“Ying hired a Spectra S2 Breast Pump to exclusively pump for her baby boy with tongue-tie and shared her experience with us”
In December 2016, my husband and I welcomed our lovely baby boy Alex to this world. I was blessed with an easy pregnancy, no morning sickness and I ate and slept well. All the prenatal checks were on track until the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I thought with all the homework and preparation I did on pregnancy and labour, I was in control but I wasn’t. Even with advanced modern medicine, we still don’t understand why nature does certain things and behaves in certain ways.
Alex decided he didn’t want to be born a big baby. From 34 weeks till his birth at 37 weeks, he didn’t put on weight and was born at 2.35Kg via natural birth. The Paediatrician was called to examine him. He had a tongue tie, which explained why he couldn’t suckproperly. For the first 24hrs on the ward at the hospital, I had no colostrum. By the second day, the midwife and paediatrician became concerned and suggested starting him on formula due to his low birth weight. I consented. However, even with the easy-flowing teat provided by the hospital, he had trouble sucking. By day three, with lots of effort from various midwives, he started taking in the required feed amount.
From then on, the battle between bottle feeding him and getting him latching on my breasts had begun. The home-visiting maternal nurse suggested hiring a Medela Symphony which we used for 4 weeks. During this period, I went on a regime of rigorous pumping sessions between 8-10 times a day with supplement of Motilium and other herbal soups. Despite all the stories we read and heard from other mums who exclusively pump, I couldn’t produce enough milk. After 4 weeks, I was on the verge of despair with mental and physical exhaustion. As the date of returning the Medela Symphony drew close, we had to decide: continue pumping or give up. I chose to keep trying – because without my breast milk that was serving as a laxative, my bub had a great deal of trouble passing his poo. I couldn’t bear watching him in pain because of constipation, when I could still pump for him. 
I heard about the Spectra S2 pump from a mother I met at the breastfeeding clinic. After returning the Medela, I hired the Spectra S2 breast pump from Sweet Beats. I was amazed how easily my milk was immediately flowed with the level 4 massage function. I liked how you can tweak the suction power levels and the cycle speeds to find the best combination that suits you. The valves where the milk slips into the bottle is larger than Medela’s. Within a minute or two of starting to pump, I could see my milk starting to fill up the bottom of the bottle. The lighting function is very thoughtful. The only inconvenience I find is the Spectra flange is a wide neck one, so it doesn’t fit with Medela or Pigeon bottles and teats I use. I just transfer the milk to other bottles after pumping.
I like the Spectra S2 so much I have decided to buy this pump after hiring from Sweet Beats. Alex is now 9 weeks old and I will to continue pumping until he is as close to 6 months old as possible. I hope one day he will appreciate that I pumped until the last drop of my milk because I love him so much.
Congratulations Ying. I also exclusively pumped for my son due to tongue tie. No one but another EPer can understand the sacrifice this entails. I salute you and wish you all the best. Thank you for letting us know that you preferred the Spectra over the Symphony, that is really helpful. Good luck.