pumptastic (Medela Swing Electric Breast Pump)

Member Name: jillycat

Product:	Medela Swing Electric Breast Pump
Date:	17/05/09 (116 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: comfortable quick and easy to use

Disadvantages: noisy

When my son was born he spent a week in SCBU due to jaundice and had problems latching on so I used one of the medela electric pumps to express milk for him to be feed via a tube and a cup initially till he was well enough to feed properly. When I went home I wanted to use a pump to express so if there was any problems he could have some expressed milk again.

I bought this electric breast pump after find using a manual breast pump frustrating and difficult to use ( tommee tippee).

Bit about the pump- the manufacturers claim the special 2-Phase pumping system is to closely mimics babies' natural suckling rhythm What this means is it starts of with a fast sucking motion then goes on to stronger deeper sucks! I have to say that this is how my little does feed so they must be right with the research.

It is powered with both mains adapter or batteries for complete portability

Some of the newer models come with the special SoftFit Breastshield stimulates the breast gently and efficiently. The one I bought didn't have this but I bought one from a spares list from a Internet company and it did feel more comfortable to use than the older style


For sterilising I used cold water sterilising which is one of the recommended methods to use and found that this never effected how the machine performed


I always found the machine comfortable to use and used the varying speeds and strengths to control the suction level. It was especially useful when I was engorged in the start as it allowed me to express to stop leaking. It also allowed be if I felt i was becoming susceptible to mastitist to increased the speed to reduce Lumps building up in the breast.

It is a very expressive item and i would caution buying it unless you are going to be committed to breastfeeding and expressing on a regular basis. Most hospital and NCT groups allow you to hire this item and I would recommend you do this as a first point of call for new mums to see if this machine suits your needs as it can be an expensive things to get wrong.

The only disadvantage I found was it is noisy to use and I am sure when i was expressing when I returned to work everyone probably knew what I was doing at those times in my office!

The price of this item varies form £80-90 depending on the retailer and is available from Boots amazon mothercare and independent retailers.

Spares for the machine I tended to use either ebay or www.poshmums.co.uk

Summary: a good breast pump but maybe try before you buy