Breast Pump suggestions (baby, insurance, twins, mature)
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It depends on how often you are planning to pump. Will you be pumping several times a day while working? In that case definitely an electric. If you are only pumping occasionally manual is probably okay. Don't forget the ACA mandates that most insurance companies provide a breast pump now; check with your insurance to see what they will provide for you.
I would recommend renting a good breast pump, especially in the beginning. The doctor, hospital, or lactation consultant should be able to refer you to a company.
Electric is more efficient, if you intend to do a lot of pumping. I had a Medela.
You can rent a hospital grade pump for like $50 a month, if you don't want to pay retail for an expensive new one. Although I'd check w/ insurance company first to see if they cover.
Most health insurance companies will provide you with a pump for free now under Obamacare. There are some that are exempt, notably the military TriCare, but you should check with your insurance company to see what they will provide.
If you are going to be pumping once per day or less often, then a manual pump might be sufficient for you. The Medela Harmony is a popular manual pump. I had it, and I thought it was pretty good.
If you will be pumping more often than that, then you probably want a double electric pump. The Medela pumps are also very popular for electrics, but I personally prefer a closed system pump instead of the Medela, which is an open system. The closed system pumps are the Ameda and the Hygeia pumps. The Hygeia wasn't available when I was pumping, and I used the Ameda. However, if I was looking for a new pump today, I would seriously consider the Hygeia. There are many other brands of electric pumps, but these 3 are the "top tier" brands.
It's probably unnecessary to rent a hospital grade pump unless you have an unusual situation, such as a premature baby, or twins.
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