Breastpumps are essential to breastfeeding moms, especially those who are working. I, for one, wouldn’t be able to continue breastfeeding my sons if it weren’t for the breastpumps I have used.

With all the kinds of breastpumps available in the market - manual, battery-operated, single electric, double, endless features - one would think that at least of them have everything you need in a pump. That, however, is subjective, as different women have different needs.

I know a lot of pumping moms are happy with their breastpumps. They wish for more features that can make their pumping experience easier and more comfortable, but they are happy with what they have, so far.

But if there is a way that we could send a message to breastpump manufacturers, to tell them what we really want, that would be awesome.

And thankfully, I found a way.

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I reached a breastfeeding milestone yesterday.

I pumped milk right here on my workstation. At this very seat.

Now that’s no easy feat, nor something that I could do on a regular basis.

Here’s why, and here’s how I did it…

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Most governments are now promoting breastfeeding, with the help of countless breastfeeding advocates. And why not? We’ve heard so many things about the benefits of breastfeeding, how breastmilk is the best nutrition AND gift a mother can give to her child.

However, in many societies, a woman breastfeeding in public is still frowned upon. It may be because there are still a lot of people who are “new” to the concept of breastfeeding.

And I find that hard to understand.

People see everywhere animals breastfeeding their young. Pigs, cows, dogs, cats… Heck, even wild animals like lions and tigers breastfeed their cubs. And it’s normal. And they flinch when they see a human breastfeed her young?

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I mentioned last time that I’ve resolved to invest on a battery-operated or electronic breastpump so I can breastfeed much longer than when I did for my first son. I also mentioned that I already have a specific pump in mind but am not yet 100% sure about it.

Well, I’ve finally decided to get the newly-released Medela FreeStyle™ Hands-Free Electric Double Breastpump.

I was actually planning to get the Medela Pump In Style® Advanced Backpack, but when I read about the compact design FreeStyle™, I just fell in love with it. Check out its features:
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Note: This post is a revised version of a blog post in my other blog.

I can’t wait to give birth. I can’t wait to breastfeed again.

I enjoyed breastfeeding Issen, my now 15-month-old boy, so much that I was so devastated when we had to stop. I got pregnant again when Issen was about 8 months old, and my OB advised against breastfeeding while pregnant. Also, my irregular schedule of milk expression at work caused the continuous decrease in my milk supply. I was using a manual pump then and the stress at work didn’t do much good to milk supply, add to that the fact that I sometimes skip my pumping session because it has become a really tiring chore to me.

Still, I was lucky that I didn’t go through the usual first-timer breastfeeding dilemmas. Issen learned very easily to latch on to me, and I never experienced cracked nipples or extremely painful plugged milk ducts.

Here are a couple of lessons I learned that could have made my breastfeeding easier and last longer.

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