I bought this pump, used, on eBay back when I was pregnant with my first daughter in 2001. I used it twice a day, every weekday, for 15 months with her, then shelved it until my second daughter was born in 2003. I used it with her for 12 months, again twice a day, every weekday. It's still going strong, and there's no telling how hard it was worked before I bought it, too!

I initially bought a used Medela Pump in Style from a friend. I chose to return it because it appeared that the suction tubing could possibly get contaminated with milk. Now maybe I'm wrong, but that's sure how it looked to me and the idea of old (invisible) milk sitting in the tubing gave me the heebie jeebies. On the other hand, the Ameda Purely Yours has a patented silicone diaphragm system that totally separates the vacuum in the tube from the milk, along with a small valve to permit the milk to drip through into the bottle or freezer bag. There is NO chance milk can get into the pump system or tubes at all.

The unit has a dial to determine the speed of the suction (try to imagine your child feeding and match the contraption to the child's suck) and a dial for strength of suction (again, use your imagination). I found that more suction meant pain, not more milk. Don't go overboard. The unit uses A/C, batteries or a car adapter. I generally had mine hooked up to the wall, but I know using batteries didn't affect the suction or speed. There are some flange adapters that you can buy if your breasts are large, and also Flexishield silicone inserts that can help your let down occur faster. I bought the Flexishields, but having two extra things to wash reduced my happiness with the increased speed of let down and I abandoned them. You can also choose to only pump on one side by just detaching the tube and blocking the vacuum hole with a little attached plug.

I left my pump at work and used it there twice a day. It only took 10 minutes to pump both breasts, and I stored the milk in a fridge. After work I dropped it off at the babysitter every day as I picked up my girls. Not only did pumping become a habit, but it was a time of forced relaxation while at work. And to top it all off, my girls received the best nutrition they could for a pretty good length of time! Neither one (now 3 years, 3 months and 1 year 2 months) has EVER been ill. No ear infections, no stomach bugs. I'm sure that breastfeeding at least helped keep them healthier.

As far as the actual pump, my main complaint is that it really wasn't very quiet at all. Luckily I have a desk and I hid it under there, closed up as much as possible (you can turn it around so that the dials are near the end of the zipper so you can leave the bag only open a crack). I could lock up my office and type one handed while my other hand held the double pumps on my breasts. The other small complaint I have was caused by my ignorance. When I first got the pump I didn't always have the flange (funnel) on my very small breasts well and the suction didn't hold. I thought that if I tightened the flange onto the bottle the suction would improve. All that happened is that the screw on area of the flange started to break because I was forcing it on too tight. Now it's nice to know that those flanges were still useable because the screw on area has nothing to do with the suction, but I still shouldn't have broken them in the first place.

I'm simply amazed at the number of people who choose Medela's considerably more expensive Pump in Style over Ameda's Purely Yours. I believe there are a lot of people out there who equate price with quality, but that is rarely true. As I mentioned, this pump has been used close to 1200 times by me alone and I have never had a problem with it. I paid $99 with shipping which produces a grand charge of $.08 (that's 8 cents!) per pump. Pretty good price, eh?

I never really had to tote around the not-so-lovely black bag that came with the pump, but the newer bags are much more stylish. Mine was kind of a half moon shape and unwieldy, to say the least. There were a couple of times I had to take it in the car, and I just put in all 6 batteries and it worked just fine. I wouldn't want to do it that way all the time, though.

I also would recommend the Ameda One-Hand breast pump to supplement your typical pump outfit. I used it while commuting to meetings: one hand on the wheel, the other pumping away. In less than 10 minutes I had a good bottle full of milk. Remember, too, that breast milk is safe for four hours in a cool room. I also bought a couple of extra flanges so that I always had a pair if the others were in the dishwasher (I never hand washed unless I was desperate).

All in all I think Ameda's Purely Yours Breast Pump is an awesome product. I am finished with babies and I'm going to resell it on eBay. I'm sure I'll get at least $60 with the few extra things I have. That means that I paid $40 for 27 months of pumping, about 6,000 ounces of milk, 11,000 forced minutes of relaxation and two terrifically healthy kids. Hmmmm. Think that's a good deal?