Pump In Style Advanced Breast Pump Backpack
by Medela
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List Price: Our Price: $252.99 You Save: $47.00 (16%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $229.00 (click here) Category: Baby Product See more product details |
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Baby Products Reviews of Pump In Style Advanced Breast Pump Backpack
Customer Review: Pump and Medela customer service is great, some parts are a pain
Summary: 5 Stars
This pump is great - I haven't gone back to work yet but I have been able to create a nice extra milk supply using this equipment. The backpack is stylish and very functional - when you are running out the door to a babysitter with so much baby gear and stuff for a night out, having a backpack really comes in handy. I also have to say that Medela's customer service is great. One of the knobs on the backpack was broken when I purchased my pump. I called them and they said they couldn't send me a new knob, they could only send me a new backpack. I received a whole new backpack (so now I have 2, one with just a little flaw) two days later without any hassle.
My complaints with this product have to do the washable parts and the tubing. If you are going to be pumping a lot you really need two sets of valves and shields, and they are expensive. One of my valves causes the pump not to work, and so I have to buy another one. Also my tubing is so stretched out where it is attached to the pump that it doesn't stay on that easily. I wonder if I'm going to have to buy more tubing too. Overall, while this pump is great but maintaining all the parts is a bit of a pain and expensive.
Customer Review: This pump sucks--literally
Summary: 2 Stars
I bought this after renting the hospital-grade Medela Lactima. Big difference. The backpack is compact, sleek, and inconspicuous but the pump sucks. It has one adjustment for speed/suction and a computer chip that selects the best combination of the two for you. Well, after a few pumps my nipples are about to fall off. If I lower the suction to a comfortable, reasonable level, the pump is way too fast. If I slow the pump to mimic MY baby's speed, the suction is excruciatingly painful--and it still doesn't pump slow enough. I am very unhappy with this and wish we'd just rented the hospital-grade for a year instead.
The little cooler is cute, but it's tough to actually fit the frozen insert ("blue" plastic thing) AND four bottles in there. And it is convenient for the horns to pump directly into standard-size bottles (it will pump into Dr. Browns & Evenflo bottles too, any regular mouth size bottles) or bags.
I love the setup, just wish the pump had slower speed settings and that the speed & suction were truly adjustable and independent from each other. I can't be in pain like this all the time and am looking for other options. :(
Customer Review: Their "new" pumps are GARBAGE
Summary: 1 Stars
I went along with all the recall hype and made a HUGE mistake of sending my old pump in for a replacement pump. Although my old one was making odd noise, the pumping was fine. But I figured why take a chance of something else going wrong? So I got the new pump and returned the old one right away - huge mistake. The new one has horrible suction - even at max setting it feels like nothing. Whereas with my old pump I would keep it at the middle and still feel plently of pressure. I called their customer service (which is being bombarded with the recall) and had to answer a series of question and they wanted to listen to the new pump at the max setting (which sounds like it is really struggling to function). She then asked me some other questions but because I've been pumping for 8 months I CLEARLY know what I'm doing so in the end she just said they will send me a new pump. It seems like they try to make it seem like it's my fault - like I don't have any milk or something when I KNOW it's there. So I don't know how pump #3 will function, but if it's anything like #2 I will have to fork over more $$$ and go with a different brand.
Customer Review: Very happy with this pump
Summary: 5 Stars
I have low milk supply, and used a rented hospital pump for the first month. I was concerned that this pump might not work as well as that one at stimulating my milk flow, but it's been great. I even had a couple of days of overlap to test it against the hospital grade one and it did great.
One note: before buying this one on Amazon, I bought the same model used on ebay. It didn't seem to work well, so I took it to the lactation clinic where they tested it. The vacuum it was creating was below the minimum standards put out by Medela, which is why it wasn't getting any milk from me. At that point, I decided it was worth the money for a new one to know that it worked.
I've been really happy with this, although I mostly just use it a few times a day now. I did get the easy expressions strapless hands free pumping bra so that I can do both breasts while working on my laptop or even playing with my baby. Super cool!
(Note: This review is by my wife. I (William) have never used this breast pump, but I can attest it really worked well for her and that she was very happy with it!)
Customer Review: Excellent Pump
Summary: 5 Stars
Upside:
Bought this on recommendation from my sister. Excellent pump. So much easier than manual expression. Parts are high quality. I like the back pack because there are a lot of parts and it's nice to have them all in one bag. Bottom line: Makes my life so much easier and I feel good because my child is still getting breastmilk.
Downside:
The battery charger takes 10 AA batteries!!! That's a lot, but I suppose it is necessary if the motor uses a lot of energy (fortunately I have a battery recharger). There is also the option of the car charger.
You can't, or shouldn't resell this item, because of the chance of viral or bacterial contamination inside the motor which cannot be cleaned(read: risk of HIV,HBV). This is a huge downer because if you have only have one child you can only use it once and you are stuck with it and can't get back some of the money you spent on it. I wish that Medela would make a pump where all of the parts can be sterilized (like the hospital pumps) so you can resell it. I know many people already do resell theirs and it's probably fine, but you never know...