TINY PUMP, BIG RESULTS! (Avent Isis Breast Pump)

Member Name: mysteryshopper2

Product:	Avent Isis Breast Pump
Date:	05/05/04 (2405 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: very easy to clean, extremely portable, convenient, quiet, discreet, attractive bag

Disadvantages: Your hands will get sore, stimulator falls off easily breaking seal, Takes practice, can be hard to put together at first.

As my son was born 7 weeks premature he spent the first few weeks of his life being tube fed therefore when the time came for me to breast feed ? he refused. I had been expressing my milk, every 2-3 hours and storing it in the fridge so he could be given my milk as and when needed. I had been given the use of a hospital electric pump during his time in the Neo Natal unit but it soon came time for him to go home and I was pump less.

First, I tried a Medela Electric Pump, which the hospital district nurse brought over on a home visit. This is the type they use in the hospitals. I thought, "This thing is great, I have to have one." I pictured my freezer filled with bags upon bags of frozen milk and imagined how great it would be for him. That was until the price and practicality came into it. Over £90 and how much would I really use it? Besides, it was a fair size and noisy. I then tried the Medela hand pump, which did not work at all on me. Not even one drop of milk came. I am not saying the Medela hand pump is poor; it just wasn?t right for me.

Feeling discouraged, I then went on the hunt to find a good electric hand pump. On a visit to my local Mothercare, I explained my situation to a Sales Assistant and was told not to waste my money on an electric pump but to go for a hand pump instead. She suggested the "Avent Isis Breast Pump". My pump hunting days were over.

I was about to purchase the pump on its own, along with an extra bottle when another customer in the store advised me she had bought this pump in an ?Avent ISIS Out and About? set. It was approximately £40 for the set and comes with a lot more. The store had this available so I bought and took it home.

ASSEMBLY AND PARTS

When you first look at the ISIS your jaw will hit the floor. This little handheld manual pump has 9 pieces!! Yes, 9 pieces!! You have the main hard plastic body (funnel), then the silicone petal massager (to assist with
letdown), a soft silicone breast shield, a handle, a hard plastic cover, a little white valve, the bottle adapter, a bottle screw on cap, and of course the bottle. All those parts are needed to make this pump work. Sounds difficult, but honestly, after the first time I put it together reading the instructions, I've had no problems with it. Now I can put the thing together in seconds.

Of course there are more parts, which come with this pump that you don?t necessarily need to pump your milk, but will need if you are using the pump at work and cannot wash and re-sterilise. There is a cap to cover the opening where the breast and the pump meet, as well as a screw in cap which screws where the bottle would be if you were pumping. The big cap also doubles as a stand for the 4 oz bottles so it will not tip over if you set it on the counter. Once you fill the bottles you will need to snap a sealing disk inside to seal the bottle. The pump itself is extremely lightweight and all parts are interchangeable, which is a great idea especially if you purchase more bottles or teats etc.

PUMPING

Pumping is fairly easy and isn't too painful because Avent has this nice plastic cushion, which also helps massage the breast for faster let down reflex by mimicking the suckling of a baby at the breast. Position the funnel over your breast and push the handle. I found I needed to pump the handle every 2 to 3 seconds until I achieved let down (i.e. your milk starts to flow). Once the milk starts to flow you hold down the pump until it stops. You don't have to keep pumping and pumping 100 times a minute. A lot of people don't know this so keep it in mind lol. Then you just keep going until you can't get anymore. You can control how strong the suction is since it is manual, which makes pumping more comfortable when your breasts are full. Sometimes I found if I moved the pump to different positions you can get more milk after you think it's
stopped. Be creative!

The ISIS is quiet and discreet; sometimes it does make noises when you use it, but nothing like an electric pump. As for comfort, I find the pump fairly comfortable to use. I found I had to lean forward in a sitting position in order to attach it correctly and for it to work properly. If you lean back, the milk will not drain correctly into the bottle and backs up in the funnel area of the pump, watch out for any leaking at the entrance area.

The maximum amount of milk I have managed to pump is 7 oz at one sitting (approximately 15 - 20 minutes). Usually I can get 2 - 3 oz from one breast within the approximate time of about 10 minutes. Pumping first thing in the morning works best for me.

CLEANING AND CARE

The pump is SOOOO easy to clean. The best part about the Isis is that every part is dishwasher safe. It is very easy to clean because of this. It is recommended to sterilise the pump before every use. Boiling the parts for 10 minutes or using a steam steriliser which takes about 5 minutes can achieve this.

The pump and accessories can also be washed in soapy water, and then rinsed, you will need a bottlebrush to get in to the small neck of the funnel. If you do use your sink, make sure you don't wash the little white valve for the pump down the drain. It is about the size of a 5p and the pump will not work without it. Beware - if you decide to sterilise your pump the old fashioned way i.e., boiling it in a pot, DON'T FORGET ABOUT IT! They DO melt if left in the pot after all the water boils out ? as my mother-in-law found out :-))

I do recommend boiling the soft silicone parts from time to time. I have found that the breast shield and valve get too soft & flexible over time and then it is hard to achieve good, constant suction. The boiling seems to help with this problem.

ISIS OUT AND ABOUT KIT

This is also a great thing about the pump: It comes with a quali
ty, stylish, black insulated carrying case (looks like a fabric lunch box), for transporting the milk home keeping it cool for up to 6 hours. The bag has a carry handle and strap for over your shoulder. The cooler is pretty discrete. The kit also contains, a silver drawstring storage bag, 2 flexible cool packs (re-useable ice packs), soft silicone breast shield (provides the ultimate in comfort), 4 milk storage bottles (2 x 4oz and 2 x 9oz with sealing lids, freezer, stove, and dishwasher safe), 2 newborn teats, 2 dome caps, 4 Sealing discs, 8 Ultra comfort disposable breast pads, and instructions for use ? the perfect starter kit! There is a little pocket on the front of the bag where I put my milk storage bags. There's also a mesh pocket inside where I keep the bags of milk in place so they wouldn't accidentally bust open on the way home.

AVENT ? THE COMPANY

90% of Avent products are designed & manufactured in England since their launch in 1984. The company has been honoured with two Queen's Awards for Enterprise 2000 - one for International Trade and one for Innovation for their ISIS Breast pump. The ISIS pump has also been granted 3 prestigious awards by a variety of baby magazines: Mother and baby: readers favourite, Pregnancy and birth: best buy and Practical Parenting magazine: 5* Editors Award. The Avent product range is ISO 9001 certified and available to parents in more than 60 countries worldwide.

ON THE BAD SIDE

The ISIS Breast pump set is one of the most highly recommended and easy to find manual pumps on the market. It does work well in most instances, but does have some minor flaws. This pump is made with a grasping pumping handle, which means it is made in the same way as an old pump well, you bring the handle towards you to pump. This means, that after not very many pumping cycles, your hand and wrist get tired or even very sore, and it may become more difficult to use, the longer you go.


Sealing was another problem. Where you insert your breast there is an optional stimulator attachment. It "milks" your breast to stimulate more milk letdown, and it works well for that. However, it tends to get unhooked from the edge, which breaks the seal (so you won't get any suction.) Bottles tend to turn and unscrew, breaking the suction at that end too. All together, it makes for a number of things to juggle, which can inhibit how much milk you are putting out. This is a minor inconvenience only.

THE BOTTOM LINE

I would recommend this pump, keeping in mind that it does take some practice to use it effectively. Overall it is a good value for money manual breast pump.

Thank you for reading!

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