Expensive Breast Milk?
March 21, 2006 by kate baggott
Filed under Finances
We all know that breast milk is best for babies, but many of the reasons I nurse are all about me. The milk is free.
Not only is it free, but it’s always the right temperature, doesn’t require any preparation and it comes in an easy to clean package…me. It also helped me lose more than 3/4th of my pregnancy weight. That said, I hate breast pumps. I’ve tried three different kinds in my career as a mother and, of course, there is the possibility I am not using them correctly, that am not relaxed enough or just don’t have the right machine for me. I love my nipples and there are many further experiments I don’t want to conduct on them. When I have to be away from the baby, she gets formula.
Breast is best, but the guilt a lot of women are subjected to over bottle feeding is misplaced. Problems with breast feeding are more complex and unique from woman to woman. My breast pump aversion is another mother’s inverted nipple.
Still, I was surprised to read Luisa Ch. Savage’s essay in Maclean’s Magazine about the cost of breast feeding. The political journalist spent $1000 US on various nursing support tools and advice.
For me, the best pump is me – I hand-express when necessary. It’s rarely necessary though – my daughters never took to a bottle. I express when I have too much milk, or when I have a plugged duct. I get just as much milk that way, just as quickly, as I would with a manual pump.
When I was in the hospital, I was shocked by the efficiency of the hospital grade pump – a Lactina I think it was.
The article is way over-blown. You don’t need a rocker and ottoman to nurse (and my bottle-feeding friends have them anyway), you don’t even need a boppy pillow. Sure, a class is nice, some Lansinoh helps, but other than that, everything is free.
I was so lucky ! You can rent the hospital grade electric lactina pump here! It works very well!