What the Fuss? Freestyle

I work. I mostly work from home. This work requires me to schedule client meetings every week. Sometimes work requires travel. Still, I love my job and my situation.

This makes breastfeeding less convenient than it would be if I didn't work and never left the house without Leighton. However, I live in the real world and the truth is that I may have already given up on breastfeeding if not for my pump. I can't live without it.

I have a Medela Freestyle breast pump. It is the first pump I have ever tried and it's fantastic. I have seen other pumps - in action - and I believe that mine is the most effective and efficient pump ever.

It weighs less than a pound and fits in the palm of your hand, your purse, suitcase etc. The two speeds for expression are fantastic. That is a feature I couldn't do without. At the time I bought it, this pump retailed for $379.00. I got mine on eBay, new in the box for $280.00. It's worth it at full price, but I had time to spare and was on the prowl for a deal. Yay for me!

I spent the past two days in Minneapolis at my company headquarters for a team meeting. This was the first time I'd been away from Leighton for more than a handful of hours. I went to the fancy pharmacy up the block and bought the Medela cooler bag that holds six 8oz glass baby bottles and two more ice packs. 

I use the glass because they stay colder longer and heat easily by running under hot water. Plus, I think the plastic bottles smell and taste plastic-ish. We drink Oberweiss milk because it comes in glass bottles, so why shouldn't Lei's milk get the same treatment?

At five months, Leighton is still nursing every three hours with the exception of night time sleep. She'll go for six hours easily. She takes in roughly four ounces per feeding, maybe a bit less. I'm using the amount I get when pumping to surmise how much she may be getting. So I figure she eats 28oz each day, give or take a few. I was confident that my cooler bag will handle twelve feedings and I wasn't scheduled to be gone for the full twelve.

The whole experience was much better than I had envisioned. I pumped at the airport. They don't have privacy rooms for feeding at Midway, so I sat in the ticketing area with my Hooter Hider and got to work. I had to pump before I went through security because I needed to check the bag with breastmilk. I put the beginnings of my stash in the cooler, used the Medela wipees to clean my pump parts and checked my bag.

Within three hours, I had reached my destination and was roaming the halls of our five-building headquarters for a place to set up my milking operation. Every building on our campus had at least one privacy room with a fridge, sink, chair, ethernet connection, magazines etc. It was a little slice of heaven to slip away, every three hours for a legally protected activity, knowing that I was still doing the best thing I could for my baby who was hundreds of miles away.

The Freestyle has a strap situation so that you can pump both sides simultaneously and hands-free. I don't always use it that way. In fact, if I pump at home to increase my stash, it's at night and I just do one side at a time. I can move it around and manipulate it to get more milk out that way. But, when I'm short on time or need to get back to the meeting, I can do both sides in 8-10 minutes. That is truly incredible.

By the end of my trip, I had five, full glass bottles clinking around in my bag. I packed the cooler into my suitcase and informed everyone handling my bag that there was precious cargo on board. The TSA agent assured me that no one intended to rifle through my bag to steal the fruits of my labor.

I hope those of you who are pregnant, working mothers-to-be seriously consider breastfeeding. It's rewarding and great for your baby. Working, even outside the home, doesn't need to be an obstacle to participating in what could be one of your favorite parts of motherhood.

This product review conforms to the Fuss Formula.

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Comments

[Mandy]

awesome to hear your story!! i am going back to work next week with my 4 mo . old headed to day care and i will be sporting my medela pump in style - i nursed my last 2 boys for a year and this lovely invention is worth it's weight in gold ! I get to pump in a shower stall though- that is a whole other story!