My milky way life

I'm happy and blessed with abundant of BM supply for YY.  Breast feeding YY directly throughout the day and night has definitely increases my BM supply very much. But it is equally vital to invest in a good dual breast pump too.

Here's my personal review for my brand new Ardo Calypso Dual Breast Pump.

My first time using it was not really a pleasant experience, in fact I was pretty disappointed with it too. Firstly, I have never used a dual pump before, thus to handle 2 breast shields at the same time was rather mah fan, I felt. In order not to hold both breast shields for 15min, I've bought Pumpin' Pal  hands-free breast pumping strap, as recommended by my SIL. Though it is meant to ease mommy during each milk pumping activity, I still need time to get used to it coz initially I find it very troublesome. When my BM supply came, I had engorgement on the day after. I happily assembled all the gadgets to start using my breast pump right away. After using it for less than 10min, suddenly my breast pump stopped operating! The LED light was also blinking, flashing green and orange light, as indicated in the below far right picture. 

Manual book

Oooh uuhhh....something not right. I switched it off and start all over again. 10min later, the same thing happened. Duhhh....baru start using it and already malfunction?? +_+ I quickly called Mr. Tan, the 1 and only after sales service guy, for help. After explaining to him what I've experienced with the breast pump, he has advised me to bring it over to his shop so that he could inspect the breast pump motor. If it can be repaired, it will be done on the same day on the spot. HubB went over to his place in the afternoon and he came back with a brand new breast pump. Mr. Tan has replaced a new 1 for me. Honestly, I've loose my confidence on this brand

WAIT!! Maybe I've made my conclusion rather too early.  The replacement unit worked well. After using it for about 3-4 times (and till todate), my perception over this dual pump has changed, and I started to love it! The Individual Phase feature is really good.

Firstly, I will adjust the cylce speed to the max (full bar on right side) and the comfortable vacuum suction as shown in the left side. The higher the cycle, the more rapid suction I will get, just like how rapid a baby sucks the moment baby is latch on. The rapid suction will promote milk let down. In about 1min++ I will have let down feeling on both breast. 

Step 1

Once I have let down feeling, I will then change the vacuum suction and cycle as per below picture. Cycle has been reduced so that it'll be a deep suction to remove milk from breast effectively. This is the same like how a baby sucks deeply too when there's let down.

Step 2

During let down, milk will be oozing out fast. Once my milk flow starts to drip again, I will repeat Step 1 . Amazingly, I will experience another let down too! That is why I love the the Individual Phase feature on this breast pump. More let down means can collect more BM =)

I have tried all the different sizes of breast shields provided in this breast pump package, and what suits me best is the large size shield which fits with the silicon OptiFlow massage insert. 

Breast shield with OptiFlow massage insert

Initial output of my EBM using a dual breast pump

As I continue to directly BF my baby and express out my BM an hour after feeding (not for every feeding, depending how full my breasts are), my BM supply has increased dramatically. Once I've emptied both breast thru the dual breast pump, my breast will be full again within 45min later. That's fast! 

As of today, I can get this much per session (average of 6-8oz of EBM) an hour after BF my baby.
Most of the time YY only takes 1 breast. 

Best to use this type of masking tape to label your bottle of EBM.
Do not use the pre-cut sticker as it's hard to remove.

Now, I have more than 35 bottles of 3oz frozen EBM in my freezer =) Very happy with so much of frozen EBM stock!! Keep buying more and more bottles for freezing purpose, also bought some pre-sterilized BM storage bags too. I've chosen Jingle Jungle brand BM storage bag. It has double zipper lock feature.  For storage bag, I will store 6oz of EBM on each bag.

Btw, I still need to express my BM at least once (max twice) in the mid night as YY can only take from 1 breast. Thus I have to remove milk from the other breast otherwise I will not be able to sleep with the engorgement. Normally I will BF her around 9pm, then CL will bring her to our bedroom at 10pm. YY might need milk again at around 11pm-12am. Most of the time, the next feeding will be at 3.30am - 4am, subsequent feeding at 6am-7am. Thereafter, CL will take over. She'll carry YY downstairs to bath her and then bottle feed her. I will normally get up from sleep at around 9am, and I'll take over the entire feeding, depending on YY's cue.