Philips Avent Electric Breast Pump Review

If you are following me on Instagram you will already know that I am an avid breast milk pumper and I wrote a post previously about my breast pumps, well here I am again. With another one…

Let me tell you what happened, I’m not addicted to collecting breast pumps I promise, although I do now have 7 – yep 7!

Firstly, you will recall from my previous post that I loved my manual Lanisoh pump, and I still do! What I don’t love is the repetitive strain injury I got in my left hand from using it so often. Apparently this is quite a common injury for women who use manual pumps and as a breast feeding mama there is almost no medication you can take to help.

The advice of the pharmacist was to buy an electric pump, so that’s what I did. This time I decided to give Philips Avent electrical breast pump a try and it is amazing! I am so glad I made the decision to give another electric pump a chance.

From the very start it was so good, the amount of milk I was able to produce was amazing. In just a couple of days I went from only being able to pump enough for two bottles in the fridge to running out of bottles and having 6 ready and waiting in the fridge. It was a dream, all the anxiety I had felt previously about whether I would have enough milk for the day or for a trip to town was gone, I knew there would be enough because this pump was just so good at expressing. Also without having to pump it myself, the pain in my hand and wrist went away in a couple of days which was an added relief.

Things I like about it:

• As I’ve said already, the amount of milk it was able to express was so much more than my other pumps and it was very fast too. I am able to express around 4-5oz in 15 mins on each side. 30 mins in total and I have a bottle and half for the fridge.
• It’s quiet, it’s not silent but it’s a lot quieter than the other electric pump I have tried. Normally you can forget watching TV whilst you pump, you wouldn’t be able to hear it over the buzz buzz buzz but this one isn’t like that. It does have a sound but it’s one you sort of get used to and don’t hear after a while.
• It has a let down setting and 3 pump speeds, the let down is very gentle but effective and although you are recommended to work your way up through the speeds I tend to jump straight to the highest to get things moving. Don’t do this if your nipples are sore, work your way up otherwise it’ll be a bit ouchy.
• The flange (cone that attaches to your boob) is soft, some of the other pumps I have tried the flange is plastic and it can be quite uncomfortable. This one has a silicone inlay that is very comfortable and doesn’t pull on the nipple. Don’t get me wrong, no pump is completely pain free, if you already have sore or cracked nipples then any pump you try is going to hurt but once they heal you shouldn’t have any discomfort.
• The Philips Avent range is interchangeable, the connector at the top of the pump where the tube attaches is the same set up as the manual pump (where the handle attaches). If you had both the manual and the electric you can attach either pump to the electrical hub just by swapping the connector at the top.
• It’s super easy to clean with no fiddly bit to take apart, the rubber plug that goes inside the bottle is a lot thicker and stronger than others I’ve used so it’s not at such a risk of splitting when you clean it.

Things I don’t like about it:

• The bottle that comes with it is quite small, it only hold around 4oz and if I’ve been out or slept through the night without pumping I will need to empty the bottle before one boob is finished. This is something I could change by buying a larger bottle but as we don’t use the Philips Avent bottles for feeding Amelia this seemed a bit of a waste. I also think that if the bottle was any longer it wouldn’t sit very comfortably and you would end up squishing your boobs which would affect the flow.

So there you have it, if you’re in the market for a good and reasonably priced electric breast pump the Philips Avent would be my recommendation. It’s currently on sale at Amazon which makes it all the more appealing.

Rachel xx