I bought mine (Medela Swing - electric) a month or two before DS2 was born but we did have some issues with feeding so i did use it to increase supply and get us back on track so i guess it's not essential but i found it good for us. The Medela Swing i have found great, easy to use, easy to clean not a whole heap of parts of anything etc. so yeh i would definately recommend one of them.