ROADTEST: 'I tried the new wearable breast pump everyone's talking about online. Here's my honest verdict.'

My word for 2023 is freedom. 

So far it’s been an absolute fail.

In hindsight, it was probably a poor choice given I have three children, one of which I gave birth to less than five months ago. 

She’s exclusively breastfed, so there’s a lot of sitting and feeding – basically the opposite of freedom. While I’m incredibly grateful that I can breastfeed, it’s pretty boring when you do it 4-6 hours a day. 

It’s a privilege and a responsibility. Like most privileges, it would be great if someone else could be responsible for sitting and doing the feeding occasionally. Also the burping, burping is very boring.

As a third time mum, I’m not new to expressing but my experience using breast pumps in the past has been, well, suboptimal. 

Suboptimal to the point that I haven’t used one at all with my most recent baby.

Your word of the year is meant to be an aspirational challenge, so I’m constantly looking for chances to give “freedom" another go. That’s why I jumped at the chance to road test the new wearable breast pump that all the mums are talking about in all my Facebook groups and WhatsApp chats: the Tommee Tippee Made for Me Wearable Electric Breast Pump. 

It is specially designed to help make the breastfeeding journey a little easier. Hello, yes please, sign me up. Completely hands-free, portable and discreet, it allows you to express breastmilk while going about your daily business. The best part is, I could express on the go and leave my husband to handle the feeding part.

So, for a week I put the Tommee Tippee Breast Pump to the test, to incorporate more freedom into my life. My goal was to get back to the gym, enjoy a girls night out and a work lunch. 

Here's my honest review.

Getting started.

My pump arrives in a pretty little box. The vibe is more ‘luxury beauty product’ than milking machine, right down to the super soft carry case. 

Image: Supplied.

The pump comes with four milk collector bottles, so you can have two on the go and two in the fridge at the same time. It's perfect for daycare or when you're not with your little one all day long. 

Even though the pump is super easy to set up, you can request a free one-on-one personalised pump setup session to go through setting up the pump and connecting the app. Experienced breast pump users won’t need this as the printed guide book in the box is comprehensive. But, if you’re a first timer, or you’ve struggled with pumps before, I recommend setting up a quick session.

Image: Supplied. 

The fit and feel.

The name alone is making a big call, I need to try it on to see how wearable it really is. Depending on the time of day, I’m working with anything from a B to a D cup. So, I put the pumps in my feeding singlet and dress in my maternity leave uniform – a matching activewear set. 

In terms of how I look, I could absolutely get away with wearing these out and about with no one noticing. There’s a definite *instant boob lift* happening that I’m not unhappy about. Best suited to a loose shirt or jumper so you’d need to dress strategically, but breastfeeders are already used to doing that.

Image: Supplied.

Feeling-wise, it’s comfortable, similar to wearing a nipple shield. The Smart ConstantComfort technology is specially designed to mimic a baby’s natural suckling sensation. It tingles for about 0.2 seconds when I ramp the intensity right up using the app and then it settles into a gentle suckling motion that also holds the pump in place.

Return to the gym.

With three kids my mornings are busy. Breakfast, getting ready, daycare drop off and then school drop off before, all before 8.30am. The light at the end of the tunnel is my 9am Pilates class, if I can get my baby to tolerate the creche for an hour. 

Fitting in a feed before class seems impossible, but with the Tommee Tippee Wearable Breast Pump, I can express on the go and the carers can feed her while I reacquaint myself with my abdominal muscles. 

On day one I give my baby her morning feed and then pop the individual pumps into my sports bra. Somewhere in between daycare and school, I forget I’m even wearing the pump. But, if I did need to adjust anything, I don’t need to fish around in my bra. Instead, there’s the easy-to-use app which means I can control the pump remotely, allowing me to change up the intensity and even see how much milk I’ve collected.

Drop off goes well and she has the bottle while I complete the whole class. My abs are crying but I’m stoked.

Image: Supplied.

Girls night out.

We’re still dream-feeding, which is a late-night milk feed that you give your baby right before you head off to bed, usually around 9pm... or right around the time that a fun night is kicking off. This week I am staying out past the dream-feed and my husband is in charge. 

I express milk on the go earlier in the day and he feeds her directly from the pump collector bottle. The collector bottle is a generous 150ml, which is more than enough for a feed and is compatible with the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature screw rings and teats, which means no extra bottles to wash up.

I arrive home late, boobs absolutely bursting. 

In the past I’ve had to sit down and pump or spend an hour in the shower manually expressing. But, tonight I pop my wearable breast pump in my bra while I have a quick cup of tea and take my makeup off. I even turn out the lights just so I can try the nipple alignment light guide, designed to be used in dark settings. It makes sure the pump is lined up the right way so you get the most comfortable feed. No more sore nips.

Work lunch.

I went back to work at five months with my second baby. While everyone was super supportive, and even gave me my own pumping room, the memories aren’t great. For starters, the noise alone still makes my nipples want to invert. Traditional breast pumps made this “murrrrb murrrb” noise that you just can’t unhear and I was sure everyone else in the building could hear it too. 

But, the worst part was the loneliness. The noise meant I couldn’t pump during meetings or calls, even with my camera off. So I had to pump at lunchtime, chained to the power outlet in order to get a decent pump strength. It’s a boring and lonely way to spend lunch.

So, this time I took my wearable breast pump out for lunch. In a loose linen shirt, I felt confident you couldn’t even tell I was wearing the pumps unless you went in for a hug.

Image: Supplied. 

Sound-wise, you can still hear it, but it’s much softer than traditional pumps and was easily drowned out by street traffic and the cafe music. I probably wouldn’t wear it in a library, but when shopping, walking or at home it is absolutely fine. 

Charging is also much easier too, with a USB cable and a multi-region plug. Fully charged, I got 12, 20 minute pumps over the week – around four hours in total. There’s also a handy notification (with plenty of warning time) to pop the pump on charge when the battery is running low.

The verdict.

While I originally set myself the goal of outsourcing every feed for a week, I quickly changed my mind. I overestimated my commitment to pump in place of every feed, as that would have required me to have another adult around to do every feed which just isn’t practical. I also underestimated how much I enjoy the physical connectedness of breastfeeding. Instead, I found that handing over even just one feed a day gave me that sense of freedom I’ve been craving.

Image: Supplied. 

I’m amazed how much technology has improved between when I had my first child and today. Breastfeeding parents of 2023, you are so lucky to have more practical options. I’ll be using the Tommee Tippee Wearable Breast Pump to help make the remainder of my breastfeeding journey a little easier.

Shop the Tommee Tippee Made for Me Wearable Electric Breast Pump online or at Baby Bunting. 

Feature Image: Supplied.