This is my pump setup. Great deal on Medela PIS

[peggyliu]

Medela Original Pump In Style
Buy from www.kidalog.com $190 or babyproductsrus.com $199 free shipping, no tax.

o Doesn't work with Avent bottles w/o a converter.
o Not getting the optional car cigarette lighter adaptor.
o Not getting the optional Medela Hands-Free Pumping Kit. Use with Medela bra.

• My Brest Friend instead of Boppy
• Dr. Brown’s starter kit bottles.
• Avent microwave sterilizer
• Washable Bravado pads with cool max (breakoutbras.com)
• Disposable Lansinoh breast pads. (Walgreens)
• Lansinoh or Medela Purlan lanolin cream for extra lubrication for breasts
• Gerber Seal n Go "zip lock" style bags - can lay the bags on their sides to stack them in freezer

[stillplayswithbarbies]

This is my set up:

Ameda Purely Yours (it weighs less and is quieter than the PIS, plus it can be used without the totebag/backpack. It's cheaper too, $174 for the whole kit)

- pumping into Evenflo bottles, freezing and feeding right from those with a Nuk nipple. ($1.00 each, I have 44 of these so far)

- Got the car adapter, I remember many times pumping in the car on long trips so we could drive while baby slept rather than waking baby to eat

- no hands free kit, but I sure could use one. I'm going to have to rig something up when I go back to work full time. I haven't seen anything that would work for large breasts that hang down though. Hands free may not be useful though since doing breast compressions gets a lot of milk out and if I have to use my hands anyway I can't be doing anything else. I did pump while on a conference call on the speaker phone though. :)

- Boppy. I have both and hate the My Brest Friend, and love the Boppy.
- no sterilizer, I boiled things in a big pot the first time
- disposable Lansinoh breast pads (WalMart)
- Lansinoh for sore nipples, couldn't have lived without this the first week or two

For now, I am only working one day a week in the office, but I am pumping every morning to build a freezer supply. I might have to go on a business trip overnight and I want to have enough built up. She eats at 11:30PM, 3:30 AM and then I pump around 5:30 or 6:00 and get about 7-8 ounces. She eats again at 7:30AM. I save the fresh milk in the refrigerator on Wednesday and Thursday and that way she drinks fresh milk while I am at the office; the rest goes in the freezer. Yesterday was the first day and she only drank 8 oz. I pumped twice at work and got 6 oz each time. When I am back full time, I will probably pump three times a day.

One thing I would do differently is not buy the kit, just the pump alone. THe cooler bag only holds Ameda bottles because they are shorter than standard size. And it doesn't insulate very well. I'd do better with a lunch size cooler from Target, and will have to get one anyway since I am pumping into Evenflo bottles. The tote bag is not easy to carry because the handles are too long. I can fit the parts into my regular backpack. So, I wasted $44 getting the kit.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel 2/27/91
Logan Elizabeth 3/25/03