For years, Medela has ruled, undisputed, over Breast Pump Land. If you have to pump in the hospital, the nurses will likely wheel in a Medela pump. When you call in your free pump from your insurer, it will probably be a Medela pump.
I know, because I’ve had two kids in three years and every single time I’ve needed a breast pump, a Medela one has appeared.
But that’s changing. In lactation rooms and in parenting newsletters, a new pump has arrived. You can see the cool blue shape peeking out of bags, tucked into cubbies, in locker rooms, on airplanes. That pump is the Spectra S1. As it turns out, there are a few really good reasons for its popularity.
The main difference between the Spectra pumps and the workhorse Medela Pump in Style Advanced is that the Spectra pumps have a closed system, versus an open system. An open system doesn’t have a barrier between the pump mechanism and the milk collection system, while a closed system does.
In the S1, this barrier is a backflow protector in the pump flange. It is a small, flexible, white, rubber membrane that prevents milk from accidentally backing up in the tube. (Nota bene: I’ve pumped with a Medela pump for three years and never had milk go up in the tube. But it’s a distinct enough possibility that Medela instructs users to clean the pump face and tubing to deter milk from getting into the pump and molding.)
The backflow protector ensures that your baby’s milk will be bacteria-free. More practically speaking, it also means that you don’t have to take apart your pump to clean and sterilize the pump face and tubing. As a mom, this is an amazing way to save yourself some time and energy. I have already spent way too much of my life in my backyard whipping clear plastic tubing around my head in the style of Petey Pablo to get the last few remaining water drops out.
Of course, this does mean that finding replacement parts is a doozy. Spectra pump parts are hard to buy anywhere besides Amazon. For a nursing mother, even two-day Prime delivery is too long to wait if you lose or break a pump part. If you take the pump on a work trip and find out that you forgot to pack the valves, you can't run out and buy replacements. Bring a hand pump, just in case.
Also, the Spectra flanges only come in a limited array of sizes (a 24-, 28-, and 32-mm size, with an optional 3-mm insert), and the flange screws onto a weirdly wide-mouthed bottle. For example, I can screw Medela flanges onto my son’s Dr. Brown’s bottles, but not the Spectra flanges. It is a little annoying to have to jimmy solutions like buying thread changers or hacking the tubing.
Like the Medela Sonata, the S1 has made significant upgrades to the breast pump interface. I found the round, cool blue pump to be oddly stylish, and it comes with a handle that makes it easier to tote around. When you turn on the pump, an LED screen shows you the time you’ve been pumping, as well as cycle length and vacuum strength. The pump automatically shuts off after 30 minutes, if you’ve just gotten so absorbed in The Good Place that you’ve completely lost track of time.
