If you’re a new parent, you’ll quickly discover newborns require round the clock feeding every 2-3 hours. That’s a lot of milk! However, as every baby is different every feeding experience will be different. Some parents will breast feed, some will exclusively express milk, some will bottle feed with formula.
If you’ve landed on this page because you’re looking for a breast pump, there’s a few things you should know. Breast pumps predominantly come in two models: electronic or manual. In my experience and after discussing the topics with lots of mothers, it’s really hard to know if you will or won’t need a breast pump until after your bub has arrived. Yes, even if you’re super organised and like to have all your baby product gear ready to go before bub arrives, I’d recommend holding off buying a breast pump until your baby is here.
Generally I’d recommend an electric breast pump for mothers who plan to express milk daily/frequently, as the pump will do a lot of the hard work for you and is more efficient. However, if you plan to express milk every few days, then a manual pump might work for you.
A few (of many) reasons you may express milk is if you’re bub is having trouble latching, to help with milk supply, if you’re going to be away from your bub for a few hours or if you want to share the feeding load with another parent or carer and bottle feed.
To help make shopping for breast pumps a breeze, read our TBE 2022 Best Breast Pumps in Australia list here. We interviewed thousands of mothers about the best breast pumps they used, loved and would recommend, one of which is Philips Avent Electric Breast Pump that I tested and reviewed below.
Key takeaways after testing this product
I tested quite a few electric and manual breast pumps for The Baby Edit. If you’re interested in a manual breast pump, read my review of the Haakaa Silicone Breast Pump here.
Overall, I found the Philips Avent Electric Breast Pump really straightforward to use. I liked that the base unit is really small and compact, which is good if you plan to express milk remotely. There were definitely a few occasions where I would pack this product with me if we went away for the weekend or if I was staying at my mum’s place as it wasn’t too bulky to carry around.
The base unit is really easy to use, there’s the on/off button, a button for let down or pumping mode, and a third button where you can increase or decrease the pumping speed. I found the let down mode, really gentle with good fast suction to bring in my milk. The pumping mode is a slower speed but stronger suction. I found I was able to manage the controls to a comfort level I was happy with depending on what was happening with my body on the day. Sometimes I’d have it super slow if I had sore breasts, while other days I could speed up the base unit and express milk more quickly. This product comes with 8 stimulation and 16 expression levels.
Another thing to consider is this breast pump unit is for single breast pumping only. This didn’t bother me too much as I was breastfeeding in combination with expressing but if I was exclusively expressing perhaps I’d prefer a double pump to save time. I found the Spectra S2+ Hospital Grade Double Electric Breast Pump was a pretty speedy alternative.
Sometimes breast pumps and comfort don’t always go hand in hand but I felt this product did a good job. The nipple flange comes with a silicone cover, not all products come with this, and I found it super comfortable. The product is advertised to accommodate a nipple size up to 300mm.
The bottle size is relatively small, depending the time of day sometimes I’d fill an entire bottle per breast but other times much less. The motor wasn’t too noisy compared to other electric breast pumps I tested.
Overall, I would recommend the Philips Avent Electric Breast Pump to someone who plans to express frequently and is looking for a single, compact base unit and gentle pump. However, if you plan to exclusively express milk then a double pump might be more time efficient.
The Philips Avent Electric Breast Pump was tested by Emily. Photography by Bri Hammond, produced by The Baby Edit. To find out which breast pumps ranked highest according to the thousands of Australian families we surveyed click here.
This is general information only. If you need personal, health, medical or technical advice when it comes to your growing family, please seek out a professional.