Picking a Breastpump

My first day after delivery, I was given a very outdated version of a hospital grade breast pump and was told to pump regularly. I pumped but nothing came out. I was also briefed to squeeze my breast (manual pumping) to collect the colostrum in a syringe. I did so but I needed a proper pump urgently.

The second day, the minute I got discharged and went to buy a proper pump. I got the Medela Swing Maxi Flex Double Electric Breast pump.

Primary reason I picked that one was that it had a double pump (15 minutes*8 times= 120 mins of saving everyday!!). It was also one of the best models of Medela according to the reviews with a more affordable price in comparison to their latest model Medela Freestyle Flex.

Main differences between Medela Swing Maxi Flex and Freestyle Flex:

• Swing Maxi has no timer. Freestyle Flex has a timer. For me, having a timer was not a must have specification as I had my phone with me most of the time.

• Freestyle Flex connects to Medela family app, which might be helpful to those who want to track their pumping schedule. For me, I was on a very strict schedule which did not change daily so I did not need this specification neither.

I also got a chance to try Medela Harmony hospital grade pump everyday for a month. During our NICU stay, I traveled to hospital twice a day and I had to pump there too. I purchased the accessories for Medela Harmony and I would carry them with me, connect to the machine in the hospital and pump there. For me, the amount of milk did not really change with this machine. It was just a matter of pumping the same amount of milk a little faster (maybe 3 - 5 minutes less). If it did make a huge difference, I would have rented it for home usage. However, Medela Swing Maxi Flex did the job for me, and I was able to carry it everyway as it also worked with batteries.

Mine came with 2x breast shield size 21 mm. Since I was pumping 8-10 times/day and I was traveling half the day, sterilizing the equipment after pumping has been challenging. I purchased an extra pair of breast shield and bottle to save time on the sterilization process. This was my sister's brilliant idea as she was the queen of pumping during her maternity leave:)

So long story short, if I were to choose again today, I would still go with Swing Maxi Flex.

Happy pumping!!!

p.s. I must admit pumping was not my favorite activity. I can even safely say I hated it the most times. However, I was so grateful someone invented such a product. Otherwise, as a preemie mom, my D. would have never got a drop of milk from me while she was in NICU. In short, I hated pumping, loved the pump:)