Neccesary or not? I plan on trying to breastfeed of course that'll depend on if I'll be able to etc. Did you have one? Use it? Was it a good 'investment' or a waste of money?

I have one. If you will be almost always home with her it probably is not something you need. If you are going to leave her with sitter here and there it would be nice to have. I have the Avent Isis and I really like it.

I had manual ones and those worked ok. They were cheap and easy for me to use.
I also had the electric ones and hated those. I thought they were a total waste.
I normally didn't use a pump at all though because I was a SAHM.

I had the Medela electric pump (forgot the full name). i had trouble breastfeeding, so all i did was pump for her. I pumped enough for her to only have breastmilk for 3 months. I had it because i was going back to work.

I had a medela pump too, probs breastfeeding also. The Medela worked well and it allowed her to be able to have breastmilk for as long as I continued pumping. I did hate feeling chained to the pump though. It was rough.

I have had 2. The first one the hospital gave me and the second one was given to me by John's chief. She never used it and they aren't planning on having anymore. The first was just a manual. At that time it didn't seem so bad. But the second one was an electric one that you attach and it does the work. It also has a dual hook up so you can do both breasts at the same time. It was soooo nice. It was much easier and took up less time. With Breanna my milk supply went away about 1 week after I started to pump. That was at 6 weeks. With Johnny I started to pump when he was 1 week cause he got thrush and so I didn't want us passing it back and forth. When we moved up here I got off my schedule of pumping since it took 2 days to get here. So again at 6 weeks my supply was gone. He also latched on very hard. He made my nipples get all chapped and bleed. I used those shells. They helped but as soon as I let him latch on again my nipples would be chapped and bleed. So for us, pumping with Johnny was the only way I could give him breastmilk. Breanna wasn't like that at all. I never had any problems with her.

I found it worthwhile for those times I'm not home and DH wanted to feed the baby. It gave them a bonding experience and DH appreciated the fact that we found a way for him to be involved. Also helped those times I was exhausted and needed sleep. If you are only going to need it for occaisonal use I wouldn't buy a very expensive one. I bought an Evenflo last time for about $30 or $40 and it was fine.

I tried one, and couldn't take the pain. lol So I just breastfed...

If you are able to breastfeed regularly and you're not planning on going to work, you probably don't need the electric ones and they run about $250. But, if you find that you are having trouble breastfeeding and can only pump, definitely get an electric one. Becca mentioned being tied to a pump and that is true, but i can't imagine if I was pumping 35oz a day manually!

I had the Medula Electric aswell and loved it, I had a hard time producing milk and it helps get more so Aaron can drink it...I loved it, it was worth the $$

I used a handheld one but RARELY-It was nice!

i had flat nipples and bought a pump to pull them out. i have single-header for a while but during that time we were feeding trent with a bottle of BM so bought a double-header. around 3 months old the nipples finally came out and he sucking was strong enough that we stop pumping and EBF. if you are going to stay home i would recommend not pumping just because they need to be cleaned and taken care of. where as your breast need nothing. if you want to have a manual one for nights of drinking or dh helping, i would just get something cheap OR contact LLL. they actually rent them out or might give you one.

I used a cheapo electric manual one with Cory and it worked fine. It took a long time though. I was working so I had to pump. With Lily I bought the Avent Isis and that was so much nicer. It was alot gentler than the electric. Plus with the Avent on I could put bigger bottles on it. The electric one i had had a base and only 4oz bottle would fit on it. I was pumping 12-16 oz at a time you can imagine the trouble I had with only a 4 oz bottle.

I was a SAHM but wanted to have some stored bm for later use when I wasn't home. I tried the hand pump and it was just too tiring so I invested in the Madela electric pump. They are pricey but for me was SOOO worth the money.