Medela Breast Pumps for the Breastfeeding Mother

There are more Medela breast pumps than any other brand of breast pumps. I count twelve of them. Those pumps most suitable for daily use are the Medela Pump in Style Advanced or Original, The Symphony, The Classic, and the Lactina. Those breast pumps most appropriate for occasional use are the Double Select, Single Deluxe, The Swing, The Harmony, and the other manual breast pumps.

1. Medela Pump in Style Advanced (pictured)

2. Medela Pump in Style Original

3. Medela Symphony (may be rented or purchased)

4. Medela Classic (rental)

5. Medela Lactina (rental)

6. Medela Double Select

7. Medela Single Deluxe

8. Medela Swing (new in 2006, single pumping)

9. Medela Harmony (the newest Medela manual breast pump)

10. Medela SpringExpress

11. Medela Little Hearts

12. Medela PedalPump (not strictly a breast pump, but a non-electric source of power for one's personal-use parts kit you must purchase when renting)

I believe there also exists a disposable Medela breast pump that hospitals give away to new mothers.

For more information on features and estimated prices, check out the webpage for Medela breast pumps.

Medela breast pumps are quite often highly recommended, especially the higher priced models. To find out where to read consumer-written reviews, check out the breast pump reviews page.

The outstanding feature of the newest Medela breast pumps is
 "2-Phase Expression." This feature is meant to imitate the sucking patterns of infants when they first begin to breastfeed -- fast and shallow sucking at first, then slow and deep sucking after let-down or milk-ejection has occurred. The switch to the second phase occurs automatically after two minutes or a mother may depress a button to make the switch if her let-down occurs sooner. Two-Phase Expression is available in the Medela Pump in Style ADVANCED, the Symphony, the Swing and the Harmony. In the case of the Harmony, which is a manual breast pump, two phases are achieved by switching from squeezing one part of the handle to another part of the handle.