Medela swing are great. In my area, if you buy one second hand, the health visitors will give you a sterile set of replacement parts making it as new.

Definitely don't try and express too early. I had to express as DS was jaundiced and they wanted me to top him up in the incubator and it took weeks for my supply to settle as I'd been over stimulated.

I've got avent manual, medela manual and medela swing which all worked well. I also mastered hand expressing this time, but find swing best! I'm still using it twice a day to express milk for ds (8months) while I'm at work.

I used mine within the first 2 weeks of his birh, with help from my midwife, as I had loads of milk and it was painful!

I was really broke when I bought my pump - got an Avent isis one off Ebay for about a fiver. OK, so it was second hand, but they come with replacement parts so I swapped the old for the new. At 11 months on, it is still going strong.

Personally, I never managed to squeeze a drop via hand expressing.

Start here

video.about.com/breastfeeding/Hand-Expression-Technique.htm

Thanks all, TBH I hadnt even thought about hand expressing.

Are there any good books out there or is it best to google it?

I have the tommee Tippee manual pump and use this in combination with hand expressing. I find the pump is faster, but hand expressing is good for getting the last bit out .It comes with a box the can be used as a microwave , for the pump and one bottle, so you can save on buying a sterilizer.

Have found the Avent one to be fine. I had an expensive medela with DC1 and it was so loud (this may not be the case with newer electric types), but bought the avent when I had to go to a wedding and away from baby for the day (and unsure about access to plugs/room where I could use a loud pump). I bought the avent and never used the electric pump again (have had 2 more DCs since then). At least you can watch a bit of tv or listen to radio whilst doing it without having it on full volume!

I used an avent one for my 2 babies and found it great. It never hurt my hand cos the max time to do it for is 10 mins and then it was usually over by about 5.

I agree with PP that hand expressing can work out as really efficient for some people. With a few tips from the internet people often find it's easier to get the letdown started and all you have to do is find a way to collect it.

There are often unused or barely used ones on offer on Freecycle too.