Breast Pumps Reviews

Consumer Reports magazine is normally an excellent resource for comparison testing of baby gear, but in the case of breast pumps, editors don't test or rate models. While editors include a good article comparing types and styles of pumps, there's only a list of representative brands. Instead, the best comparison review of breast pumps comes from Baby Bargains, an excellent baby gear book by Denise and Alan Fields. The authors review ten breast pumps based on their own observations, parent interviews and the manufacturer reputation. The book also discusses models that have quality issues or don't perform as well.

Next to Baby Bargains, we found the most reliable opinions on breast pumps from Amazon.com, where moms are invited to rate and review products they've used. Some breast pumps here have more than 500 reviews, offering us good insight into ease of use, comfort and efficiency of current models. The popular models get the most coverage, but parents also post reviews of pumps that don't work well for them or have reliability problems. We found user reviews at a large number of other websites, including Target.com, Babies "R" Us and BabyCenter.com, but the reviews at Amazon.com are better organized and easier to find. We found less comprehensive, but still useful, coverage at Cerean.net and Breastfeeding Magazine.

The consensus among lactation experts, Baby Bargains and the majority of parent reviewers is that the best breast pumps are made by two specialist companies: Medela and Ameda. Both companies have good reputations for breast pump technology, customer service and commitment to both breastfeeding and pumping support. Avent, which sells breast pumps along with bottle feeding supplies and a few other baby care items, also does well in ratings. Although pumps from baby product generalists like Evenflo, Gerber and The First Years tend to cost less, reviewers say you're better off spending more for a better-quality brand.

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

The Medela Pump in Style -- the Original and the Advanced -- tops both user and expert ratings. The Advanced receives slightly higher ratings for its updated expression system, but users say the Original also does an excellent job. The Ameda Purely Yours performs almost as well in reviews and versions sold without a carrying case sell for less than half the cost of the Pump in Style Advanced. The Avent Isis Manual Breast Pump is the most popular manual pump, but we find slightly better user reviews for the Medela Harmony, which is a bit less expensive and can be used with most standard baby bottles (the Avent Isis requires Avent bottles or special adapters).