Another Ordinary Life: September 2013

I have spent the past few weeks agonizing over whether or not I should invest in a breast pump and if so which one. I decided that I do want to try to continue to give Keira breast milk after I go back to work which means pumping at work (I am honestly not all that excited about the idea of that). So to make the experience as painless as possible I decided it was worth investing in a good double electric pump. Sadly my insurance won't pay for one - huge bummer.

After reading just about every review online I narrowed down my search to three different pumps. The Medela Pump in Style (which appears to be the most popular pump), the Medela Freestyle (a small pump meant for working moms), and the Hygeia Enjoye (a "green" pump made by a smaller company).

Someone lent me a Pump in Style Advanced (even though you aren't suppose to share them) and I just didn't feel like I was getting as much milk as I would have liked out of it. I don't know if it was a suction strength issue or what but it just wasn't working for me.

I was afraid to get the Medela Freestyle because although the tiny size and portability seemed ideal a lot of online reviews said that the suction wasn't as good as the Pump in Style (people said they produced less milk with this pump - which is a deal breaker) and that it was a loud pump.

I finally settled on the Hygeia Enjoye.

Here are the reasons I like the Enjoye better then the Pump in Style Advanced so far:
- I got the Enjoye LBI with an internal battery which was worth the money alone. I have been pumping in bed / on the couch / etc and it is SOOOO nice not to have to crawl all around to find an outlet and be limited to the length of the plug cord. This will be really nice when I go back to work because I may not always have access to an outlet or may need to occasionally pump in the car.
- The Enjoye is NOT built into the bag so you just grab the pump unit and sit on the couch and pump away vs. having a huge bag tied to an outlet.
- I think the suction on the two pumps is about the same but I feel like I am more successful with the Enjoye because of the ability to control the speed and strength separately (the PISA only had one dial vs. two - I think older versions of the PISA had two dials but the new ones just have one). I would turn the PISA up to max and had limited success but with the Enjoye at only half strength I am getting better results.
- I hated the automatic let down feature / button on the PISA - it just didn't work for me.
- I like the tubing on the Enjoye - it is flexible unlike the stiff PISA tubes.
- I like that the Hygeia accessories are single pieces - the Medela accessories had way more bits and pieces which I thought made cleaning harder.
- I like how "green" the Enjoye is (Hygeia will recycle it when you are done with it or you can give it away because it is a closed system and can be used by multiple people if everyone buys their own accessories unlike the Medela pumps that are not suppose to be shared).
- This is silly but I really like the built in bottle holder on the side of the Enjoye pump because I have had to set down the bottle or stop pumping to get Keira a few times and it ensures I won't knock over and spill the bottle I am working on at the moment which I did when using the PISA.

- I read that Hygeia will take returns minus a restocking fee if the pump really isn't working for you which is cool.

Other random notes:
- I personally think the pumps make about the same amount of noise.
- Both had bags / milk storage coolers.
- I know you can get different flange sizes for both pumps but the ones the kits came with seemed to work alright for me? Although I didn't have a lactation consultant check or anything to make sure they were the right size.
- The Medela accessory kit came with two sets of bottles to pump into where the Hygeia pump only came with one set which sucks (but you can buy extra bottles).
- I made myself a little velcro strap to coil the tubing up in when I am not using the pump so it isn't flopping all around - a twist tie would work too.
- I haven't tried the CARE button on the Enjoye and I know people find it quite annoying but at this point I have no opinion about it.
- I haven't tried dual pumping yet (I noticed the PISA lost a lot of power when doing that so I will be curious to see how the Enjoye does).

If you want a Hygeia Enjoye pump the cheapest ones I found were $250 - $270 for the deluxe Enjoye LBI kit with the tote and everything (mommygear.com and storklanding.com and worldwidesurgical.com had the best prices).