Breast Pump Question - Gilbertsville,PA

I had great luck with the Lansinoh double electric breast pump. It's MUCH cheaper than a Medela. They also have some kind of valve things that supposedly make it safe to buy a used one since milk can't get into the motor. You can just buy new phlanges that go over your breasts. (new tubes as well) I originally bought a used Medela Pump in Style, but was completely ridiculed by their customer service because I tried to buy replacement parts. They told me that it's unsafe to use a pre-owned pump... milk can back up into the motor, etc... I was so afraid to use it...

The only problem with buying a Lansinoh pump is that you may have to order replacement parts. Most stores carry tons of Medela parts.... but not Lansinoh.

Don't waste your money on a handheld pump... I bought one, tried it once, and never used it again........ Pain in the butt...

Hi A.:

Have you thought about talking to a breast feeding consultant at La Leche League in your local area to help you get through the adjustment phase?
D.

both my kids ended up in the NICU for a while so I pumped a LOT (months for each kid). The hospital rental ones are a little more comfortable and effective if you have to pump exclusively for more than a few days. The Ameda was slightly more comfortable than the Medela. I had a Medela Pump in Style and it worked pretty well too and was much more portable. If you want help most hospitals have a Lactation Consultant who can help you get started. La Leche League also has meetings you can attend both before and after you have the baby. The La Leche leaders usually know all the Lactation Consultants in the area as well.

I had a heavy duty medela pump in style that was wonderful. I used it for a whole year and it held up well. I'd recommend a backppack as it's easier to carry if you have a few other bags to carry at the same time. As for small handheld, I personally would not want that as it takes to long. It might get tiresome if you are doing it for 20 mins unless you don't mind. Good luck!

I have the Medela Freestyle and love it! It provides freedom that my friends with the In Style do not have. I can walk around, check my baby when he is napping, talk on the phone, check email (in fact I am pumping right now) and do many other things around the house. I have also pumped in the car (as a passenger) on long trips, on airplanes and at work. The Easy Expression Buster Bra that makes hands-free truly hands-free and was a great investment too. My baby is 7 month and I pump 2 to 4 times every weekday and as needed on weekends. The pump has been effective and my son has never had formula. The Freestyle was worth every penny. I recommend it whole-heartedly for any mom.

I never used a hand pump so I can’t help there.

I started out with a small single electric pump. My mom and sister got it for me so I felt like I couldn't go get a different one. I also hated to invest a large sum of money on a pump when I was going to be a stay at home mom and probably wouldn't need it much. And while I was determined to breastfeed I know sometimes you can't, and I hated to waste the money. So I just figured I would use the little one and if it died on me, then I'd get the good one.

That was definitely a mistake. I don't know if this is true for everyone, but I definitely felt like my breasts "learned" my pump. I was able to pump 8-10 oz at a time with the small one, even though the suction was not consistent and it just up and died after milk backed up into it. I knew that could breed bacteria so I didn't want to just get another one like it. But once I got my good pump, I was never able to pump the same. Then I had one given to me (to do a review on it for the company) and with that one I couldn't get much milk either. Then my friend loaned me hers with new parts and that one didn't work either. Top of the line pumps wouldn't work as well as the crappy one I started with. I overproduced so I pumped quite a bit more than I really needed to. I had huge stockpiles of milk, until my little pump quit and then I got engorged.

So if you decide to get just a small one to start with, I would get a manual, because it won't die on you and need replaced. But if you plan to have more kids, I would really just get a good double electric pump. I would just not recommend starting out with one pump when you will likely plan to change to another one anyway. I used a Medela Pump in Style, a Lansinoh, and a Playtex Embrace. All were pretty similar as far as what they could get, and some had features I like better than others, but I'd say the Playtex was my favorite.

Hi A.,
I was givin a hand held pump for free at the hospital when I delivered both my sons. As for a heavy duty pump, we rented one for $60 a month. We also got that info from the hospital. Good luck.
L.

I also used the Medela and it was so much better than the others I tried...I still have it if you would like to buy it for cheap and just get new tubes (I had to do this when one of the tubes got lost and they are cheap). Let me know if you are interested-it comes as a cute, easy to carry back-pack in case you ever travel or need to bring it somewhere, too. I found the hand-pumps very difficult to use successfully. I would be happy to help you if I can!

Call your health insurance and see what you need to do to have them cover the cost of one. My insurance simply required a note from my dr stating that it was medically necessary for me to have a pump. My insurance then covered the cost of a hospital-grade pump. Its a much better option then taking on the expense of buying one, they are the most effective ones and hey, if it doesn't work out, you haven't "wasted" any money.

I used the same Medela Pump-In-Style with both my kids. I loved it. It worked great and I never had any problems with it.

One thing to consider, even if you end up nursing exclusively, is that you may find yourself pumping more often than you expect. For instance, I found myself waking up in the middle of the night with painfully engorged breasts (especially the first few months), but my daughter was sleeping and I didn't want to wake her to nurse, or she would only nurse on one side, but the other was full. I was glad I had a heavy duty pump for these situations. Especially since it happened so often in the middle of the night.

But whatever way you go, I'd suggest having the pump ready when baby arrives. I made that mistake with my first. I didn't have my pump ready and I needed it right away. I had no idea how painful an engorged breast can be!

Congratulations and good luck!

I've breastfed 3 babies now, and pumped milk for all three as well. I found pumping pretty challenging - so don't give up if you have to play with it a little to get it to work for you! :) Talk to your lactation specialist at the hospital about pumping.

I have owned the Medela Pump in Style (over $300) and I've also owned Dr.Browns manual pump, as well as been given the free Medela manual pump at the hospital.

I had problems with the Medela PIS because I am a very large cup size and the mouth of the pump didn't really massage right. The best way I got milk was to express on one side, while the baby nursed on the other. (It helped my milk come down)

I was very happy with the Dr.Brown manual pump. It was about $50, easy to use, and doesn't have a cone shape, so it fits all sizes of breasts.

I also have a friend that loves the Advent manual pump, she's a normal breast size (c cup) and found it better for her then the rental she had from the hospital. It's about $50 as well.

As to the hospital rentals like the Lactina - it takes the manual medela pump and just pumps it for you. Uses the same parts.

As a side comment - never buy a used breast pump. It's not sanitary and can pass disease to your child. (unless they are medical grade -- like the lactina -- you can buy packages of the parts that need to be replaced)(Pump, tubing, cups)

Good luck and congrats!

With my first born and then twins (when I pumped A LOT) I used the Medela Pump In Style (it was about $300 new) and loved it. I also used the Medela Symphony (industrial pump) while in hospital with the twins and it ROCKED. It's really expensive, like $1500 new but maybe you could get one used or rent? Basically I had to pump for about 10 minutes per time to get what I needed with Medela. With the Symphony I had to pump for like 2 minutes. Just depends how much you want to spend and how much you think you'd be pumping.

I have no recommendations on a hand held one.

you can rent these . your local hospital will know where,check with the breast feeding specialist there / medical supply companies as well... by the way my son didnt breast feed well from birth,,, it happens . I rented one for 4 months

I have used the Medala Harmony manual pump, it's not bad, but my Pump In Style Advance works so much better. It seems to me that the electric pump is also more effecient and would probably help your milk supply more than the manual pump. I had trouble with my first baby latching and my pump was a savior. Once my milk came in for both of my kids, I was using the pump daily.

Mommygear.com has the BEST prices on Medala pumps! They are also VERY helpful with all nursing issues. I like the SoftFit shields. I did see that Mommgear has the Medala Swing (same technology, but only a single pump instead of a double) for a $125.99.

If you have it, I would spend the extra money to buy the electric pump because it is SO much easier/user friendly than the manual pump. It's hard being a new mom and you don't want to be frustrated with a pump.

Good Luck!

A.,

When I had my first child, I had a small, handheld Medela pump that pumped just one side at a time. When I had my 2nd, I went for a pricier, but well worth it, electric double pump, the Medela Pump In Style.

As for the baby not wanting to take to the breast...look up great lactation consultants now, just in case, and look up a local nursing moms group. The Nursing Moms Advisory Counsel will assign you a volunteer consultant...another mom...and they also have meetings which is really nice for a new mom. I had a terrific consultant!

I also had a wonderful lactation consultant. I used a LC after both of my kids were born; if I hadn't, the nursing relationship would never have taken off the ground properly...not everyone needs one, but I did. My LC was well worth it.

I don't know where you're located, but if you are interested in names, just send me a private message with your general location!

Good luck!

P.S. I nursed for 2 years...and this was after weeks of my milk not coming in properly...and then one day it did.

My Medela Pump In Style Advanced has been in valuable for daily use - but I admit, I got it before the Freestyle came out, and it sounds even better since it is supposed to be the same quality of pumping in a much smaller size. I can't personally vouch for the Freestyle though.

I also have a Medela Harmony hand pump. It works really well, I get as much from that as from my electric pump, it just takes longer since it is one side at at time. And the bottles, valves, and other pieces are all interchangeable with the electric pump and that's convenient.

I need both, because I keep the hand pump at home, and the electric at work. But if you are going to be a stay at home mom, you probably only need the hand pump, and if you have trouble with the baby latching, I agree with others that you should go to a lactation consultant. Don't accept that sometimes babies just don't want to nurse - that is really incredibly rare! In fact, even if nursing seems to be going well while you are in the hospital, ask for a visit from a lactation consultant while you are there. The hospital will have them on staff, and they can make sure everything looks good before you go home.

I agree with another poster that the Medela Symphony is the best pump out there, and you can usually rent them from the hospital. But one thing I would stress is that if you have any trouble nursing, by all means pump, but do whatever you can to find a great lactation consultant to help you get the baby on the breast. I had to pump exclusively for over two months with one of my children, and then about a month with another of my children, and it was exhausting and painful (I developed mastitis two times because pumps drain the breast as well as an actual child). I was about to give up both times and then managed to get the baby nursing again so could continue with breast milk. Don't put yourself through undue stress or pain if you don't have to. Good luck!

I used Madela with no problem. I had times where I didn't even need a pump.

I know someone said you don't need to spend a lot of money on one...but do your research!!! The one I bought was on sale for $70 at Target when I bought it, this unfortunately is cheep for a pump. It was electric or battery operated. I was planning on pumping to go back to work when my daughter was 6 months. But my pump broke when she was about 4 months old (and I hardly used it, only to freeze milk or early in the morning when I was super full even after baby was full) bless her little heart she slept through the night at 6 weeks.
When the pump was on batteries it took forever!!! It was also a little painful that way I'm not sure why it should have been exactly the same, then the plug part of the machine broke and I couldn't plug it in anymore. It was a waste of money I should have spent more on a better pump and it might have lasted a little longer. I would look into the insurance aspect and see if you can get it covered.
You can check into rental, but personally it freaks me out. I'm not sure why I know it has to be super safe or you wouldn't be able to do it.

When I had my daughter 3 years ago, I didn't know if I was going back to work or not, so bought the Medela Pump In Style with my baby shower gift cards right before my due date and we kept it in the original packaging through the birth. In the hospital, I needed a hospital grade pump as my milk was very slow to come in (no colostrom in the hospital) and my daughter was born with a tongue tie, so she was slow to learn proper latch on. So I pumped from day one and was SO glad to have the completely automatic pump. It also gave my hubby a chance to do a few bottles here and there and let me nap.

I ended up never going back to work, but used my pump for the entire year, while I breastfed exclusively till 5 months (then we introduced solids, but no formula). It's exhausting taking care of a child, so making your pumping go as fast as possible is NOT a bad thing. If you can afford to get the automatic one up front, you'll have a greater return on investment.

Good luck!

The small handheld pumps are a nightmare. It takes hours and hand cramps to get a couple of ounces (unless something new and better has come out). I used my good pump way more than I thought I would as a stay at home mom. I didnt' want to invest but I was having so much trouble with the manual pump, my husband ran out and got me the good one as a gift.
It enabled me to go out with my baby and bring bottles because I am not a public nursing type. It let me store excess stashes of milk, and pump if I was gone all day. If visitors came, I could just quickly go pump in the bathroom so I could drink wine and not be missing in the bedroom for so long nursing all the time. If you're planning to nurse for a while, it's really worth it to get a good pump. The new Medela's they carry at Target are great.

I used the Medela pump in style advance set.

as for a cheap manual one , well there are so many different ones i think i bought the Evenflo breast pump but we hardly used it. we just stuck with the Medela ..
If i were you i would go to the babystore and take a look at all of them and read all their features and then your able to decide which might work better for you and your baby.

G.

You really need a Medela Pump In Style if you want to pump pretty much at all. It seems like a lot of money before you have a kid, but after you have the kid, you will be glad you spent the money on it. The official recommendation is not to buy one used (because there is a theoretical chance of there being breast milk left in the pump from the first mom, which could, again in theory, be infected with something that then your baby would drink). I, however, bought one from a friend who hadn't used hers in a year, and then bought all new tubing and diaphragms, etc. It was a level of risk I was willing to live with (there aren't many things that live outside the body for a year) and saved a ton of money. But, believe me, after the baby comes, well, what's another $200? :-)

I had an extremely difficult time breastfeeding- my daughter had trouble latching properly and my milk supply was very poor. I agree with all the posts that recommended a lactation consultant if you have any problems breastfeeding. My lactation consultant was seriously worth her weight in gold! She is the only reason I got past week one. I tell you this just because if you do have problems breastfeeding, know you are not alone and it can still work.

As far as breast pumps go, because of my poor supply I had to pump every time she nursed for the first couple months to help increase my supply. I used the Medla Pump in Style Advance and it worked great. It was used pretty much daily for a full year (and at the beginning used up to 10-12 times/day for months!) without any problem. I worked part-time (only 1-2 days/week), so I was not pumping much at work- I pumped if I was going out somewhere without baby or to increase my supply, or if my breasts got egorged and she was not awake or ready to eat. The benefits to electric pumps are that you can do both breasts at a time (a huge time saver!) and they are much more efficient than hand pumps. Hand pumps do not drain the breast well (no pump drains as well as a baby, but the electric pumps are much better than manuel). I used a hand pump 2 or 3 times when I was at a friend's house and desparate and my hand was exhausted after only a couple minutes, plus I hardly got any milk.

I had a small manual pump-Isis by Avent. It was great. I used it for 2 kids, although not as much for the 1st. I only had to replace some internal parts to use for my second. I loved it. And, in a pinch I learned how to hand-express. Not something that was lots of fun, but I was actually able to express more by hand than with the pump. I personally don't believe that you need to spend a ton of money for a pump-even if you use it every day. My worked great.

I used the Medela pump in style and loved it. It is electric but not too expensive. I breastfed and pumped when I wanted to go to a restaurant or something. I was not a public nurser!! My boys nursed and took bottles with no problem.

I was like you in that I thought it might not work out. I highly advise taking a breast feeding class and really "pumping" yourself up. Pardon the pun! You must believe that this will work or it probably won't. Best of luck, you will do great!

Medela!!!! I have the Medela harmony handheld breast pump and its awesome! I love the control pumping myself gives me, it is quick, and quiet and works great! I never tired my hands using this pump. I prefered this pump over the electric ones I had (First Years (which I do not recomend) and Playtex, which was ok) If nursing does not work out and you decide to exclusively pump I would say stick with Medela also. They are the BEST!