When Alex was born I decided to breastfeed, as he started to suffer from Colic we had invested in something that had to be added to his milk and we were required to add it to his milk so I thought the best option would be to express some milk, I also wanted to be able to express for convenience when out and about or visiting friends and family.

I had opted for the Closer to Nature bottles as they claimed to allow you to switch between breast and bottle without causing the baby to have any nipple confusion this meant that ideally I needed to have a pump that was compatible with the bottles and opted for the closer to nature manual breast pump, also referred to as the "freedom" breast pump.

The RRP is £26.99 but there tends to be a lot of half price offers on at Mothercare so we picked this up for just £13.99.

Within the packaging is a small rectangular box which is referred to as the sterilising box for you to store all of the parts and also to sterilise the pump, 1 x 150ml bottle, 1 x milk storage pot, spare valve, 6 breast pads and the pump which is made up of 3 parts and is very easy to assemble.

*~*To Sterilise using the steriliser box*~*

The Sterilising box has been specifically designed to microwave steam sterilise all of your breastfeeding equipment quickly and efficiently.
To use:
1. Pour 100ml of water into sterilising box
2. Load upturned bottle, disassembled breast pump and any accessories.
3. Securely fit box lid
4. Open valve, on lid of box
5. Place steriliser box in microwave
6. Follow instructions according to microwave output if it is over 850watts place on for 4 minutes on full power and once completed allow to cool for 3 minutes.
7. CAUTION: To avoid risk of burning, always ensure box is cool to touch before lifting out.
8. Immediately fit valve on lid to make box airtight and sterile

*~*To Assemble the Pump*~*

First of all it is vital that the item is sterilised before use. We simply added to the dishwasher before sterilising.

To assemble the pump you need to clip the handle onto the part which attaches to your breast. There is also a small part that looks like a lid with a hole in, this screws onto the middle part of the pump and then screws onto the bottle.

I find that I leave it all clean and sterilise just before use as it works better when it is warm. The pump has a small hold for you to insert your nipple and then there is a soft cup which comfortably fits onto the breast.
It is important to ensure that when you put the cup to your nipple that it fits in comfortably and that the cup does not have any gaps to allow air in as this will prevent the pump from operating correctly.

I did find a few problems with this pump at first as I had to get my nipple positioned in a certain way to be successful at expressing a larger amount and to avoid any pinching. The handle does feel somewhat flimsy when you use it to pump and considering you generally will be expressing for anything up to 30 minutes it does hurt your hand after a few minutes use.

As I really do not want to get Alex used to bottles I do only express a small amount such as 2ozs which takes a couple of minutes as he is mainly exclusively breastfed but I assume if I was to feed for 30 minutes I would get maybe 2 bottles for him to have.

*~*My Overall Opinion*~*

As I am not expressing too much I find this pump fits its purpose but I think that at £26.99 it is slightly overpriced as it is somewhat flimsy and takes a bit of fiddling around to get it just right and to get the right flow of milk from the breast, having said that you do get the few added extras with the pump which come in handy and the cup that attaches to the breast contains massage ripples to encourage a quicker flow of milk when expressing and it does add to the comfort. Once the pump is attached I find that I do have to use both hands, one to hold the bottom of the bottle and the other to pump the milk from my breast, it is not really suitable to use with just one hand as it can fall out of position and the milk flow tends to shorten.

The pump is easy enough to assemble and easy to clean and the fact that you can just put it in the dishwasher to remove the milk deposits before sterilising is a great convenience.