Medela Pump in Style Review

I purchased a Medela Pump In Style Breast Pumpafter having my first baby. I was determined to breastfeed despite suffering from mastitis and intraductal yeast in the first week after giving birth and my midwife suggested that I get lots of rest, find a bra that would fit (ended up with a cup size G), and purchase a good quality breast pump.

Well, the lactation consultant just so happened to have a size G bra handy and the Birth Center had this Medela Pump in Style breast pump in stock. I was at least able to do two of the three things she suggested. I still haven't gotten any rest and I now have three daughters (7, 4, 1)!

I had never owned a breast pump before owning this one, so I do not have anything with which to compare the Medela. I had seen manual ones before, and some people do really well with them and they cost much less than ones such as this. This unit actually included a manual one, but my first daughter broke it when she decided it was a toy when I was not looking. I used it in a power outage a few times and it seemed to work OK before it was broken.

I remember seeing an electric breast pump years ago that a family member used after having her baby, and it was HUGE. It had wheels and she had to roll it around if she wanted to move it. Today's breast pumps are much easier for travel. This Pump in Style comes in a convenient bag with a shoulder strap. Medela also makes one that looks like a backpack.

My Pump in Style is powered by electricity. It has a power cord that plugs into the pump and a huge AC adapter. It would be great if the adapter were a little smaller and perhaps they now have changed that. I looked at their website and noticed that these now have the ability to run on batteries, which would be a nice feature but it might eat batteries quickly.

I remember when I purchased mine that I could have bought an adapter for a cigarette lighter. I remember thinking, now who in their right mind would be pumping while driving down the road? I suppose that might be handy on a long trip (of course at a rest stop or parking lot), but I never needed or used anything other than the electric plug-in with mine.

This pumpallows you to pump on both sides at the same time, and mine came with four bottles, which are BPA-free. I wish it had come with nipples for the bottles because after three children I have not ever found a bottle that I really liked that did not leak. My children have never really liked drinking from a bottle either. They all tended to refuse to drink until I came home from work. Sometimes a sippy cup or mixing milk with cereal will do the trick though.

The storage area for milk contains three ice packs that fit inside the area around the bottles. There are two plastic pieces that resemble coasters that will keep the bottles from tipping when sitting them down on the table as well.

This pump will pump slowly or quickly, and the sucking motion can be very light to quite strong. I work part-time as a nurse and have pumped at work numerous times using this pump. I have also pumped at home in preparing to go to work, and I swear that mine must be attached to bells and whistles in the kids' bedroom because each baby that I have had seems to invariably wake up and become ravenous if I ever try to pump at home. I have pumped on one side while the baby nursed on the other and have found that my milk does come down much quicker that way.

I remember when I bought the pump that they made sure I knew to never get the tubing wet because it is pretty difficult to get them dry. I believe you can attach them to the machine to dry them, but I have not gotten mine wet. The cup piece have removable inserts for those with different sized breasts. There is a little flap that attaches to that part that helps the milk to drip down into the bottle properly, and I would not advise putting that in the dishwasher because it is so small. Mine came with a couple of extra of those tiny pieces. I wash the bottles and cups by hand because my dishwasher died long ago.

Medelas are not cheap and neither are Cadillacs. I believe online prices for a comparable model are running about $275. When I purchased this machine, my whole body hurt so bad I didn't care how much something cost if it would work. If you are interested in purchasing a Medela breastfeeding product, their website has a quick set of questions for you to answer to help you to determine which product will best fit your needs.

My Viewpoint:

I have used the Medela Pump in Style for up to 22 months with each of my three daughters and the only problem related to the pump was that my manual one got broken fairly easily. If you are looking for a dependable, high quality breast pump, I encourage you to visit Medela's website and check out what product will work best for you.