Medela — #1 Choice of Hospitals and Mothers

My sister-in-law recently purchased a medela lactina select breast pump at a garage sale. Supposably this is a hospital grade breast pump. She said that I will need to purchase the tubing, swing arm and cups from the hospital. The label says that it is the advanced version from 1997. Should I go on ahead and purchase a new pump in style or should I give this one a shot when I begin nursing and pumping.

If you plug it in and turn it on, does it seem to function correctly (arm moves back and forth, you can hear the "whir" of the motor working)? I'd probably give the Lactina a shot. If it doesn't do what you feel it should, you could rent a Symphony for $55 or so a month or buy a PIS from Babies R Us or similar. Just remember that no pump, hospital grade or not, is going to get the amount of milk that your baby can get. And every mom makes a different amount of milk (your pump output will vary from session to session). Getting just under an ounce to a couple of ounces is quite normal for the first month after birth, for instance. :)