Not for shy girls (Medela Mini Electric Pump)

Member Name: AlexW

Product:	Medela Mini Electric Pump
Date:	15/05/03 (1068 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Effective, Variable suction, Speedy

Disadvantages: Painful if not positioned right, Noisy

My little girl (currently 6mths) was exclusively breast fed until 4months old, I however had to return to work when she was just 4 weeks old so I bought a breast-pump..or rather I bought 2.

I started with the much recommended ISIS hand operated, try as I did I could not manage to get more than 1oz at a time even after an hour, it never once managed to induce the let-down reflex and I found it fiddly...so I bought a Medela mini-electric.

Operation wise this is fab, by adjusting the suction you can mimic babies suck pattern (I used 1min of low to get nips accustomed, then 5 mins of fairly high to induce let-down then back to low for 10mins, swap to next side and repeat) I was able to get about 6oz's each side in a morning and 5oz's each side in an afternoon, using for about 20mins each time.
Its easy to clean and the parts can be put in a microwave steriliser (excepting the motor!) even though the instructions say not to.

It comes with a sealing disc for the bottle and make sure you do detach the bottle and seal, if left attached with milk in then it can leak back out. It also features the main pump motor section and then a seperate funnel type attachment to place around breast. ANother advantage is that this comes with an insert for those who aren't suffering from massive mammaries.

It can be battery or main operated and comes with the mains adapter. It takes AA bateries.

The main downsides are the noise...the whole building knew when I was pumping, so it does make you feel like an inmate at a dairy farm. Also the bottle is narrow and small so a pain as you need to decant into a normal size bottle.

I purchased mine from Mothercare for £34.
I recommend using the mains where poss as I found it didnt perform to top standard on battery.

Summary: