When I buy new products I’m often very optimistic about them working. I had shown the Amazon listing of the Nature Bond Silicone Breast Pump to my Lactation Consultant and she was not impressed with the concept and had doubts if it would even work as a pump. Still, I was determined to buy it and try it out.
I really like crisp designs and the box had one on the front and easy to understand directions on the back.
Inside the box had the device inside its drawstring carrying bag. I had chose this one over similar competitiors in part as it was the only one with a travel bag option, this despite being a less expensive product.
Inside the travel bag, the two components, lid and collection pump, were further sealed in plastic.
I was very eager to use this. I particularly hoped to collect milk rather effortlessly, along with collecting drops from one breast while the other was used to nurse William in the early morning first feed. While I don’t always leak milk from the nonfeeding side, if it does happen it’s at the first feed of the day.
The very first time I used it on my left breast which tends to be the more productive one. As William slept, I let the suction work to get down some milk and continued to use it to rhythmically pump here and there. I obtained an ounce of milk with little real work and no pain, though the sensations felt weird at first.
As William was sleeping my breasts had made milk at a time when he could have, been feeding yet wasn’t taking any. So I decided to use my electric pump to see how much milk I had left, which turned out to be two ounces from my left breast and one from my right.
Despite the success of my first try, I was not able to replicate that again despite multiple attempts at various times over a week. There were several times when I’d collect only a few drops even when hand pumping. Even with this 1/4 oz, I was dismayed to see many precious drops stuck to the side or the funnel top which made for awkward pouring into a bottle and was more wasted milk.
The biggest problem I had with it was how often it just fell off a breast. This could happen do to improper suction set up, but also if I moved forward a bit. Considering I and many women sometimes have to change our babies’ positions while breastfeeding this is a very impractical problem to have. This product has very mixed reviews on Amazon, with others citing the same issues as I did. If it was merely inefficient for me I’d give it a higher rating especially for moms with a higher milk production, but the random falling off, is too big a problem to write off.
Rating – one baby bootie out of five
~ Danielle
Over 40 First Time Mom 