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Medela Pump vs Freemie Pump

With both of our daughters, I had difficulty breastfeeding.  I wanted to give them my milk, but breastfeeding was just not working for us.  Instead, I used a pump to get the milk.  I will not sugarcoat here, pumping was not an enjoyable experience at all.  However, I wanted to provide as much breastmilk as I could for as long as I could for both of our daughters.  Exclusively pumping was extremely difficult for me which is why I did not make it as long as I had originally hoped I would.  My goal was 12 months with our first daughter and I made it 10 months.  With our second daughter, my goal was 10 months and I made it 6 months.  There was a list of four different pumps to choose from covered by the insurance company.  I spent a lot of time with both of these pumps and here are my honest opinions of both.

Medela Pump

After speaking with a few friends while I was pregnant with our first, I chose to get the Medela Pump in Style through the insurance company.  It seemed to be the most popular choice and I really had no idea what to expect.  I was just glad to have a pump to use for 10 months!  It allowed me to get my breastmilk for our baby without having to breastfeed.  Since I had such a hard time breastfeeding, this was the next best thing.  Here are my positives and negatives I found while using this pump.  

 

Positives

 

• Easy to use.
• Fairly easy to clean.
• Accessories and spare parts are available in retail stores and Amazon.
• Pumps straight into bottles or bags.
• Automatically switches between fast low suction to slow high suction.
• Automatic shutoff after a certain amount of time.
• Easily see how much milk you have pumped and see if you’re still producing milk.

 

Negatives

• Recommended power from wall outlet which means chasing a toddler is almost out of the question. The battery option (8AA batteries) makes it significantly heavier.
• Suction cups are exposed so you may feel you need to cover-up
• Very loud. I placed a pillow over the pump to help reduce the noise so the baby could sleep in the same room.
• To use the pump hands free, you would need to buy a bra that accommodates the pump or cut holes in one of your existing bra. I never wanted to pay for a bra with holes in it so I held the suction cups to myself the entire time I pumped.

 

Freemie Pump

For our second child, I found a different pump that was again available through the insurance company.  I was a little skeptical of the Freemie liberty pump at first, but decided to give it a try since I had the Medela to fall back on.   Here are the positives and negatives I found using this pump.

 

Positives

• Very mobile and much smaller than other pumps so you can chase that toddler if needed.
• Easily covered with clothing and can fit into most bras.
• Great for pumping at work.
• Great suction and versatility as you can easily pump on one side while feeding on the other.
• Can hook to your belt and can be concealed very easily.
• Automatic shutoff after a certain amount of time.

 

Negatives

• Needs to be charged after every use.
• Hard to clean.
• Does not pump directly into a bottle which can result in spillage when transferring the milk.
• When cups are full, can easily tip over resulting in spillage.
• Manual controls so you have to switch between fast low suction to slow high suction.
• Sometimes I forgot I was pumping and bent over spilling the milk. Mommy brain at it again!
• Accessories and spare parts are not as easily available. You would have to order them from here.

 

Which one would I get again?

 

I would get the Freemie pump again because of its mobility and discretion.  I have heard so many people who need more mobility while pumping and this would be a great pump for that.  Along with the fact you are not exposed while pumping makes it great for pumping at work or taking care of your little ones.

 

If you’re having an issue with your insurance company not offering the Freemie pump, you can just buy the cups that are compatible with the Medela.  There’s a kit sold on Amazon that has tubes and cups to connect to a Medela Pump.  You will not be as mobile as you would with the Freemie pump, but you would be a little more discrete using the Freemie cups instead of the Medela cones.

Do you have a pump you like or dislike?  Do you have anything to add to this list?

 

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