Sara Kehaulani Goo: A Hassle to Set Up, But...

Medela, maker of breast pumps and other mothers' supplies, gives a fair warning with its newest product, the "Freestyle" hands-free pump. Its brochure warns: "First-time setup will take a few minutes as you assemble the pieces and make adjustments for a perfect fit."

I was really excited to try out this new pump. While I am a fan of breast-feeding and want my son to have all the benefits of breast milk, the task of pumping twice a day while at work has quickly become a chore. As a multitasker, I can attest that it is difficult to text message on your BlackBerry and hold the pump correctly on your breasts at the same time. So, the idea of a hands-free pump was really appealing: I could take back those 25 minutes a day that I felt so squeezed to give up at work by multitasking as I pump!

But as soon as I opened the box, I could see why Medela provided its warning. There are no fewer than 10 separate pieces to assemble this contraption and it took me a half-hour to read through the manual and figure out how to put it together. The most disappointing discovery came when I realized that this "hands-free" attachment only works with nursing bras. Picture a three-point harness around each breast. With the suction cup on the nipple, one strap connects on to the top bra snap normally used to hold up nursing bra's flap. The other two points hook onto the bottom part of your bra on either side of the breast. As you can imagine, setting this up the first time had so many steps and so many pieces that I felt like I was suiting up to go to the moon (only my breasts were hanging out!) I wondered why Medela would assume that women like me, who are presumably back at work, only wear nursing bras? I don't mind nursing bras, but I certainly don't wear them every day. In fact, one of the times I use my pump at home is in the early morning, when I'm not wearing a bra at all.

Despite the hassle, the pump itself is an improved design over Medela's most popular model, the Pump in Style, which I also own. Unlike the Pump in Style, the Freestyle pump is lightweight and small enough to discreetly hide in my purse. It displays a timer to tell you how long you've been pumping, which turns out to be handy. I also liked that it comes with smaller, rounder bottles and the attachments that connect the horns to the bottle are easier to use, clean and assemble. The unit has an overall cleaner, simpler design that moms in a hurry will appreciate. There are three plastic pieces that snap together easily on the Freestyle whereas the Pump in Style design suffers from its reliance on this dime-sized white plastic flap that always seems to go missing after I clean it.

The Freestyle pump operates on a battery, a fact that immediately had me worried. Skeptical of the battery, I used it for the first time with the electrical cord that was also provided. I nearly gave up on this pump after the first try: The suction was weak and I pumped less than half my normal amount. To be fair, the directions suggest that it's best to charge the battery for 24 hours before the first use, which I ignored. After the first disappointing session with the electrical cord, I felt obliged to try it with the battery. Bingo! After the battery was charged, the pump worked just as well as my other Medela model.

In all, I gave up on the "hands-free" attachments, which were more hassle than they were worth. But I still used the pump because of its convenient size. Even though it wasn't attached to my bra, I found the pump to be so lightweight that I could move around the house with it in one hand, just as I've learned to do while carrying a baby. And then a girlfriend shared with me an easier "hands-free" solution: tucking the suction cups beneath my regular bra holds them in place without all the hassle of Medela's provided attachments. Voila! The lofty promise of a hands-free pump was ultimately delivered with a low-tech solution. It works...just see my text messages!

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By Stacey Garfinkle |  May 13, 2008; 12:01 AM ET
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