My breast feeding journey and review after 1month using Double Electric Breast Pump

My baby is sleeping now, so I'll take this time and review about my breast feeding journey as well as the Cimilre breast pump for moms who are interested.

Right when I was pregnant, I had determined that I would pump milk for bottle-feeding, so I tried to read a lot of reviews about breast pumps. After a long time of consideration, I finally decided to buy Cimilre S5 Double Electric Breast Pump.

My baby was born by cesarean on January 2nd. In the first few days, because of the pain, I did not stimulate or pump anything. On the second day after surgery, the doctor saw that I can express colostrum already, so he told me to try to breastfeed. But at this time, I was in such a pain to hold my baby to breastfeed, because I still have uterine contractions, it's very difficult to sit up.

On the third day after surgery, I started pumping milk with a breast pump. At this time, I'm still at the hospital, so I don't follow a pumping schedule, when the baby is hungry, I will feed the baby directly first, then pump again with a breast pump in massage mode. The breast that is sucked first by the baby will produce more milk, so if possible, moms should feed the baby directly first and then pump, it will produce better milk that way.

Before that, I asked for breast milk from my sister, so the baby was still fed by breastmilk, not formula milk.

The first day I pumped, I could only get about 10ml on both sides, and I still needed to use my sister's milk to feed my baby.

On the second day, I got about 30ml, which was enough for one feeding of my baby.

The next day, I got about 120ml on both sides (at that time I'd been discharged home, my health and mentality were much better)

After coming home, I started my schedule of pumping every 4 hours, and I got approximately 200ml each time. I feed my baby 80ml and keep the rest in the refrigerator.

About 30 minutes before breast pumping, I usually drank a small cup of warm milk, and gently massage my breasts for 1-2 minutes. I didn't need to use anything else to increase my breast milk. If you keep to the schedule, the milk will come out evenly, which is the key for breast pumping. One day, I was so sleepy that I was about to skip night pump, but the milk spilled on my shirt, so I had to get up to pump immediately, and never dare to skip the schedule again.

That's kinda enough about my baby's breast feeding journey. Now I should review a bit about the breast pump I use. The one I have been using is Cimilre S5 Double Electric Breast Pump. This is the introduction about this breast pump:

Cimilre S5 is an electric breast pump integrated with 2-motor pump and rechargeable battery. The suction on each pump can be adjusted individually, which means moms can customise and control the suction power on each breast during pumping, or use sync mode for simultaneous control.

• Single/Dual (double-side) pumping
• Modes & Adjustment Levels: Express (1-12 levels), Massage (1-5 levels)
• Suction strength 50-320 mmHg - more than Spectra's 300mmHg
• Built-in rechargeable battery
• Free Volt: Powers with conventional DC adaptor and can be used with any voltage settings
• Dimensions: 15 x 14 x 5.6 cm
• Weight: 880gm

Regarding breast pumps, I see these pros:

 - The battery charger is quite convenient for moms who often move. The day I got home from the hospital, I had to go by car for 3-4 hours, so I pumped milk in the car. Later that I bought an IMANI handsfree cup set, which was a perfect match with Cimilre breast pump. When I have to go out or hang out with my friends, I always bring these handsfree cup set, and pump it comfortably without having to open my shirt.

- The machine I use is S5, with 2 separate engines. During the pumping process, when I felt that there's one side slower than the other side, I just adjusted the mode to pump more strongly. I had to figure this out a few times to get it right.

- The pump is quite quiet, in my night pump, I just pumped milk and the baby just slept soundly right next to me.

- The machine does not automatically jump mode, so you can massage and pump breast at any level as long as you like. In the first few days, I only used the massage level 1-2-3. After getting used to it, I just raised the level up and find the most comfortable level for myself.

Cons:

- The original purchase of the machine is not allowed to choose the funnel size. The default funnel size is 24mm which seems a bit big for me.

I bought it when I was pregnant, so I didn't know exactly what size funnel to buy. After pumping milk for a few days, I felt ache in my nipples. I then checked it and turned out that the funnel was too big for my size. So I have to order another set of smaller funnels, now that the new funnel has arrived, it is less painful. What a relief! I just wish they have the size options like IMANI (25, 28mm).

In case of Cimilre, I advise moms to wait till after giving birth, feed the baby a few times, then measure the nipple to choose the right funnel size, and start ordering. You’ll have less pain for the first few days than me.

- At the start, the machine will default to the maximum massage level, which is a bit strong for sensitive nipples, so I had to be really careful. I finished preparing first and then turned on the machine, reduced the mode to the lowest massage level, and then plugged in the suction cord, then gradually increased the level. A bit jittery at this stage, but it protects my nipples from unnecessary pain.

- Each full charge can only pump about 3-4 times. Please note that if you’re taking it out, you need to calculate the charging time, so that it won't run out of battery midway.

That’s it. That’s the first few days of my breast feeding journey, and the first impressions of me about this Cimilre S5 Double Electric Breast Pump. With breast pumps that do not come with handsfree funnel set, I recommend buying one, so that you can use it comfortably when you’re outside. Thank you for reading, and may you have a happy journey with your new born angel too!