Product Review: Nuby Comfort Manual Breast Pump

This was the last post I published on my old blog. At that point I took some time to get used to becoming a mummy and then after that life took a turn for the worse in other ways so I wasn't able to carry on blogging at the time.

I thought I'd bring it forward to my new blog. When I wrote it my baby was only a couple of weeks old...now she has recently turned 3! A lot has happened in that time and as parents know they change SO much in that space of time.

 When I get to the stage where I can afford my own website I'd like to bring all my old pregnancy posts into this new blog into their own relative section but for now I thought I'd bring a few reviews as I will be continuing with them in this blog as I enjoy them and feel they are really useful for others.


So here is the breast pump review I did when I'd just had G in 2011 -  both the Nuby pumps and the Ardo are still available to buy.


 I didn't think to get a breast pump whilst I was pregnant, mainly because as I don't have big breasts I was not confident about my possible breast feeding abilities - I didn't think I'd have enough milk and assumed I'd have to resign to bottle feeding which I was upset about.

Comfortable and Efficient

When G was born she couldn't seem to get any milk/colostrum so I put her straight onto formula. However two days later my milk came in and I was so happy it was such a relief. G however had become accustomed to the bottle teats and got frustrated when breast feeding, but I kept trying during the first two weeks.
The day after my milk came in, my partner at the time (G's father) went out to get me a breast pump. I'd asked him to get the Nuby Comfort Manual Breast pump as I'd seen that one in Boots and knew it wasn't too expensive and we were on a budget.

I didn't think to take a picture of the box, as the last thing on my mind was my blog or reviews as I had my tiny newborn and was in a magical bubble of joy, magic, excitement and fear of the unknown.
I'd stopped expressing at the time of writing the review so my pump and storage bottle had been put away, so I used a stock image from the Boots website.

There was an offer on at Boots to get it for a reduced price of £19.16, 25% off its RRP at the time (July 2011) of £24.99. It is currently on sale for £14.99 at Boots, that's a saving of £5 on it's normal selling price of £19.99 (August 2014). 
It came with two different sized bottles, a storage lid and a cradle to hold the breast pump as well as some breast pads, which were very useful as I hadn't thought to get any in and I really needed them from then on.


Here's what Nuby say about the product:

• Gentle express mimics breastfeeding
• Efficient & comfortable expressing
• Helps combine breast & bottle feeding
• Soft massaging cushion stimulates the breast & encourages your natural milk flow
• Adjustable suction valve ensures ultimate comfort, as it allows you to adjust the suction pressure of the pump
• Set includes:
  • 5 oz/ 150 ml PP Natural Nurser^TM
  • 8 oz/ 240 ml PP Natural Nurser^TM with breast sized slow flow silicone teat, screw ring & hood
  • Breast pump standing cradle
  • Silicone storage lid
  • 6 disposable pads
• BPA FREE

It did take me a couple of tries to get used to it, purely because I had used one before. It was alien to me. Once I'd had a couple of tries it was easy to use and comfortable thanks to the soft massage cushion and the adjustable pressure valve. The latter was particularly useful the first day I used it, as my breasts were quite tender from being so full. It molded around the breast well and I felt it was efficient for a manual breast pump. However I still felt I should have been producing more and have since read other reviews in which some women were not happy with it's efficiency and pumped much more with other models, so perhaps this pump effected the volume I was expressing too.

 The pump was easy to put together and to disassemble and fit in our Nuby microwave steam sterilizer without any problems.*

I found the milk did leak a bit when pumping, however was still very happy with the product in general and I'd recommend it. 

Outstanding features are the comfortable cushion area and the adjustable pressure valve.

Overall a great value manual pump which did the job comfortably.

Nuby also do a portable pump to express on the go and an electric pump, which if lucky enough to have another baby, I would be more than happy to try.

Nuby Rhythm Electric Breast Pump

Due to reviewing some products for the Practical Parenting and Pregnancy Magazine awards 2011, I had another breast pump to compare Nuby's manual pump with. They sent me the 'Babies are us' manual breast pump, which although had an attractive price tag, I didn't find great value at all, as I thought it was awful in comparison!
There was no massage cushion so your breast was just against the hard uncomfortable plastic which I didn't find stimulated the expression of milk very well. It didn't seem as efficient and I struggled with it and I also didn't like the way it was put together. I 100% preferred the Nuby pump. This product does not seem to be on the market anymore which does not surprise me.

Despite the price, not good value

I also got sent an electric breast pump, the Ardo Calypso to review a couple of weeks later but sadly I never got chance to use it. I didn't manage to express for more than a few weeks as I never seemed get time. In retrospect less visitors may have been a good idea .... especially of the unexpected variety! Tiredness was another factor so if having another in the years to come I will definitely be using an electric pump.

Will you be expressing breast milk? What brand of pump are you thinking of investing in?

*We received our microwave sterilizer free from Nuby by submitting my anomoly scan via their facebook page 2011.