Medela Pump in Style Advanced Backpack

This pump was recommended to me by a friend, but it did not work for me. I could not get it to suction right and milk leaked out of the shields. Medela customer service told me my shield were too large and sent me the smallest shield they make (21mm). This helped a bit but only for a few days. Eventually it hurt my nipples to pump and I got less and less milk (presumably from incorrect shield fit).I was trying to build up a milk supply before returning to work, no such luck. Also, I traveled with this pump and it was awful, it was so heavy and awkward to carry, even though it is a backpack.Additionally, it has so many parts, it was such a pain to wash everything two or three times a day. On the good side, Medela has authorized me to return my pump to them [...]

I am a stay-at-home-mom and am breastfeeding exclusively. I debated on which type of pump to get given that I wasn't planning on pumping often, just to have some extra milk for occasional bottle feeding and to freeze milk for future use.

I really didn't want to spend this much on a pump, but there were a couple things that swayed me to purchase this:
1. The Medela brand. I researched options over and over again and I kept coming back because of the positive reviews. Other pumps had good reviews, but a lot of bad ones also. This brand seemed to have the most consistent positive reviews.
2. I plan to have more children. I figured better to invest in a good pump that I can use for several kids than a cheaper pump that I would have to keep replacing.
3. I could either buy a cheaper single pump, or go with a more expensive double pump. The trade-off is time. I felt it was worth the time saving. If I was pumping a couple times a day for a year, imagine the time savings to be double-pumping. To me it was worth it.

Thank goodness I bought this, I developed thrush about a week after my baby was born and was unable to breastfeed. However, I was able to express and bottle feed until the infection cleared up. In doing this, between pumping and feeding it was taking up an incredible amount of time each day. But, imagine how much time it would have taken if I only had a single pump!

Get the advanced model--the two stage pumping process is really helpful. I have to go back and forth between the two stages several times in one pumping session. I'm not sure how well I could have pumped with another model without this feature.

A couple negatives...Medela removed several features from the 2008 model that the 2007 model had, I guess so they could lower the price and make it more affordable. This included the manual pump (which is really needed in case you ever go on vacation and don't want to take the full pump or are away from your pump for an extended period of time and need to relieve some pressure), the bottle stands, and the removable motor. If you can still get your hands on a 2007 model, I would suggest you do so because these features are good to have. I get really annoyed with not having the bottle stands, the top of the bottle with the horns is heavier than the bottle, so they tip over constantly unless they are really full of milk. Also, you have to press a button to go between the two phases of pumping, but when you are holding a bottle in each hand, unless you have a third arm and hand it is tricky. Eventually you get used to it, but I wish there were some way to make this easier.