Although I am not currently breastfeeding, I have breastfed both of my daughters. I stopped breastfeeding my youngest earlier this year. In total, I have 27 months of breastfeeding experience under my belt. To my surprise, each journey was different in every way, including the pumps I used.
With both of my babies, I used a different breast pump, each one was supplied through my insurance for free. I worked with a company called Aeroflow both times and even have a few relatives and friends who used them as well. This company is really amazing. They basically do all the leg work for you when it comes to getting your insurance supplied breastpump and depending on your coverage, they can help you get free replacement parts and bottles along your journey.
With my first daughter, after maternity leave I went back to commuting to and from work. This required me to be away from my daughter around 10 hrs a day. Because of this, I used my Medela pump and bottles a lot more with her. The second time around I worked from home. Being a 100% remote employee while keeping my daughter home, meant that I could choose to nurse or pump. I ended up nursing most of the time but I did use my Spectra S2 pump a lot in the first few months.
Even though my experiences were different, I was able to get used to both the Medela & Spectra pumps enough to give you a review. I wanted to do a breast pump review showdown and announce the winner at the end but I’ll save you some time. The Spectra is miles better, but reading why will help you choose any breast pump, even if you decide not to go with either of these. So, keep reading!
The Medela Pump in style advanced kit Review
Although this pump is the loser, it has seen me through some really tough times. On the nights my day’s old infant wouldn’t latch, this pump helped us both out so I won’t bash it. I even used it with my second daughter. When traveling home to Chicago for work, I used that pump at my mom’s house and carried it to work with me so I could continue to bring milk home to my baby. It has stability and stamina and those are the first two pros on my list. It still works well after all of these years of toting it around
More Pros: Portability: It’s compact design allows for it to be easily thrown into a backpack or tote bag when commuting to work or traveling. Convenience: Medela has bag attachments made specifically for this pump. When you buy the Medela brand milk bags, you get a plastic adaptor so that you can easily pump directly into the bags. I also love that their bags can stand up on their own so you don’t have to worry about spilling a drop while you close the bags. Accessories are easily found in stores: You can purchase replacement flanges, tubes and milk bags at your favorite local retailers like Target and Walmart, in addition to online.
Cons: Now let’s get to the cons. Honestly, I didn’t realize some of these were cons until I used a better breast pump. But the good thing is that there are not many. Very basic model: There are not many bells and whistles here. This pump has 1 button, 1 knob and 2 holes for the air tubes and that’s it. Simple, straight to the point. It’s loud: There won’t be any confusion as to what you are doing in the nursing room with this unit. It’s not pretty: All of the models come in the same color. There aren’t any embellishments on it and it looks a little frumpy in that black velcro bag. Cuteness isn’t a big priority but you will be looking at this thing for several minutes, several times a day throughout the week for months. Keep that in mind
The Spectra S2 Review
I used the Spectra S2 breast pump when nursing my second daughter. At this point, I was very familiar with nursing, pumping, and motherhood so I was more prepared and picky. Because I was a remote employee and new mom of two, I created an infant care cart to help me nurse, diaper, and care for my kid from any room in the house. The entire middle tier was dedicated to pumping. The spectra fit perfectly and made my breastfeeding experience easier in a lot of ways.
Some Pros: The digital display: This helped me keep track of how long I was nursing without having to set a timer on my phone or keep track of the time. This helped me so much because I would always forget how long I was pumping when using the Medela pump. Night light: This was useful even when I wasn’t pumping. It was so convenient to not have to get up and turn on the light or even my lamp during those late night feeds and diaper changes. It is light enough to see what you are doing but not as bright as a normal light. I loved using this to check on my baby when co-sleeping. Variety: This pump comes in either blue or pink. It also has a large surface area to decorate if you like. I recently saw a mom on TikTok using her Cricut to cut and apply black vinyl spots to her so that it looks like a cow. It was super cute!
The Cons: Bulky design: unlike the compact, square design of the Medela, the Spectra S2 is round and sort of big. This might not be fun to carry around. It’s also mostly white so if you are transporting it, it will probably look dirty if you don’t keep it clean. Lack of accessories: As I mentioned with the Medela, all parts and equipment you may need are made by the same company and designed to be as convenient as possible. The Spectra is not like this. I had to hodgepodge different attachments to suit my needs. For example, when pumping directly into the bag I had to order these attachment clamps to hold the bags and use these lansinoh bags. It worked but the process wasn’t as seamless as before. These parts are also from amazon. I’ve seen spectra replacement parts randomly in Target but they are harder to find.
Features to look for
In my book, the features on the Spectra really set it apart and I would choose that one over the Medela any day. If you aren’t blown away by either of these I would suggest a few things. When looking for a breast pump consider 1. Size if you plan to take it to and from work 2. features , get something with a nice digital display 3. accessories , make sure you can find plenty of bottles and replacement parts in nearby stores or easily online for when you need them. 3. Read lots of reviews!
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