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Buy or rent a breast pump?

JM712JM712 member
in Breastfeeding
I 36 weeks and planning to breastfeed once LO arrives.  I am just wondering if you think it would be better to rent a pump from the hospital at first and then go out and buy one later or if I should just go ahead and buy one before LO arrives.  This is my first baby, so of course I don't know how anything is going to go, but I am very committed to BF'ing.  Unless there is some medical reason that made me unable to BF (which I know is extremely rare) I plan to stick it out through any hardships, so I know I won't be one of those women who try BF'ing and then give up. Also, I will be home with LO for 6 months before returning to work, so the primary function of the pump would be to make some bottles that DH could feed to LO, build up some reserves for any times away from baby, and begin to freeze for when I return to work.  If you do think I should just go ahead and buy the pump, any brand suggestions?  Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my question!!
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Re: Buy or rent a breast pump?

  • Hoping42010Hoping42010

    I wish I had put more thought into this when I was pregnant!  I just knew that I'd try breastfeeding and see how it went so I decided to rent one from the hospital.  It is an awesome hospital grade pump, but pretty expensive - $50/month.  I have been breastfeeding for 7.5 months and plan to go for a year.  I went back to work after 4 months part-time and full-time when she turned 6 months so I need a good pump.  I am continuing to rent because I feel like buying one now would be a waste for just a few more months, but if I had bought one in the beginning it would have saved some money.

    I can't help much on which brand but my hospital grade is an Ameda and it's great.  I have heard that the Ameda purely yours is a good pump.  Also, my coworkers use Medela pump in styles and they like thiers.  Good luck and good for you for breastfeeding!  More women should do it!

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  • WinesNotWhinesWinesNotWhines
    I would buy a pump, but keep the receipt and don't take it out of the packaging for a few weeks, until you're sure you're going to breastfeed long-term. That way, if you have a medical issue and can't BF, you can still return the pump (you can return it to most stores as long as you haven't opened the box). Renting a pump is fairly expensive ($70 a month at my hospital), so ultimately it would be cheaper to buy one.
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  • FirstBabyMommaFirstBabyMomma member

    I am no expert, but I would suggest buying a small manual pump (they are cheaper- I have a Medela Harmony which I got for 50% off so it was only 25 bucks or so) until you know what's what. If your LC and nurses are anything like mine, they won't suggest pumping until 4 weeks or more anyway. My LC said that if I was engorged in the first little while to hand-express and it worked really well for me (although DD was such a frequent nurser that I rarely became engorged anyway). I didn't even open the pump package until she was 3.5 weeks, and even then it was only out of curiosity.

    I still use the manual pump exclusively (once or twice a day) and DD is 3.5 months. I plan to rent a hospital-grade pump in a few months so I can get a really good freezer stash going for when I go back to work in September and DD is in daycare or with Daddy all day, but since BM is only good in the freezer for a max of 6 months, there's no point in doing it now. HTH!

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  • blessedinthewestblessedinthewest member

    I ended up buying the Ameda Purely Yours and it worked great.  I never had any problems with it and it was much less expensive than the Medela's. 

    Even if you plan to be home most of the time it can come in handy.  You may want a date with your husband every now and then.  :)  The baby sitter can use pumped milk or you can pump when you get home if you missed one or two feedings.  Also a pump can be used after your baby nurses to help build your supply.  I know I had low supply issues and if I had pumped after each feeding I think that would have built up my supply.  Hindsight is 20/20!

    I think it was well worth the $150 or so I spent.

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