Nursing moms, please give me your best recommendations

Nearly all insurance covers a great one at low to no cost. Check there before buying.

A double electric, closed system is best. There are several good ones, ameda, spectra, hygenia.

Most insurance companies offer many accessories with the above options. They also typically cover the popular Medela that is open system (can possibly backfire sucking milk where you wouldn't see it and it could mold). To discourage this one they often don't offer all the bonus accessories you'd get if you selected a different option.

Many women feel the Medela is better because it's more expensive. I was told that isn't the case it's simply heavily marketed and that makes up the cost of the marketing. I had the Ameda and Medela and there were features with both I liked and disliked compared to the other. One of the big things I liked about the Medela was the nice carrying tote and im aware most insurance companies no longer provide that, just the square pump. Neither got more milk or more quickly than the other for me.

I used both the Ameda & the Medela double electric pumps. I did have a manual pump, but I used it only once or twice and decided that it just wasn't for me. It took so much time that I just wasn't interested.

I used the Ameda at home and loved how it worked. At the time, I wasn't as thrilled with the accessories for it, but this was years ago, so I am sure they have been updated since them.

I used a Medela at work, because my workplace actually supplied one for nursing moms. (My insurance covered a rental one from the hospital as well, but I didn't bother since work got one for me instead.) Like jamielynn mentioned, I did like the tote for the medela, and I liked the accessories a bit better with that one, namely that, at the time, the tubing was a bit longer and I felt the bottles were less likely to tip over while I was maneuvering everything. (I used to pump both sides at the same time, while eating lunch, so feeling that I had some extra wiggle room and not worrying that I might accidentally knock over a bottle was important to me.

But again, this was a decade ago, so I am sure that improvements have been made to these little things. if I were to pump now, I would probably see if I liked the accessories for the Ameda and go with that

If this is for a gift, I'd make sure that the new mom checks her insurance, I got an Ameda double electric pump for free from Kaiser, but I had to call after I gave birth and request it. I like the Ameda, it's a closed system. I didn't use it at work so I didn't need a tote, but personally I probably would have transported it in my own bag and used my own cooler.

I nursed and pumped for both of my kids. As jamielynn said, double-electric, closed system is great for this.

I used an Ameda Purely Yours. I used is for about six years! I got a prescription from our pediatrician and used that so my insurance paid for the pump. It's a little less expensive that a Medela one, but works just as good.

A couple of tips:
If the pumping mom is a working mom, make sure to get a "Hands-free bustier" I pumped while on my breaks and would sit and do personal office work, work on my lists, paperwork, etc. Multi-tasking mama! ;-)

I ordered my stuff from Elite Breastfeeding Supplies
Linda is the owner. I bought wayyyyy back in 2002. I got great customer service and the prices were very competitive.

Another site I used for a lot of breastfeeding information was KellyMom.com

In the beginning, a lot of it was more "granola" that I was, but it was still an AMAZING resource.

It's been 10 years since I was a nursing mom so I'm sure some things have changed, but these two sites were very informative for me.

Best wishes.

Insurance paid 100% for the Medela Pump in Style that I had. Bought it right at the hospital. It was a good thing I had it too because my kid had a tiny mouth and never latched right even after several sessions with the lactation consultant.  It worked well enough for me. I pumped exclusively for ten months using that and a small Medela hand pump. I could have gone longer but after that many months (and the huge time suck of having to pump and feed my kid separately) I was just over it, and since I had a freezer full of frozen milk banked I was able to go another few months beyond that.

I was lucky, my niece had three kids and her milk never really came in with any of them even using medical grade pumps from the hospital.

I agree to check with insurance. I wasn't going to buy one with my last baby but my OB said my insurance would cover one so I got it. (Glad I did because less than a week later I ended up in the ER and because of the meds they gave me I had to pump and dump.). I've used it a few times since and it's been great. It's an ameda. I used a medula pump with my earlier kids and didn't love it to be honest. The ameda is easy to clean as well.