Doctors advise new mothers to breast-feed their children for the first few months at least. The suggestion is accepted without complaints because it seems such a natural thing to do. What better way to ensure that the baby is getting good nourishment? But with changing lifestyles, many nursing mothers are finding it difficult to feed their babies throughout the day. So they resort to a combination of breastfeeding and pumps.

Breastfeeding and pumps is a great option for a working mother who wishes to keep her baby on mother's milk only but is unable to do so because of the long hours she has to put in at her office. Some mothers suffer from cracked and very dry nipples or have nipple infections. Breastfeeding is therefore not possible for some time at least.

Another good thing about breastfeeding and pumps is that the baby is ensured of getting the essential antibodies via the mother's milk to ward off several kinds of infections and illnesses which can occur during the earliest years of a child.

Now the mother who is combining breastfeeding and pumps needs to know the technique of using the pump. The right pump has to be selected proportional to the amount of time (number of hours) the mother is going to be away from the baby. The nipple should be pulled and released fifty times in a minute.

Pumps come in three categories. Women opting for breastfeeding and pumps can take their pick from among them-

(a) Cheapest and comfortable, the hand or foot operated pump is good enough for occasional use, but not so much advised for continual use. A working mother would not find it practical. Since it is portable, it can be handy when the mother wants to go out with the baby's father or make a trip to a nearby store. Additionally, it can lessen the pressure of engorgement and prep the breasts before feeding, during the early months.

(b) The electrical breast pump gets its supply of power from an outlet or a battery or a combination of both. There is the fully automatic version and the semi-automatic version. It comes at an affordable cost and is ideal for those mothers who are forced to keep away from their babies for almost up to 20 hours a week.

(c) A third variety is the hospital grade breastfeeding pump. Very easy to use, it is foremost in quality. The pumping action is rapid and natural. Either it can be purchased, or rented for a limited time. But if the mother wishes to go on with her breastfeeding and pumps method for greater than three months, it is advisable for her to purchase the pump, rather than rent it.