Pregnant and Breastfeeding Mothers Beware: This Breastpump Guarantees Sore Boobs
Written: Aug 08 '02 (Updated Aug 08 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Affordable, fairly quiet, better than previous Gerber pumps
Cons: Ineffective, requires manual work, only one side at a time, latching problems
The Bottom Line: Extremely ineffective, this pump is amongst the worst sold. Invest in a automated two-sided pump instead and you'll thank yourself later.
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| WorkingMomof2's Full Review: Gerber Breast Pump |
Are you pregnant or lactating? Looking for a good breast pump to help feed your baby? As an experienced mother of two, I can tell you that the Gerber Battery/Electric Breast Pump is a complete and total waste of your money.
About the Pump
You're still here? You must really want to be sure about this. Okay, let's talk about the pump itself, then we'll talk about my experience and why I strongly recommend against spending a penny for this pump.
The pump itself is relatively small, only about 7" high. It has a white body that is somewhat ergonomically shaped, fitting well to the mother's hand as she holds it to her breast. I'm having difficulty describing the shape, so check out the image of the pump above. The top section is the pump itself, with the controls on the top, and a silicon funnel that goes over the breast. Below the pump is an opening where you insert a small bottle to catch the milk, and on the back is the handle area.
This pump works off batteries, or you can use an included a/c adaptor. The pump action is fairly energy draining and batteries wear out quickly, so the adaptor comes in handy even though it restricts motion.
The controls are as follows: There is a sliding on/off button on the top. On the front there is the suction control button, which determines how hard the suction is. I will address suction relative to other pumps in the part on my experience below. Next (and this is a major issue for me) there is a "pulse" button. This is consistent with the earlier models of Gerber pumps, and is what makes the pump cycle on and off. A baby does not suck constantly, like a Hoover vacuum, but rather suckles, swallows, and suckles again. Unfortunately this pump does not provide an automated cycle, but rather just constant flow suction like a vacuum. To create the suckling on/off cycle, you must manually stop the vacuum by repeatedly pressing the pulse button. To be fair, this is a vast improvement over the earlier Gerber pumps where you just had to put your finger over the hole, but it serves the same purpose and does require constant manual participation by the nursing mother.
As you have probably realized by looking at the pump, this is designed to pump one side (one breast) at a time. With the pump, you also receive a small 4 oz. bottle for catching milk, two small storage bottles and a set of four breast pads.
My Experience (aka Man, Are My Boobs Sore...)
This was the first breast pump I bought. My sister had given me her old Gerber breast pump (which is why I am able to compare versions) but it was virtually inoperable. Being the cheapskate that I am, and since this was pre-Epinions, I opted to buy an inexpensive breast pump. Gerber has a fine reputation in baby products and I thought that the issues with the old pumps would clearly be resolved in the new fancy model. I thought wrong.
To start with, and this is just a personal bias, pumping with a breastpump that only covers one side at a time is a mistake. The lactation cycle does not release milk only on one side at a time. Instead, the milk lets down all at once, and if the pump is not covering both nipples, the milk on the non-breast-pump side has nowhere to go. This is, evidently, where the breast pads that Gerber supplied come in. By the second baby, I had wised up and invested in some Advent Breast shells -- but that's another story. In any case, I didn't know better than to buy a single-sided breast pump, and this was a lesson learned the hard way.
Next, I must say that I was impressed with the volume. This pump is pretty quiet, especially relative to the obnoxious noisy Gerber pump I had previously tried. Unfortunately, it is my opinion that the pump is quiet because it simply is not strong enough to perform. You can control the vacuum (how hard it pulls on the breast) by increasing the suction; however, it took maximum suction setting for me to generate any milk flow at all, even after letdown, and after each pumping session the funnel would leave a large red mark on my breast, and my nipple looking like it had been pulled about two feet out from my body through a tiny ice-cream cone. Ouch.
The suction issue was not the only problem I had with the pump's performance, though. The battery consumption on this thing was horrific, so I primarily stuck to ac, tying me to within 2 feet or so of a wall outlet. The cord is actually about 6 feet long but once you stand up, you've used most of that up.
In addition, I began to have problems with the silicone funnel adhering, which meant that I had to slightly wet the breast area with water before attaching the pump (to create a tighter suction) and to try to turn the suction level up even further. Since I was on max, or near it, this did little good other than to make my breasts very sore when I was finished. By the way, you should always insert your finger under the edge of the funnel of a breast pump, just like breaking the lock on a baby's mouth before pulling it off the breast. The resulting pain if you fail to do this and simply force the release of a tightly suctioned funnel (or mouth) is incredible, and should be avoided at all costs!
Finally, it annoyed me to no end to have to depress this little button to simulate suckling. It forced me to continually cycle this pump manually, which I had thought would happen automatically. I'm not sure if my timing is bad, or if I just get distracted or bored, but I found that I was not good at maintaining a constant rhythm (which no doubt contributed to the failure of the pump to work for me). Since I had not had a baby before, nor used an effective breast pump, I'm not even sure I knew what timing or rhythm I should have used at that point. The end result was that I rarely got more than 2 ounces of milk (total) per session, even after pumping for several weeks. Most milk was gathered on the first side, having lost much of the milk from the second side down my front. You can't even hold a towel against your alternate side if you need one hand to hold the pump tightly and another to run the suction when your finger gets sore on the first side...
A Breast Pump Comparison
Before I had my second baby, I purchased a Medela Pump in Style breast pump. This is the larger pump that has a storage area for keeping milk chilled, which I used when I traveled. Having had such a lousy pumping experience the first time, I was fully prepared to take Medela up on their guarantee should I have similar problems. I needn't have worried.
Where the Gerber pump covered only one breast, and thus took about 20 minutes to pump both sides, the Medela pump had two cones and I was able to pump both breasts at the same time. This meant I lost no milk and also was finished in about 5-8 minutes, usually.
The Medela pump also overcame the suction issues of the Gerber pump. Not only was the cycling rhythm automated, but the controls were so sensitive that I could adjust them easily. I typically used a mid-range setting on the Medela and pumped about 6-10 ounces without pain and without totally wiping out my bra and shirt with spilled milk.
The only area where the Gerber exceeded the Medela was in price (about $200 cheaper) and in noise. The Medela was slightly louder, although not as loud as some pumps my friends owned. I still felt that for the money, the Gerber pump (which was sold at a garage sale for $5, after only being used for a couple weeks) was not worth the money I paid for it, whereas the Medela (which was sold for $200 online after being used consistently for several months) was worth every penny.
I place the relative values based upon both resale value and on functionality -- a product that is super cheap but does not work is still not a good deal.
Overall Recommendations
I quite possibly could have breastfed for several more months had I used a more effective breastpump the first time around. I was discouraged, it was virtually impossible to use while traveling due to cord length and suction/attachment issues, and I got soaked each time I tried to use it.
I can quite honestly say that the Gerber Breast pump was one of the worst buying decisions I made for my pregnancy and newborn baby period. Not only did I waste my money, but I became discouraged (after hearing friends talking about how they got 4-12 ounces per pumping session!) and its ineffectiveness was a direct contributor to my decision to stop breastfeeding after returning to work (after a few disastrous attempts to pump at work).
I would strongly recommend that anyone serious about breastfeeding who wants to invest in a pump spend the money to buy a good one. You can rent a Medela for the same price as a Gerber pump, for a month, and if you find it's useful for you then buy it if you're concerned about spending the money.
Don't make the same mistake I made -- even the lactation specialist at the hospital snickered when I told her which brand I had used the last time (after detailing how I felt I had trouble pumping). Gerber has a great deal of nice quality baby products, but their breast pumps just do not perform. Look elsewhere -- your breasts and your baby will thank you.
If you're interested, you may want to check out these other breastfeeding reviews:
On the Medela Pump in Style:
http://www.epinions.com/kifm-review-468D-4031185-388F9374-prod1
On the Advent Breast Shells:
http://www.epinions.com/kifm-review-4AA5-150C238-389085E8-bd3
Tips for Successful Breastfeeding
http://www.epinions.com/kifm-review-76AB-E5D1897-3900CE48-prod6
The Many Advantages of Breastfeeding (And a Few Reasons Not To)
http://www.epinions.com/kifm-review-21D5-2D817F0-38CFE36F-prod1
Recommended:
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Epinions.com ID:
WorkingMomof2
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Member: Amy
Location: Southern California
Reviews written: 313
Trusted by: 539 members
About Me:
Every time I close the door on reality it comes in through the windows.
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