I wore (how loose? too tight?) and the placement also can affect the yield at the end of the day. It happened quite a few times that after a session, I discovered I did not managed to get any bm (breastmilk) into the collection cup, but outside instead.
At times I really wish to give up, but I decided to persist whenever I look into my LO’s face. So I made a decision that I will try my best to last as long as possible, and even if I cannot yield as much as I desired, “something” is better than “nothing”. Till then, I will continue to be a cow~
Currently target: 6 months
LO is already 4.5 months as of now, the goal is not too far, Wish me all the best yah~
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| I bought the adapter from |
In order to continue to use my existing Spectra and Autumnz wide neck breast milk bottle (Spectra 9+ pump comes with wide neck flange and bottles by default), I have bought the Maymom Standard neck to Wide neck bottle adaptor from http://www.bingbling.com.sg/. But recently I am too tired of washing the extra parts (adaptors) so when I do my latest purchase of milk bottle – I decided to get Autumnz standard size bottle.
P/S: Just to share on a one-off incident – there’s once I was caught in a long meeting and I only managed to pump once in office in the morning, I got engorged (for once! I am a low supply mum by the way) and become so uncomfortable I decided to do the wildest things I can do! Before I start my journey home, I went into the public toilet, put in my Freemie, and set up the pump and put it inside my sling bag, and I just took the train and go home as per normal. Throughout the journey, no one around bat an eye at me~ Haha, Guess the noisy train save me from embarrassment, and I am really glad that I am using Freemie during working days 😛