Has anyone rented a hospital grade pump for work before?

[smeep]

My breasts DID NOT respond to the regular double electric pump with my son. That lead to low supply and then severe nipple preference for him so I had to quit my job in order to save our nursing relationship. I am 19 weeks pregnant and it looks like I will NOT be able to afford to quit my job. I'm pretty sure I'll just spend the money to rent a hospital grade pump because I honestly just can't risk the same thing happening that happened last time. Has anyone done this before? I called WIC earlier to ask them if they would cover a hospital grade rental due to my history and the woman seriously did not understand when I explained to her that I just absolutely CANNOT succeed with a regular double electric. It didn't happen last time and it's not a risk I can take this time. So I'm looking at paying for it out of pocket.

[suddenlyamama]

Hi there Mama,
Bummer the pump from the store didn't work.
I rented a hospital grade (which was amazing).
However, I don't work. I paid 50 a month for it. They normally charge 75 but I called the lactation services there and explained to them that I really needed it but we couldn't afford the 75 a month
Well, the women there agreed to forget about the pump deposit and decrease the monthly fee to 50.
I am not sure if the question was about using the pump at work, or the affordability, but if it was about the price, maybe just call and explain your situation.

P.s. The pump was so loud! That might be the only problem, otherwise it is easy to carry, not discreetly of course, but not too heavy or anything.

Good luck

[smeep]

I suppose my question was just more wondering if anyone had BTDT. I was particularly curious to hear if someone had rented one when they didn't need it for a baby who wasn't nursing at the breast or didn't need it to relactate/induce lactation/increase severely low supply. This is more to prevent a severe supply issue and to help with my milk output (I supplemented because I barely produced anything for the pump).

But thanks for the tip on asking them for a cheaper fee! I'm sure I'll be okay even if I have to pay full price and I did find a local place that rents them for $20-30/mo (depending on the individual pump), but that's still a great tip in case I need it.

[Natanya]

My son was born with a cleft palate. I have a job I can bring him too, but he can't nurse So I pump every 2-3 hours a day. I pump in the car and I pump in my office. I was using a cheap electric pump, and finally asked the Pediatrician to order me a Medela Symphony. Great milk supply with that machine. It just works wonders. I rent it from a medical supply store. It is totally worth the money.

[Mrs.Music]

I haven't btdt, but I just wanted to say that if you need a hospital grade pump, the Symphony is the way to go. It's just an amazing machine. A pain to lug around considering the big plastic case, but awesome. If you're going to be using it for a long time, you might consider buying one. I think it's $1000.... but if you're going to be renting something for $75 a month and considering more kids, totally worth it. And IMO, the Lactina sucks. Just FYI.

[EvanNZachsMama]

I just wanted to say something about the Symphony. I was having major supply issues and figured that by the time I rented one for a year or more, it would be cheaper to buy one. So I did. I got a new version with the "Preemie+" software on it in addition to the standard. It was $2000. Without the preemie software, it would have been $1500, and that is with my employee discount (ordered it through the hospital I work for).

One plus to this? When you pay $2000 for a pump, you are sure as $%^ NOT going to give up easily.

[April Dawn]

Just wanted to second what everyone else has said about the Symphony. I decided to EP after three months of unsuccessfully working with lactation consultants to get my son to latch. I tried several pumps including the Ameda Elite hospital grade, but no other pump was as comfortable or got as much milk as the Symphony. I have been EPing for almost 16 months now and the Symphony that I rent has been wonderful. It's expensive for sure. I just try to remind myself that if I didn't use the Symphony, I'd end up supplementing with formula, and that's not cheap either. Good luck!

[April Dawn]

Oh, also... you can rent the Symphony generally from a hospital, a medical supply place, or a lactation consultant. In this area I found that the lactation consultants charge the least - I rent mine from a lactation consultant for $65/month, and the hospitals charge $75. But it may be willing to check with several places and see if any of them will give you a discount!

[skybluepink02]

I used the symphony for 11 months. It was great, though, as others said, bulky. Mine wasn't especially loud though. The regular rental was 65 a month, but I got mine paid for through insurance, since my twins were preemie.

[smeep]

Thanks guys! I may look into buying one if I can convince ex to stop blowing his money on alcohol and give five seconds of thought to his kid and pay for it. One local IBCLC group has the Symphony for $55/mo if you rent it for more than three months, so that may be worth the money.

[smeep]

I found one on craigslist for $600! Too bad I don't have but a tenth of that money right now, otherwise I would get it right now! That would be cheaper than a year of renting at $55/mo and I'd probably want to continue pumping after a year (if this kid is like my son, s/he will be all about the boob juice! ) and can save it for any future kiddos.

[NicolleLynne]

I'm at work with my Symphony right now. I started out with a Medela Freestyle but was dissatisfied with the suction and amount of milk I was getting. What a difference with the Symphony, it's much quieter and the suction is much more smooth and consistent. The size of the case is the only drawback in my opinion. The machine itself is so much smaller than the case, I don't know why they can't come up with something less cumbersome.

Anyhow, here's another thumb's up for the Symphony!

P.S Sorry to hear your ex is a jerk! Good for you doing everything you can to give your little ones the best start in life.

[smeep]

Originally Posted by NicolleLynne

I'm at work with my Symphony right now. I started out with a Medela Freestyle but was dissatisfied with the suction and amount of milk I was getting. What a difference with the Symphony, it's much quieter and the suction is much more smooth and consistent. The size of the case is the only drawback in my opinion. The machine itself is so much smaller than the case, I don't know why they can't come up with something less cumbersome.

Anyhow, here's another thumb's up for the Symphony!

P.S Sorry to hear your ex is a jerk! Good for you doing everything you can to give your little ones the best start in life.

Do you just use it for pumping for work and nurse at home? Everyone keeps telling me that it's way overboard for that and I keep trying to explain that the alternative DID NOT work! Ugh. Good to know it's quiet, though!

Yeah, he's a big UAV but what can I do? I just hope he either gets his stuff together or just walks away altogether because his attitude right now will do nothing but hurt us. Bleh. I just called him at work (because that's the ONLY number I have for him) and before I could even tell him about the $600 one on craigslist he started yelling at me for calling him at work. Yeah, total winner.

[SilverLace]

Do you have insurance? If so, just ask your pediatrician (or whoever does your baby care) to write you a prescription. Sounds like you have a legit reason, and that way it can be covered.

I never could produce for a Pump In Style, a few years later I used the Symphony and produced like mad.

Good luck.

[smeep]

Originally Posted by SilverLace

Do you have insurance? If so, just ask your pediatrician (or whoever does your baby care) to write you a prescription. Sounds like you have a legit reason, and that way it can be covered.

I never could produce for a Pump In Style, a few years later I used the Symphony and produced like mad.

Good luck.

I'm on Medicaid. I do need to call them and ask if they'll cover it if I get a prescription. My midwife is a CNM so she could technically write one, right?

[NicolleLynne]

Originally Posted by smeep

Do you just use it for pumping for work and nurse at home? Everyone keeps telling me that it's way overboard for that and I keep trying to explain that the alternative DID NOT work! Ugh. Good to know it's quiet, though!.

I pump both at work and at home because I often produce more than my little one can drink. It's a mixed blessing because, while I've been able to build up a freezer stash, I also have to pump during the night while she's asleep to prevent engorgement. Anyhow, I hear you about the alternative to a hospital grade pump not working out. Apparently some of us mamas just respond better to the more powerful machines. I can tell you, with the Freestyle, on a good day, I'd get about 24 ounces total. With the Symphony I often get 32-35. Those extra ounces of "liquid gold" totally make the Symphony worth it to me! Good luck with pumping, getting a hold of a good machine and your louse of an ex!

[smeep]

Originally Posted by NicolleLynne

I pump both at work and at home because I often produce more than my little one can drink. It's a mixed blessing because, while I've been able to build up a freezer stash, I also have to pump during the night while she's asleep to prevent engorgement. Anyhow, I hear you about the alternative to a hospital grade pump not working out. Apparently some of us mamas just respond better to the more powerful machines. I can tell you, with the Freestyle, on a good day, I'd get about 24 ounces total. With the Symphony I often get 32-35. Those extra ounces of "liquid gold" totally make the Symphony worth it to me! Good luck with pumping, getting a hold of a good machine and your louse of an ex!

Thank you! I just couldn't believe the bf peer counselor at WIC was so reluctant to believe me that the regular double electric DID NOT WORK and I CANNOT take a chance on it again because if it goes like last time, I'm screwed and will be forced to wean. And that is NOT an option. When I talked to them about getting the pump for DS (they gave me an Ameda Purely Yours) they told me to just go in 2 weeks before I had to start back at work. I asked her if that was definitely enough time to build up a stash (I assumed that I would probably be able to pump enough with it but wouldn't my boobs need a bit of time to adjust? I wanted a good stash just in case!) and she assured me it would be fine. Nope. I pushed back my back-to-work date by 2 weeks and still didn't have a very good stash. And within FOUR weeks of working I had to quit because I was getting almost NOTHING and my supply was dropping BIG TIME. It wasn't even just the fact that I wasn't pumping enough to supply my baby with enough milk while I was gone, it was the fact that my supply dropped because my boobs hated the pump so much! If it was just a matter of getting more out of the pump it wouldn't be a fraction as bad, it's the fact that my entire supply crashed and DS developed MAJOR nipple preference. Really, really bad. I've seen women quit over nipple preference that was half as bad as what DS had.