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I guess I'm a weirdo here--I get more milk, faster, with the Avent hand pump. Wish it weren't the case, because it's easier to make a motor do the work.

I could never get the hang of the hand pump. :( My hand would get tired.

i have the backpack version and it's stellar. the car adapter is pretty handy as well. used it this weekend to pump while i was at a wedding. easy to sneak out to the car, get it done and get back in between courses :)

I'm with lb. After I turned in my hospital-rented Medela Lactina, I bought the Avent Isis with babyshower giftcards and used that. I was able to control the pump better and I filled large bottles quite quickly. I'm glad I didn't invest in an expensive pump, though, because my son stopped taking bottles of EBM at a very early age and would only have me. So I don't feel too bad having a $50 sitting around and not getting used as opposed to a $250 pump. :)

What's great about this pump it if you add a "pumping" bra that holds the horns then your breast pump time becomes me time.

I would catch up on reading, plan my day, do sudoku, embroidery, browse the interwebs, whatever.

The Medela pumps are the best. And many places will rent them to nursing moms by the month. I was lucky to borrow one from a friend who bought hers from another mom who was finished. The pump is at least 12 years old and has helped 4 moms and 9 babies. We all keep our own tubing, caps and attachments. The pump itself has rum smoothly for all of us and I just handed it down to a new mom of twins last month. So $250 can go a long way.

Run. Rum would have been nice, but not so much for the babies.

Pelicolina, my pump has also been passed down to four other moms! That's how durable they are. And yes, there were a few instances where rum would have been nice ;D

I loved the Medela mini-electric, which I used for my first child. But now that I'm expecting twins, I'm looking to buy something more heavy duty. Tossing up between this one and the Ameda Purely Yours. Has anyone had experience with using the Ameda, or even better, both brands?

Kat, I had and liked both. They were different, but it was a long time ago so I don't remember the details too well.

I recieved the Medela as a handmedown (3rd owner) and bought the Ameda used (2nd owner). IF I remember right the Medela had stronger suction so was more efficient, which was important to me. I think maybe the Ameda was quieter? Not sure about that.

www.mothering.com is a good place to find discussions of breast pumps.

I don't know about rum, but beer helps lactation.

I've posted this here before, but to make your own hands-free pumping bra, take a regular bra, cut slits over the nipples, and sew velcro on top. Saw this online somewhere, I have no idea where, possibly mothering.com. Then you just insert the pump horns in the slit, velcro over to hold them in, and you can type, eat, whatever, as you pump.

Manual pump did not work for me AT ALL, and I had a crazy strong let-down. Everyone's different.

Thanks, mjoe. The Medela worked really well for me, so I need a lot of convincing to switch brands--mainly because, as you said, different pumps work for different people. Thanks for the link. Will check it out!