experienced mothers, please help!

[laMamiGypsy]

I was hoping to get some insight about breast pumps. I've read some reviews on medela and avent, but idk...im a 36b...which might work best?

[lilpollywog]

I got the medela free style with my last munchkin and I LOVE it!!  It's small, not loud, and completely hands free.  I enjoyed being able to get up and do things without being tethered to an outlet.  Oh, and the battery life was awesome.  And suction is great.  I tried a couple other pumps, but this one was awesome.  The other pumps would take about 30 minutes before I was dry, the freestyle took between 10-15 minutes.  Oh, and I was a 36B, now a 36C.  Good luck!!

[kerriekab]

I used the tommee tippee electric breast pump but i didnt really like it. It wasnt powerful enough with the silicone cover on the part that went over your breast. I had to use it without the cover and i could then get more milk out. I always had to express by hand afterwards though as it would never empty my breasts.  My friend had the Medela swing and said it was really good. They use Medela's here in the UK in the hospitals. I think they are the best make really and have good reviews. I would recommend going on amazon website and just typing different pumps in and reading the reviews. Good luck!

[kfrasher]

I started out with the Advent manual pump, but really didn't care for it...then tried the evenflo electric pump n loved it!!

[steph_ut]

I have one of the medela electronic ones - the "Pump in Style". If you live in the US, it may be possible to get a prescription from your doc and have it partially covered by your insurance. A friend had the cost of hers totally covered by insurance but mine was only about 30%. It still helped and it's not like it was hard to get a prescription when I was at the doctor. This was 4 years ago when I was expecting my daughter.

[laMamiGypsy]

Thank you ladies. I guess ill figure it out when my turn gets here lol

[snagglepuss1]

*medela

[snagglepuss1]

I used the Medea swing with my children and in about 10 minutes could get a good 3 ozs from both breasts when my kids were newborn. Quite noisy but you can just sit and watch tv while it pumps.

[Evie1029]

I've used both Avent and Medela and I liked the Medela much more.  For me I was able to get out almost every last drop where with the Avent one my breasts still felt a little full once the pump couldn't get any more milk out of them.  Those were both electrics.  I have a manual Medela and that works well too, not as good as the electric of course and it did get a little tiring.  I think all the the Medela pumps come with medium sized nipple fittings.  Do take a look at the directions and pictures to make sure if that is the right size for you or not.  You may have to order from their website to get the size that is right for you.  If you are too small for the medium you're still able to use the pump but I wouldn't recommend doing so longterm.  I mention this because I'm an extra small but I couldn't find that size in the stores so I just kept using the medium because it worked for me.  Well, I discovered after hours and hours of pumping that my areolas were way stretched out!  They look a little better now a year later but not back to normal.  Anyway, just a warning.  Whichever brand you get make sure you get the right fittings!

[Mommyjeep11]

I used a manual avent one and it didn't fit correctly so it was extremely painful. This time around I'm going to try the manual medela one and see how that goes since they sell different sized breast shields. And it's not about the size of your breast it goes by the size of your nipple.

[mischief22]

I used the manual avent breast pump, but i wished it was electric as it could take a while and can be very tiring

[mrsreeder2be]

I used an evenflo both times and it worked amazing!! Most expensive doesn't always have to be best.

[JaneRae]

Although I may not be that helpful overall in my experience I have had the best luck expressing milk without a pump. I have a tried Medela pump but it was a waste of time when expressing by hand was more affective more quickly.