As a working mom who breast fed three children, I found this breast pump to best fit all I wanted in a product of this type. Yes, it is a little pricier and harder to find than those other brands you find at all those "Mart" community shopping centers. Believe me when I say it is worth it! This is from a mom who will not step foot in a store without her coupon organizer. I tried the cheaper brands of breast pumps, and only got sore nipples and hungry babies from the experience. Top reason this product works so well: it reacts like a normal baby when it is pumping, giving a nice pull/release action as it works. You can also adjust the speed, which is a godsend when you have just given birth and are sore. Then, as you become more adjusted to breastfeeding, you can vamp up the power for faster pumping. I highly recommend the electric version, even though there is a manual version out there. Especially if you are a working mom, the electric version works faster and requires less energy to get the same results. And as new moms, we need to reserve all the energy we have, I know! There are several versions out there, with numerous attachments. If you are a new mom who works outside the home, even just the single pump will help you out tremedously.

VaTeacher

Virginia Beach, VA

This little pump, the medela single electri, is fantastic. It's small enough to be effective, but powerful enough to pump on a regular basis. I was exclusively pumping and used this little pump for nearly 4 weeks while waiting for my medela pump in style to come in. I would say it was used for an hour at a time, up to 8-12 times a day.  Suction stayed strong throughout the entire time. Towards the end of my pumping time with this one, the motor started to whine. I called medela and they immediately sent me a brand new one, no questions asked. Even though I was clearly abusing the pump and using it much more than recommended, they were fantastic. I've since had multiple customer service contacts with medela and each one has been profession and extremely helpful.  I can't recommend this company enough!

Katie1013

Omaha, NE

I have been successfully breastfeeding for 7 months now and have never had to supplement even though I work full time. And its all because of this little pump. Now I do have a double medela pump as well but this little guy is hand held and battery powered, and for me that means I can pump in my car which is how I have managed to continue breastfeeding. I'm in my car probably half the day because I have some long commutes. I can successfully pump and drive using a - bra with this little pump. Which is an incredible time saver! I pack up my daughter in the morning and I can pump while bringing her to my moms. Then I pump again while running errands at lunch and eating in my car...and again on the way to pick up my daughter from work. its perfect.

HeatherLindell

Minneapolis, MN

This pump has been great for me! I am still breastfeeding after 8 months and rarely need to pump because I am a stay at home mom, but when I do need to pump, this pump has been great. It is super easy to use assemble, use, clean and store. When I leave my son with my parents it is quick to put together, pump a bottle, take apart and clean. When I started feeding my son cereal in the evenings I needed to pump one ounce every night and it was great because it just took a few minutes. I think it probably does take longer than some other pumps, but I do not need to pump often enough to buy a double pump. This pump is also great because it is super easy to clean. Medela makes great steam bags so I just rinse the parts with water and then microwave them in the steam bag. Because of it small size it is easy to store and I love the Medela bottles that come with the pump. If I needed to pump every day, I would probably not use this pump, but for rare use it works great.

jadorejeremy

Denton, TX

Medela is arguably one of the top names in breast pumps, so when we were looking at our options, we chose this single deluxe pump. Pros: There are three powering options: AC plug for at home, and two on-the-go options - battery and manual.  It also has an insert to accommodate smaller breasts and the adjustable suction is a much welcomed feature.  I was able to use this through 3 infants nursing up to a year each, and it's still in great shape.  I don't think the motor has degraded at all since we bought it.  The pieces detach into small components that are easy to wash and sterilize. Cons: the motor is quite loud.  I've never tried another brand so I don't know if this is normal, but if you want to pump discreetly then you'd better use the manual attachment.  It's also a quite distinctive sound that leaves very little doubt what you're doing, so I always made sure to close my bedroom door and turn on some music.  Pumping breast milk is undiginified enough without the whole world knowing what you're doing. But overall a great basic product!

ClaireBear997

Greensboro, NC

I recently bought a Medela deluxe single electric after the birth of my third baby.  It is more compact than the First Years dual pump (pre-MiPump) that I used with my first two babies.  The Medela pump has good suction, but the hard plactic suction area was harder on me than the soft plastic parts on the First Years model.  Also, the instructions on the Medela pump specify that you have to initially boil all the detachable, non-electric parts for ten minutes.  This wasn't a problem, but it was a pain in the neck to add that step, whereas my other pump just needed to be washed.  I like the battery-powered option, should I need it, and I also appreciate the smaller amount of space this pump takes up.  It was, however, on the expensive side.  I confess I was hopoing that with a more expensive model that the comfort of the user would be a premium.  It was not.  That said, it is not so uncomfortable that I will discontinue using it.

angelwingbaby

Green Bay, WI

Medela pumps definitely have the best reputation out there, but I was highly disappointed with this product. I am a mom who exclusively breastfeeds and only gives bottles to my baby during church services. My baby has never had formula, so I pump when she is not with me. When I first had my baby, I rented the medela hospital pump and LOVED it! It took 10 minutes to pump and I was done. I had no pain either.  This pump, on the other hand takes me 30-45 minutes to pump. It also hurts to use it. There is no let-down feature available so you adjust the speed to start of slow, and increase it when let down occurs. I never get into a good let-down when I use this pump. Also, with all Medela pumps, including the fabulous hospital pumps, there is no suction cup large enough for my breasts. The pump always makes a mess. I do wish Medela would come out with a larger sized sheild for bigger chested women.

jenburks

Odenville, AL

This breast pump is very easy to use.  It doesn't have any tubes that have to be cleaned so for me it seems much more sanitary than some of the other pumps out there.  I like that the milk goes straight from my breast into a bottle that I can either feed my baby of put the cap on it to put directly into the fridge to store for later.  The opening on the bottle is small so if you will be transferring the milk to freezer bags it's easy to pour and doesn't make a mess.  It is quite loud, but that's not a big deal to me.  I was able to pump 4 oz in about 10 min.   It's very fast.  You are able to adjust the suction so that's helpful.  It has the option of plugging into the wall or being battery operated.  It uses 2 AA batteries.  I prefer to use it plugged in.  It seemed to me that battery operated didn't have quite as much power as being plugged in.  I did use it a few times battery operated and it went through the batteries quite fast.  Luckily for me I just sat on my bed next to the outlet.  

sunlit2

Reliance, SD

When my son was born he took to breastfeeding like a champ. He was a very avid nurser, however, I felt like I was constantly feeding him. I wanted to have a break from it every now and then, and allow his father and grandmother to feed him. I bought the Medela Single Deluxe Breastpump before my son was born.  It came with a lot of accessories and bottles for storing the breastmilk. It definitely came in handy. When my milk first came in I could pump like nobody's business. This pump made it pretty easy and I was only a little sore from using it. It was very easy to clean and I liked that the parts were machine washable, even though I did handwash them. One of the things I did not like about it is how loud it was! It wasn't very discreet at all but it got the job done. It also leaked every now and then but this was probably due to user error and not the product itself. After a couple of months I could no longer seem to get any milk from my pump so I gave up on it and stuck with skin-to-skin breastfeeding my son. I do have this pump stored away for any future children, though.

pieceofjess

San Antonio, TX

I went through several breast pumps when I discovered I needed some help with breast feeding. After renting a hospital grade pump, I thought I would save money by purchasing this single deluxe breast pump. WRONG! First, it's a lot heavier than it looks. In many places it's not available in stores, so you can only get it online. The heaviness makes the shipping a lot more expensive. Plus, It's not that comfortable to hold because of the weight of the motor. Busy moms might think this would be a one-handed deal and it's not. The worst part about it, is it is so loud! Not only would I not want to listen to it, if the baby were sleeping it would wake her up it was so loud and unpleasant to listen to. Suction is another issue. The suction is not anywhere near the quality of other electric pumps and it was so frustrating trying to get it positioned just at the right angle to try and get it to work properly. In my opinion, the handheld manual is better than this one, plus it's less expensive. Don't waste your money on this!

ltaff1

Melbourne, FL