Medela Pump in Style Advanced Breast Pump with Backpack

The Pump-in-Style Advanced Backpack is an absolutely wonderful breast pump combined with a sub-par milk storage system.

The pump gives you the option to pump either one breast at a time or both breasts at once. The pump starts off with a special two-minute "let down" cycle, which is supposed to mimic a baby's natural sucking action when she first latches on (faster, shorter sucks). After two minutes, this automatically changes over to the "expression" cycle (longer, slower sucks), but if your milk lets down sooner, you can manually change the cycles with the push of a button. You can also control the strength of the pump using a knob - a very nice feature because you can really customize the sucking strength to your exact needs and you can adjust it with the turn of a knob at any time during your session. The design of the pump is very simple - it takes almost no time to set up and break down. The Pump in Style comes with an A/C adaptor and a battery pack (batteries not included) that takes *TEN* AA batteries. If you're planning on using the pump in a car, you can purchase a car adaptor separately. One of the nicest features of the Advanced is that the pump is housed in its own little black case that comes completely out of the backpack (unlike the original Pump in Style, with a battery that couldn't come out of the bag); this allows you to leave the pump wherever you'll be using it (ex. at work) and only take the bottles or bags of expressed milk back and forth in the cooler. Since the majority of the weight of the Pump in Style is in the pump itself, this is a wonderful feature. Personally, I've found that I can empty both breasts (about 6-8oz combined) with the Pump in Style in about 20 minutes or less (double pumping) - setup and cleanup add about another 5 minutes each, so I'm done with pumping within a half hour. I use the micro-steam bags to sterilize all the parts, so that takes only 5 minutes in my very low-wattage microwave (it can take as little as 2 minutes in a high-powered microwave). All in all, I am completely satisfied with the pump portion of the Pump in Style.

What I'm not satisfied with is the Pump in Style's milk storage system. There's a small cooler bag with a form-fitted ice-pack insert. You freeze the ice pack and the storage bottles fit around it in the bag. This part is fine. However, the bottles themselves are awful. Two of the bottles have solid caps (for storage only) and the other two have two-piece caps that can be used with nipples as nursing bottles. However, no nipples are included with the set, and none of the literature included with the Pump in Style even mentions that nipples are available. I had to call the company and ask about it, and I was told that nipples need to be bought separately for $1 each. For the money I paid for this system, the least they could have done was include 2 nipples for the 2 bottles! The bottles themselves are absolutely nothing special - there are no features to try to reduce the amount of air a baby gets when nursing, etc. With the advances in bottle design, I would think Medela would have a great bottle to go along with their great pump, but no such luck - this is about as basic a bottle design as it gets. So, as far as I'm concerned, the 4 bottles are only good for milk storage, which means the milk needs to be transferred into another bottle for feeding purposes. Medela does make disposable storage bags and even includes some with the Pump in Style. However, the bags don't fit into a bottle as a drop-in; again, you have to transfer the milk from the bags into another bottle to feed. You're supposed to be able to tear off a small tab at the bottom of the bag to open a hole for pouring out the milk, but I've never been able to do this. I always have to snip the edge of the bag with a scissors to get it open (which, I'm sure, compromises the sterility of the inside of the bag). Also, the bags close with twist-ties at the top, which causes the bags to freeze with all sorts of ruffles and folds at the top. This makes it nearly impossible to re-open a frozen bag at the top to add more milk. What Medela should come up with is a storage system that uses disposable drop-in bottle liners. Right now, I'm using the Playtex Drop-Ins with a pump converter that allows me to pump directly into the Playtex liners; I then just drop them into a bottle when I want to use them. This is the kind of convenience that I was looking for in the Medela storage system, which unfortunately, they don't have.

The backpack itself is stylish - you really can't tell that it's anything but a fairly sophisticated-looking backpack. It's a bit crowded when carrying the pump, storage bag and all the parts - there's no room for anything else inside. If you remove the pump, you can fit a few things inside, but it's still not what I would call roomy. I guess this is the trade-off between function and style - a larger backpack would have been more practical for holding stuff other than the pump, but it would have looked clunky. So, if you need to carry more than a set of keys and a small wallet, plan on carrying a bag in addition to the backpack.

Despite the small drawbacks of the backpack and the large inconvenience of their storage system, the Medela pump itself is absolutely fabulous and definitely deserves five stars.

I got the Medela because I knew I would have to return to work and wanted the pump with the best reviews. Well, this was it, but 9 months into the pump-life I am not perfectly happy.

Pros:

1) Discreet, convenient
2) Pumping 2 at once and electric is really convenient. I purchased one of the handsfree kits (really just a tube top with holes around the nipples) and I can continue to work at my desk while pumping. (Door closed, of course).
3) Easy to purchase parts for. This is really important. I can go to my local Target and get parts for this. It is not so easy with some of the more obscure brands.

Cons:
1) Motor seemed to wear out some after about 6 months of daily use. It still pumps, but I have to turn the power higher to get the same amount of voltage. I don't feel that I could use this for a second child. It's not only a "one person" product as described in the manual, I think it's meant to be a "one baby" product as well.
2) Battery-operated feature doesn't work well at all. It requires 8 AA batteries, and loses power by the end of the first session. For pumping on the road I recommend the car charger (sold separately).

I ended up purchasing an Avent Isis hand pump to supplement this one. It is easier to use when I am home and I actually get just as much milk from one breast with the Avent as I do with this, in about the same amount of time. The difference is that I can strap the Medela on and keep working. If I didn't have the handsfree kit it would be very inconvenient to use the double pumping feature.

I started out with the original pump and switched to the advanced. The original worked well for me, but I had to purchase a second pump when I went back to work, so I bought the advanced backpack to see if it was any better. I now have two advanced pumps (one backpack and one tote) and they both work great. I found two main difference between the original and the advanced is that the advanced pump has the "let down" phase which I absolutly love. 1) The original pump does not have this feature and it pulled hard on my breasts causing a bit of discomfort. Also, I personally have more than one let down (some people do, and some don't) so 1/2 way through my pumping I turn the machine off and back on,for the let down phase again, and I deffinalty think it's worth the extra 2-3 ounces I get at each session. 2) The original pump takes me about 15-20 minutes to pump and I get 6-8 ounces each time, and the advanced pump takes me about 10-15 minutes and I get 8 ounces consistantly. Both pumps are quiet, easy to assemble, they come with cooler packs that store four bottles easily, it has a battery pack for those times you don't have an outlet, or a lighter adapter (sold separatly) for long trips. The only con I cam across was that Medela only makes 5 oz bottles(that I can find), and my son is up to drinking 8 oz at each feeding, so I bought the Avent bottles to pour and store my milk in after I pump.

*Note: neither of the pumps are meant to "establish" your milk supply, only keep it going, so make sure you are breastfeeding to start with and then start pumping (I started pumping one bottle every other day when my son was 3 weeks old, he is now 6 months old, and I have a great supply)