Quickie review: The “miPump” by The First Years reminds me a bit of a “Freestyle lite” that comes at an almost absurdly affordable price for its feature set and accessory package. The miPump is battery operated, fits easily into a small fannypack, and comes with lightweight flexible shields.
What I like about it:
- The bottles that come with it are “Breastflow” bottles that require suction AND compression, more like the breast.
- The low price point is appealing to anyone who might be a stay-at-home mom doing one or two pumping sessions a day to build up an emergency supply, or a mom looking for an ” untethered” pump so that she can pump while doing things around the house.
- Smaller in size than the Freestyle.
What I don’t like about it:
- I wish it came with a belt clip or a “holster”
- I wish it came with a “hands free” kit the way the Freestyle does. The “T-bar” that it comes with is interesting, but still doesn’t allow full hands-free use, and doesn’t make it practical to pump while doing things such as washing the dishes. This is easily resolved with the purchase of a pumping bra, though.
- It has more of a “pump” sound to it, it’s a bit on the noisy side. Although that’s only compared to the Freestyle, it’s about on par with the noise level of most other pumps, and is actually rather quiet compared to most pumps in its price point.
Limitations
- No “letdown” mode. I never found that letdown mode did much for me anyway, and I had to pop the pump off and manually stimulate letdown.
- Weaker suction than higher end pumps. It has 8 levels of suction, and quite honestly the top level is too strong for me, I go to about a 5. On my stronger pumps I’ve gone to about a 4. If a mom requires a higher level of suction, this pump might not be strong enough for her.
- Construction is not as high quality as competitor the Freestyle. Of course, it’s also about 1/4th the price, so this is to be expected. I would not expect this pump to have a life expectancy of the Freestyle or another higher-cost pump. It is very well made, though, and seems like a solid piece of equipment with no notable physical weaknesses or limitations.
- Accessory quality in the “Deluxe” version is.. different. The Freestyle comes with an awesome insulated bag and one of the best icepacks that I’ve seen. The miPump comes with standard soft-pack icepacks and a lesser quality insulated bag. Again, it’s about 1/4th of the price and the accessories are perfectly acceptable. You also get the excellent “Breastflow” bottles.
BOTTOM LINE
This pump isn’t quite up to par with the Freestyle, but the fact that I feel compelled to compare the two is a compliment. Medela is the premiere breastpump company, and historically very few products by competitors come close enough for comparison.
I would not recommend this pump as the “only pump” for a mom that is exclusively pumping, or that has supply issues or that is battling other concerns. However, it’s a good solid pump for moms with more average pumping needs and it goes a long way to make pumping a lot easier for mom. The affordable price point is excellent.
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(Just to be clear about what pumps I have experience with- I have used these pumps in the past: Medela Pump in Style Original, Medela Freestyle, Avent ISIS iQ Duo, Avent ISIS manual pump, and the Evenflo Comfort Deluxe battery operated breast pump. )
A more detailed review is in the works. I’d give this pump about 5 stars (of 5 stars) compared to other pumps in its price range, and about 3.5 stars compared to the Medela Freestyle with a strong word of caution to moms that if they are going to be exclusively pumping or working long hours that this should not be their primary pump.
Would you please do a review of the Avent double electric? I am hearing more and more good things about it from LCs. I never was that impressed by my Medela hospital-grade pump and am wondering if I just don’t pump well or if the Avent Isis might be a better option for next time. Just curious how you would compare the two. I have heard some LCs are now saying the Avent pump is better than Medela!
The Avent Isis iQ DUO? It IS rather awesome. What I like about it is that it combines some of the benefits of manual pumping with the benefits of an electric pump.
I had a little bit of an issue with the “length of suction” thing, and would have loved it if the Isis Duo allowed you to set the length of suction as well as force, frequency, etc. since that’s the one thing that I really like about manual pumps… But it’s rather interesting.
I’ll have to do a full review of it.