Breast Pump Help Needed

[Dia Minha]

In the past I have had just a simple, inexpensive breast pump for emergencies. With this baby I am feeling the need to pump everyday and work very hard to get this baby to be an excellant nurses, but still take a bottle. My last two have refused the bottle and it made it very difficult to be away from the baby for more than a couple of hours. I also was not a very succesful pumper, because my body refuse to let the milk down, while pumping. Usually I could only get some in storage if I pumped on one side while nursing the other.

Anyway, I'm looking into buying a better pump, because I'm thinking a will pump a couple times a day for a while to establish my milk supply and get my body use to it and then switch to at least once a day so that this baby can get a bottle once a day and give me a little more freedom and also give the older children an opportunity to bond and feed him on a regular basis.

I have no idea really what I need to look for in a heavier duty pump. I have always used Medela in the past and have heard they are a good brand, but can't find a heavier duty one with good reviews that is in my price range of $100-$150. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas?

[Erudite]

um...is this an announcement? I hadn't heard the baby had come...

[Meticulous madness]

Hey Dia. I have a nice Medela pump. We bought it when L was born, so it's a little bit older. I think it's possible to still buy "kits" for it, and if you wanted to do that and then just borrow the pump, you are welcome to.

I'm drawing a blank on the pump details (model, style), but if you're interested - I will try to rescue it from my black-hole storage.

Let me know.

[Dia Minha]

Nope, E. The baby isn't here yet. Just trying to get prepared. I have a feeling that I'm not just going to pop right back up after this one and I need to have everything in place to make the first six weeks as easy as possible.

The one I have is a medela, but doesn't handle everyday pumping. It worked best for leaving a few ounces on date night or relieving engorgement after being away for a couple of hours, but I'm needing one that I can use everyday and that will pump more than a few ounces at a time.

M&M do you remember how much you paid for it. That would give me a better idea of whether or not it would work for me this time. I paid around $50 for mine.

[5ft Diva]

Look on KSL!

[natickgirl]

Have you considered renting a pump? When DD2 was born 7 weeks early I had to pump round the clock while she was in the hospital. I rented a really great double pump for 5 weeks until she came home. Maybe you could rent a big one for the first 2-3 months while you build up your supply (breast milk freezes well) & get adjusted, then use your little one after that. There's a place in Bountiful that rents pumps, and I'm sure there are others (Lactation Station). You could do an online search.

[runamyrun]

When my son was born, I exclusively pumped because he couldn't suck. The first month, our insurance rented a hospital grade double pump. I believe it was $65 a month to rent. After the first month we were on our own, so we bought a double pump by Ameda, called "Purely Yours". We debated between the nice Medela (I think it is the most popular) and the Ameda, but we chose the Ameda because it was smaller and we wanted the option to go backpacking with it (which we did). I think at the time (9 years ago) both pumps were around $200. I know that isn't in the price range you were asking for, though. The one we had was awesome. I was able to use it for each feeding. I know now that it wasn't made for that much use, because I ended up burning through 2 or 3 motors. There was a warranty on it so they just sent me a new one each time. After my last was born, my pump died, so I went to Walmart and spent around $50 on a pump. It was no where near as nice as the more expensive ones. It was a lot harder to get anything from it.

I wonder if Consumer Reports would have anything on breast pumps?

[Meticulous madness]

Originally Posted by Dia Minha

M&M do you remember how much you paid for it. That would give me a better idea of whether or not it would work for me this time. I paid around $50 for mine.

I want to say it was close to $300.00. I think the kits are about $25.00.

[Dia Minha]

M&M I would love to take you up on your offer of borrowing or at least checking your pump out, if you can find it. If it is something I could use and you are done with, I would be more than willing to pay to borrow or purchase it from you as well. I'm in no hurry. I keep thinking that we will be lucky to get past July 13th or so with this baby, but I would have a week or two after he is born before I would be in need of a stronger pump.

Just let me know the make and model when you find it so I can look into ordering a kit. I have already looked into it and found some that should work on Amazon. Should any medela parts/kits work? It looks like I would have to get the "suckers" and the cords seperate, but it would still be just around $30 for two of each. Is yours a double or single? Anyway if it is single then I would have a spare.

Thanks so much!