Product: Medela Swing Breast Pump Review
Price: $152.97 (Medela Swing Breast Pump
Cheapest Place to Buy: Amazon.com
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Recommended for: Occasional Use
Medela Swing Breast Pump, Product Overview
The Medela Swing Breast Pump
It is easy to assemble and carry around if you want to express milk on the go. It comes with a drawstring bag, and you can use 4 “AA” batteries or plug it in.
It features Medela’s 2-Phase Expression technology which mimics a baby’s natural nursing patterns. A light and fast stimulation phase starts the milk flowing (120 cycles per minute). Once the breast has been sufficiently stimulated, it switches to a slower and deeper expression phase to get as much milk as quickly as possible (60 cycles per minute).
This is a great option if you intend to pump occasionally and don’t want to spend so much on a breast pump.
It’s a Simple, No Fuss Pump
Our reasons for expressing milk will clearly be different such as breastfeeding difficulties (i,e. nipple soreness, nipple refusal, engorgement, or poor attachment), premature birth, illness, or even returning to work. And then there are some who want to pump to be able to build a stash of breast milk in the freezer.
Whatever your reason is, you have to figure out how often you will be using the pump to find out which breast pump is best for you.
To help you out, here’s an easy guide:
- For occasional use (whether short-term or long-term), you can choose between a manual pump or single electric pump.
- For frequent use, you should consider a double electric pump or even a hospital grade pump, especially if you will be exclusively pumping.
Since I just pump once a day, this is perfect for me. I know I should do it more often if I want to build a bigger milk supply in the freezer, but my routine works for now. By the way, you can actually use the Medela Swing breast pump up to 8 times a day.
It only has 4 buttons, so you can’t go wrong with it. You can adjust the vacuum level to what’s comfortable for you. I personally like using the maximum level, although I kept adjusting it when I just started learning how to use an electric breast pump.
It is recommended that you set the vacuum level where it is slightly uncomfortable but not hurting you, and then turn it back one notch.
Since our let-down reflex may vary, the Medela Swing
Extracts a Good Volume of Breast Milk and Relieves Engorgement
At the start, I kind of preferred my Lansinoh manual pump
But when my milk supply was established, I used the Medela Swing breast pump
The Medela Swing feels very comfortable to use. Its faster let-down and maximum milk flow significantly reduces pumping time, so you can express more milk in less time. In terms of how long we have to pump each breast, it will differ for each person. For me, I spend around 10 minutes per breast.
When my baby turned 6 months, I wanted to compare my manual pump and the Medela Swing to see how much milk I can get from each. Since I was not pumping as often as I should, I knew I wouldn’t get as much. I admit that I was very lazy in pumping then and I didn’t even pump everyday. Here are the results:
- Using a Lansinoh manual breast pump – I found it so difficult to get a lot of breast milk from my manual pump! I had to do both breasts twice and even tried power pumping, but would you believe, I just got 30ml!
- Using a Medela Swing breast pump – I got twice as much – 60ml (remember, this was when I wasn’t pumping everyday…)
Given that, I even took moringa as a supplement since I wanted to produce more milk. After taking1 capsule of moringa the day before, I managed to squeeze out 120ml of breast milk in one session! Woohoo!
Using a breast pump also helped me stop using nipple shields at the start of my breastfeeding journey. I didn’t realise that it can help my baby learn the correct latch.
My concern with the Medela Swing is that it tends to be noisy. I was so afraid of waking up my baby in the wee hours of the morning when I first used it. Well okay, it won’t wake everyone up, but the noise can be distracting.
Replacement Parts are Readily Available
When I was still pregnant, I got a lot of positive feedback about this breast pump so I didn’t even bother looking for other breast pumps. I was also told by my friends to have replacement parts handy in case the need comes for it.
When I looked at Amazon, they had the Medela Swing Breast Pump Replacement Kit
An important thing you have to note is that the Medela Swing is an open system pump. This means that there is no barrier between the milk collection kit and the pump mechanism. As such, it is not designed to be used by more than one person. The Medela Swing is intended to be a single user pump.
Cleaning is a Breeze
After using it, you just need to clean the Medela Swing
You don’t even need to sterilize it after each use. All you have to do is clean it after each use and sterilise once a day.
Here’s a quick video on how to clean your Medela Swing breast pump
In Conclusion, Medela Swing Breast Pumps Provide Great Value for Money
The Medela Swing is an amazing product and I am very happy with this breast pump. It is very convenient and compact. More than that , it helped me wean off nipple shields, relieve engorgement, and build my back up milk stash.
I highly recommend that you get your own Medela Swing Breast Pump. Remember, this is best for a single user only, so I won’t recommend buying or borrowing a used one.
I hope you enjoyed this review and if you have any questions about the Medela Swing Breast Pump or want to leave your own personal review, leave a comment below.
If I was breastfeeding, Medela Swing would be the breast pump I’d use! Why? Because you have done such a great job explaining the benefits of the Medela Swing breast pump. It looks easy to carry and easy to assemble. And you can even use it up to 8 times per day!
Edward
Fantastic, Edward! Medela Swing is really portable and lightweight, and you get more milk out of it. Its truly a good choice for a pump.
Does this pump connect to an outlet or is it battery operated? I have had the Lansinoh double electric and Medela pump in style breast pumps in the past. I agree that Medela does a better job getting the maximum amount of milk in a minimum amount of time. I bought the Lansinoh with my first child, not realizing the difference in milk I would be able to pump. I always recommend the Medela to my friends.
Hi Shannon. The Medela Swing is a single electric breast pump and it can work either way – battery operated or connected to an outlet. Thanks for sharing your experience with double electric pumps! It’s wonderful to know that you also got more milk out of your Medela (Pump in Style Breast Pump). Medela is a popular choice and they do have awesome breast pumps.
I love how honest you are in your review. I like how you mentioned you liked the manual pump better but you found this one gave you twice as much milk! I had the same experience with my first son. I actually bought three pumps with him.
Initially I bought the cheaper ones that were about $50 thinking they weren’t the cheapest of the cheap but weren’t too expensive either. I was never able to get more than an ounce per side. I got another slightly more expensive one with the same results but it was a manual one and I have to say I hated it. It was so painful!
My body actually stopped producing milk before my baby was a month old. (probably because it thought my baby wasn’t using it since I got nothing with the pump and he didn’t nurse good)
With my 2nd and third I used a Medela pump and the difference was incredible! I had more than enough for my baby in less than a third of the time and it was just so much easier! I have to say I love Medela! They’re worth everything you pay for them!
Thanks for sharing this, Jessica! It’s a good thing you found a breast pump that you were happy with! Glad you also got so much more from your Medela pump. You do get value for your money and it’s really better to get a good quality pump from the start.