My Breastfeeding Journey with Baby Orange - Breastpumps

Just sharing my personal experience using breastpumps in this post. Other moms might have better experience as the fitting could be different and the volume of milk different :)

The two older children were each breastfed for about 1 year.  At that time, I was working full-time so it's a different experience compared to Baby Orange. For 姐姐's time (2004/2005), I use a manual Medela Harmony pump. It did its job pretty well. I pumped at the "mother's room" provided by the ex-employer. There were cubicles with curtains, fridge and sink for mothers to use. I would pump 2 times, chill the milk in fridge provided and would bring back the milk in a bottle carrier as it is already chilled :P

Experience with Medela Mini-Electric breastpump

Previously, I was envious of moms who seemed to breeze through pumping sessions with their Medela Mini-Electric (or Mini-E). So when 哥哥 was born (2007), I bought a Medela Mini-E (without even trying haha). Heck, I couldn't get anything out with the Mini-E. The breastshield felt funny and not of the correct size for me. The noise is deafening, and I felt like a cow :{ There's wires everywhere (ok I exaggerate) so it's not mobile like a manual pump that I'm used to. I couldn't control it well so I ended up using back the Medela Harmony. That's why I would not go for electric pump anymore. I think I bought a new diaphragm and continue using the Medela Harmony for another year.

Packaging of the Medela Mini Electric breastpump that I own.
Costed me RM368 at that time, what was I thinking?

The parts inside for Medela Mini Electric breastpump.

Comparison between Medela's Harmony vs Philips Avent Natural (SCF330/20) manual breast pump

My Medela Harmony pump is old version. I think at that time it was relatively new product, as there is another Medela manual pump which is using pulling action. The Medela Harmony then comes with a Soft-Fit Breastshield (I don't know if they are still selling this now). Nowadays I saw it being sold with the Personal-Fit Breastshield. That's why I changed to Philips Avent as I didn't like the Personal-Fit.

Medela Harmony manual breastpump, costed RM223 when I purchased.

I'm not sure what they call the Avent pump now, Comfort or Natural? Well, mine goes with the Avent Natural bottles. One big disadvantage of using Avent is that they are not compatible with any other bottles (unless you get the converter). So it's kind of a drag having to pour out expressed breast milk from the Avent bottle to the storage bottles. After a while, I got used to it, as I am no longer using storage bottles :P

Philips Avent Manual Natural breastpump, costed RM299 when I purchased. I use only 5 parts!

One of the best advantage of the manual breastpump is its quietness. I hardly remember the Medela Harmony for squeaking or making freaky noises. Sometimes the Avent pump does squeak though. Later I found out that it would squeak when I used hot water to soak the diaphragm or put the diaphragm inside the fridge. During those times, I would wet the diaphragm with clean drinking water and assemble the pump with the wet diaphragm. After a while, it is fine and I don't need to use this method anymore. Just have to be gentle with the diaphragm and just keep it at room temperature all the time.

At night I would pump after Baby Orange's last midnight feed, so it is definitely advantageous not to have a loud pump. Anyway, some babies would be used to their mommies pumps since they listen to it from birth hehe.

Even though both Medela Harmony and Philips Avent say theirs are with the least parts, I find Avent to have improved on their parts. It looks like the parts are sturdier (touch wood). When I was using it more frequently at the confinement home, I was very scared of breaking it. But it survived (again, touch wood).

Parts and Assembly - Medela Harmony and Philips Avent

Both Medela Harmony and Avent Natural claims they use less parts so it is easy to assemble and clean. It's true.

At first I really disliked the Avent Natural bottle that came with it. It's only a small 4oz bottle, it's wide neck which means you cannot fit another brand's bottle to the Avent Natural manual pump. Later I discovered having the small Natural bottle is ok, as I don't pump a lot especially after I latch on Baby Orange. Have to be careful using the small bottle. If I pump more than 4 oz, and accidentally tilt the pump more, there would always be spillage even when the bottle is locked tight. Those mommies who pump more than 4oz would get the big 9 oz bottle. But it's quite nice to have a small bottle especially when milk is still not that much at the beginning stage. It doesn't give you pressure with the small bottle :)

Another advantage of the wide neck bottle is ease of cleaning. With the standard bottle we have to use a brush, but now I could just stick a sponge into the Natural bottle and give it a good swipe :)

There's another part that comes with Avent Manual Natural called a "soft massage cushion"? It's annoying for me, as milk keep seeping in and makes a squishy sound. So I use the pump without the cushion with no problem.

Spare parts availability

However, it seems like Philips Avent doesn't really have a service center/rep here in Penang anymore, so it's not easy to find spare parts. When I wrote an email to them, they ask me to go to some shop (from the name sounds like electrical shop, I didn't visit though). When I called, they say have to see which part I wanted and if not in stock they would have to order. From their tone, it seems like have to wait ages for the parts. But I didn't get anything from them as discouraged by the need to wait.

But I saw lots of Medela accessories and spare parts being sold at Parkson Gurney Plaza and baby shops. So it's easier to get Medela spares nowadays.

Durability

Manual pumps are meant for light usage :)

Using the 2-phase system for Medela Harmony wears out the diaphragm quickly. I reduced my usage of the "let-down" function after a while as it makes my hand lenguh from the 2 ways. The white membrane tears easily, and the yellow valve might crack if you use too much force. If either the white membrane or yellow valve is damaged, pump suction is affected and it doesn't function well. So that's why spare parts are available widely as these 2 parts are easily damaged. The yellow valve will get stuck on the connector if you pump too hard, or if you didn't assemble it well too. If it is stuck, some force has to be used to ease the yellow valve out. That's when it is easily cracked :P

With the Avent pump, I just control manually the speed for let-down. There are few parts and everything is big and sturdy. Cross my fingers, I hope I can use the Avent pump until Baby Orange stops breastfeeding in the future, hopefully a long way from now :)