Pumps

I bought a Medela Pump in Style after I had my second child and used it a handful of times and LOVED it! I am formula feeding this baby now but had to use the pump a few times after I had him and it still worked great almost 4 yrs later!

I have the Medela Pump In Style. (I suggest the back pack if you are like me and take the train to and from work.) I have had no problems with it! It comes with a 1 yr manufactures warranty. The plug died on me and I called them up and all they did was ask my name and address and sent me a new one w/ in a few days! I didn't even need to give them proof of purchase or anything. I got my pump when I was at the hospital and because some insurance companies actually cover the pump I just asked the hospital to bill my insurance co. I knew my insurance co didn't cover pumps but this gave us a few months to pay it off rather than paying for the entire thing up front.

I bought a used one (medela pump in style) for $90. All the "important" parts that might actually come into contact with your breast milk can be replaced pretty easily and aren't terribly expensive. Medela will even send you free replacement tubing. The one I got was a couple of years old and worked faithfully. Now I've passed it on to a good friend to use.

I bottle fed...but my sister rented hers from the hospital (I think it was 60.00) and they supplied her with the tubing, etc no extra cost while she was in the hospital.  Some insurance companies do pay for pumps.  If you have any doubts I would rent, then buy, and as someone else suggested most registeries give you the coupon to use once you are past your due date...20% off a expensive item is worth the registery hasstle.  Good luck!

When I was in the hospital after baby was born I told them I wanted a pump, they then gave me (for nothing) all the parts that you would have to buy to use with the one you rented from the hospital (and most rental places), that is the one way to get around having to buy all the stuff if you decide to rent. My hospital charged me an initial $90 for rental ($50 of it I got back on return), and then it was a really minimal charge per/week. I loved the hospital grade pump and it worked much better for me then the PIS, after a while though I didn't use the pump that much so I just picked up a PIS at a garage sale and used all the pieces and parts (that would come in contact with milk at all) that I got from the hospital.

I have a pump in style and LOVE it.    I tried using a pump in the hospital (when Noah was almost 3 weeks old).   I don't know if the pump was worn out or what, but I could barely get any milk out.  Used my PIS and got the normal amount of milk out.  

I pumped for about 7 months with Hannah.  Noah is 6 months old and the pump is still going strong.  The bag has started to fray, but that's just cosmetic.   I carry it back and forth to work each day and have about a mile walk, so it takes a good beating.

I waited until Hannah was a few weeks old before buying the pump.   I wanted to make sure I could BF before investing that much money.   I would suggest at least having a manual pump to deal with engorement issues though.

Watch the coupons from Babies R Us.   I ended up with at 15 or 20 % coupon off of any medlea product.   That pretty paid for the extended warranty that I purchased (never had to use it though).