This breast pump takes the labour out of pumping

PRODUCT REVIEW

Philips Avent manual breast pump

R919 at takealot.com

4/5

When I returned to work at the beginning of March, following four months of maternity leave, I was dead set on continuing to breastfeed. My son was a little over three months old at the time and I was just getting into my stride after a hard-won victory of finally breastfeeding without the pain, nipple cracks and latching struggles that characterised the first month of my feeding journey with him.

But I quickly found that the manual pump process was quite tedious. Despite its relative efficacy, the manual pump I had at the time took at least an hour of pumping for me to get 150ml of milk. The thing is, tedious pumping can make you consider quitting the breastfeeding journey sooner than intended – especially if you are a working mom – just from the sheer admin of it all. I received the Philips Avent manual breast pump to review and thought it would be much the same as I was experiencing with my own pump.

To my surprise, it was the exact opposite. Firstly, the massage cushion was much thinner than my own pump’s, which made for a more efficient hold of the nipple area. Most importantly, though, it felt gentle and, dare I say, natural – not cold, not sticky and not something I had to forcibly stick my nipple into for the pump to adequately express. The expressing itself was easy; I didn’t have to lean forward to try to ensure there was more milk coming out. All I had to do was squeeze and hold for a few seconds and, voilà, milk was pouring out!

Gentle suction with the Philips Avent breast pump

What ended up happening was that, because I was pumping out more milk, my body started producing more milk, leaving my breasts full enough for a feed when I got home in the early evening – a happy problem. I also got Philips Avent breast pads to try. I’ll be honest, as far as these go, in terms of absorbing leakage, they are pretty much the same quality as the other brand I was already using. But I loved that they were slightly thinner, meaning they were more discreet inside my bra, and that they did not get mushy when they were full.

My son got to be a product reviewer too; he tried the Philips Avent ultra air pacifier. By the look of things, my boy enjoyed – and is still enjoying – his share of the goodies. The dummy has become a bit of a double-edged sword for us. He sleeps soundly when he has one in his mouth between feeds at night, but he keeps my husband and I up when he spits it out in his sleep and we have to put it back in to soothe him, often after great fussing.

I have been able to continue breastfeeding even after going back to work and plan to end it at a time suitable for my son and I, not one dictated by a tedious breast pumping process. I highly recommend the three products that my son and I tried, with five stars for the pump and four stars for the breast pads and dummy.

Vuyo Mkize Health journalist | City Press

+27 11 713 9001 vuyo.mkize@citypress.co.za Media Park, 69 Kingsway Road, Auckland Park

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