Pump arrived :)

Right, my breast pump arrived and obviously i need to wash and sterilise the parts. So those of you with the ameda lactaline...which bits can i wash? All of it? It says not to do tubing and end cap but i dont know if these come into contact with milk ...and why cant i wash them? they are plastic

It says to boil them to sterilise...does anyone microwave sterilise theirs?

Also when should i try expressing? After a feed, during or inbetween, what works best? My boobs seem most full in the morning so should i do it then? Or wait til he sleeps in the evening and do it?

I'm stupidly excited to see if i can get more milk than a manual pump

These are the bits....

I the ameda lactaline
I absolutely hammered mine whilst working full time and still James and expressing for nursery

This was the simplest way to explain what you can and cannot wash!

[clothmama]

I used the steam sterilser with mine and it was fine Lynne. I think I checked it with Lucy before I did!

Why can't you wash those bits @docmaggoo ? I don't think I have as they don't come in contact with milk but didn't realise that you actually can't!

Thanks @docmaggoo

I think im going to have to either boil (in a pan) or cold sterilise as i only have my microwave steriliser and it says you can't use that

Was yours an electric steam steriliser? @clothmama

I've washed all the bits of mine. The instructions said to cold sterilise the tube, so that's what I did. I used it as a siphon to fill it so it could be submerged and sterilised.
Mind is the spectra, which is very similar, only cheaper, so I assume the same applies

[clothmama]

Thanks @docmaggoo

I think im going to have to either boil (in a pan) or cold sterilise as i only have my microwave steriliser and it says you can't use that

Was yours an electric steam steriliser? @clothmama

No mine is a microwave one too. I didn't read the instructions!

Although a lot of people do the opposite I always expressed when I had a very full boob BEFORE feeding Bubs from that side. First thing in the morning always worked best for me. If you can co-ordinate pumping and feeding at the same time that would be great but I struggled with that. On the odd occasion I waited until after feeding I got a tiny fraction of the volume than if I pumped before and I took ages.
I found no matter how much I expressed bubs could always get more milk out even when boob seemed empty from pumping. She's always had a strong suck though so possibly some newborns might find it harder.

Mine's a microwave one too and I always (and still do) use it to sterilise this. (Oops!) xxx

I decided to just go with the microwave sterilser and nothing untoward has happened to the plastic.
If you can boil the bits in a pan for 20 mins, i figured that 4 mins in the microwave couldnt hurt

I pumped for the 1st time yesterday to to get an idea of how it works and got 2 oz. Going to try again this morning