pumping/babysitting question

[Farmin' with Baby]

I'm a WAHM and EBF (well, work on the farm, near the house). MIL GrandmaIL and stepMIL all help babysit in the mornings, at our house. It's a little overwhelming, having all DH's family in the house all the time and I"m starting to try and scheme how to get them out a bit.

They typically come for about 4 hours and I come back to feed DD midway through. (She's 5 mo.) When she was about 3 mo, I was handexpressing some milk and leaving a bottle, but that took a lot of work/time. She never really learned to take the bottle well either, lots of fits. Now we've gone back to me just coming home to nurse her.

But I'm thinking about working toward the grandmas taking DD back to their own house(s) to babysit.

So question is, is it worth it to buy a $300 pump for a situation that is really a luxury, not a necessity? Will a cheaper pump work for me or would I just be wasting my money (I have "good" nipples and supply and have never had any problem at all BFing.) and end up buying a more expensive one? I guess since we plan on BFing for a good long while, and having more kids, it might be an investment worth it.

And then we have to start teaching dd to take the bottle again...

[ell]

If you're going to be pumping daily, I would definitely recommend an electric. A manual pump would be fine if it was once or twice a week, but if it's more than that it will just be tedious and take too much time to use a manual.

[LindsC]

I agree. If this is going to be a daily thing, then i would definetly invest in an electric pump.

[_betsy_]

Actually, i think if you can hand pump enough to make a bottle, a manual pump will likely be good enough for one feeding a day. at 5 months, baby can nor or will soon be able to get the hang of a sippy cup, if you'd rather go that route. Most sippy cups have a greater tendancy to leak, though, and it's one thing when it's leaking water and another thing all together when it's leaking your hard-earned BM, you know?

[jeminijad]

The Lansinoh double electric is a lot less than $300 and is a very good pump. Twin to the Ameda Purely Yours, if you go that route.