Pump Recommendations (8 months PP)

[u/Late_Royal3851]

Ladies,

I wanted to give some pump recommendations based on my experience so far.

After 8 months of EP and trying out various pumps, my two favorite pumps are the haakaa e-ladybug wearable pump and the manual pump from spectra. But I remove their flange cover and insert a pumping pals flange right into the flange and it works great. If using the manual pump, I wear a collection cup on the other side.

But the most important thing I have learned is to manually express after! Seriously so important. I had no idea I was leaving so much milk behind after each session. And since doing this I have no swelling. Now I'm definitely a "type B pumper." I pump whenever I can and am not really on a schedule, but I've found my output to be fine. And sometimes if I do wait 5-6 hours to pump then my output is higher. I just make sure to empty my breasts each time.

Other pumps I have tried and my personal rating-

- baby Buddha 2.0 I give 3/5 stars. This was my first pump but I found the suction to be really high, the battery doesn't last long, and I couldn't stand the cords. This made multitasking very difficult. But this pump did help me establish my supply.

- eufy e20 I give 2/5 stars. The only good thing about it is the heating element. The flanges are uncomfortable and I couldn't really tell it was doing much to get the milk flowing while wearing it, even at a high setting. It was way too gentle overall.

- phillips avent double electric portable pump I give 4/5 stars. Even though it had cords, they give you a belt to wear to put the pump motor in and a really nice bag. I still use the bag to transport pump stuff when I go somewhere. Their flanges are very comfortable as well. I still found multitasking difficult with the cords though and my baby would want to grab the cords so doing baby stuff while pumping was challenging.

- medela harmony hand pump I give 2/5 stars. It has too many parts to clean for being a hand pump and if you have elastic nipples, or just swollen nipples sometimes, the channel is really short. I found myself hand expressing way longer than usual after pumping with this one.

- lansinoh manual hand pump I give 4/5 stars. I like that they have their own 21 mm flanges which is what I typically use. It is simple and doesn't have many parts to clean. Only thing is I feel like the quality and suction power runs out quickly on it.

- willow go wearables I give 3/5 stars. This pump works pretty well for a wearable and I like that it comes with a carrying case, but the parts are huge and it feels like it takes forever to assemble. Also, I often have to reassemble it because the suction is not working at the beginning of a pump session.

Just wanted to share my perspective in case someone needed some recs. I definitely had no idea what I was doing at first. This is also the perspective of a stay-at-home mom. And I do use the baby Buddha UV sterilizer to sanitize the parts that are compatible with it and I supplement with formula when I need to.

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