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Care75 · #38 (**permalink**) 05-11-2008, 03:18 PM

Swell- You've come to the right place. At least a few of us are pumping experts! And I had the same questions at the beginning.

I have the Medela double pump (Double Pump in Style, I think). It works great. I used the hospital grade one and other than mine being louder- it's pretty comparable. The pump itself comes with two bottles that you can pump into. Then, the hospital gave us a free kit that had an additional accessory pack with more bottles, shields, valves, etc. So if your hospital gives this (lots do), you'll end up with two sets which is great because then you don't have to wash between each time. I actually have four sets because my aunt gave me hers from the hospital and when Harper was hospitalize they let me use a pump and gave me a new kit too!

I would pump into the bottles that came with at first. Then, as I started to get more at each session I would attach an Evenflo 8 ounce bottle to the pump so that I could get more at once without switching the bottle (now remember, I didn't bring them to the breast after the first two weeks so you may never get so much). But any standard size bottle will fit on.

Then, I stored the milk in the fridge for use or if I'm going to use it right away- within 4 hours- I just leave it at room temperature. Any milk that I put in the fridge I label by date- it can be stored in the fridge for 4-5 days- but usually I used it in a couple of days.

We have a deep freezer full in the garage. I'd transfer the milk to the bags after I pumped and sometimes after it's sat in the fridge. It just can't sit in the fridge more than 24 hours to be frozen. I'd usually freeze in 8 oz. amounts now (wait until I have an 8 oz. amount in a bottle in a day) but at the beginning I'd freeze less. I never bought the Medela bags. I'd just buy the other brands. They are cheaper and you can get them at BRU or Target.

They also have different size shields for your breasts that you can buy at BRU. I have larger breasts too. I tried the extra large ones (30) and the large ones (27). I ended up liking the regular ones (24) best but they aren't very expensive to try.

We ended up using Evenflo bottles without BPA. They work great and fit on the pump too.