I breastfed my first child for 2 whole years. During that time I did a combination of putting her at the breast and pumping so I could get some help from hubs and family.

These are the pumps I’ve tried over my journey with breastfeeding and why I like / dislike them.

Medela Pump In Style Advanced

This was the first pump that I ever owned. I got it covered through my insurance by going to this website here.

This is a wall plug in pump. I liked this one for the majority of my pumping sessions because it was consistent, easy to use and had power behind it. It took some getting used to in the beginning, trying to figure out speed and let down settings, but after the initial learning period - she was a fav!

The bottles are very easy to clean, but there a lot of small parts. The parts need to be replaced quite frequently, which is expected of any pump. Luckily, I was able to find affordable parts on Amazon that were a fraction of the price of buying them from Medela. When buying parts through a third party, just be sure that they fit your particular pump. I made that mistake!

Elvie

The Elvie was my second fav during this breastfeeding journey. It definitely is not perfect, by any means. But once you learn to work with the pump it becomes so convenient for on the go pumping!

My main problem with the Elvie is the leaking and the random halt in suction. If your cups get too full, or you’re leaning too far forward, you’re bound to leak. This could be an issue on my end, but it was very frustrating when I’d be driving and randomly feel puddles forming in my bra.

The suction was another issue I had. I had the right flange size, but it would just stop suctioning out the milk at times. So annoying when you’re unable to tend to it and just have to let it happen.

BUT I will say when it works good, it works good! This was a life saver when we were out and about and I couldn’t get to my wall pump. It was also super convenient being able to hook it up to my phone via bluetooth. The app shows you battery life, amount in your cups and also how long / how much you’ve pumped over time with your Elvie!

This pump is a little more pricey and I never found dupes for the parts that need replacing, so I would definitely not consider this for a daily pump that you’re using for every single session.

Lanisoh Manual Pump

My Lanisoh pump was good to me when I did use it, which wasn’t too often. I started getting mad at the Elvie pumps and purchased this as a backup for traveling. You have to manually pump it yourself, so it isn’t the most handsfree option like the other two. BUT it does kick ass when you use it.

You can pump into the included bottles or the Lanisoh bags, which is awesome. I had a small freezer stash so using the bags to pump into made it super convenient.

This pump is super affordable. But it’s assembly is a little wonky. Things come loose easily but it does keep all of the milk where it’s supposed to go - not one spill complaint from me!

Bumblebee or Haakaa

Another manual pump, with a twist. This pump is more of a handsfree option than Lanisoh. You suction the pump onto your breast while the pressure and gravity work the milk out.

I loved this to catch the letdown happening on the opposite breast that I was breastfeeding on. It’s small enough to stay out of baby’s way but big enough to catch a heavy flow!

Both the Bumblebee and Haakaa come with a little stand to place it on after so the pump doesn’t tip when you’re finished.

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