SPECTRAS2 Plus Electric Breast Milk Pump for Baby Feeding - Convenient Breast Feeding Support

I will apologize in advance for the long winded review - but a breast pump is an extremely important purchase for a breastfeeding mother - so I am going to try to cover all the bases on this pump.As a mother now breastfeeding her 3rd child, I'm am approaching 4 years total of nursing.In the past, I have always used Medela products. I've struggled on every end of the spectrum from low supply with one child to oversupply with another and a healthy spot on supply now with my 3rd. A good pump makes all the difference in maintaining milk supply - ESPECIALLY if you're a working mother.I HAD been a loyal Medela PISA user for almost my entire 4 cumulative nursing years - but I am no longer. When I was pregnant with my 3rd I had just started hearing about the speCtra s2 taking the breastfeeding world by storm, but I figured I'd stick with old faithful and I asked my insurance to provide another Medela - hindsight is 20/20 and I wish I'd done more homework then. About 3 months after my daughter was born all I heard about was how amazing the s2 is - from nursing friends, mom groups, breastfeeding groups and even a couple La Leche meetings. When I looked into it the price was half what a PISA is so I figured heck - why not. My husband was apprehensive about buying me yet another breast pump (I've tried SO MANY OTHERS - Lanisoh, Hygeia, Avent, Ameda - none of which I liked or I felt fully emptied my breasts). Now that I have my Spectra I will never go back to Medela or try anything else - let me tell you why:First and foremost - let's talk about the perks of a closed system pump. I managed to ruin 2 Medela PISA's with my current nursling. In less than 3 months - that gets expensive QUICK. Milk in the tubes and right into the motor, rendering them useless. Let's not forget about trying to keep tubes from molding - not fun. The speCtra s2 perfectly protects from back flow, and the flanges also are designed to make sure milk goes directly into the bottle instead of into the backflow protector. I bought extra tubes initially, but I'm really not sure why because they're not needed, because I'm no longer dealing with those issues thanks to Spectra.Comfort? This is where it's at. While never having issues in the past, this time around I often felt like my nipples had been put through a garbage disposal after pumping with the PISA - the comfort of the speCtra s2 is unmatched. It feels just like my baby's suckle and I'm no longer wincing in pain during my long pumping sessions. How they can make the suction so strong yet so comfortable is beyond me - but more power to them! Added bonus for comfort: Spectra offers a silicone insert for their flanges!Speaking of long pumping sessions - those are no more. The speCtra s2 empties me in half the time - and we all know how important time is with little ones running around!There are a wide variety of suction and speed options, and even a letdown button (you can tailor it to your specific needs) which can switch you back and forth from your desired suction and speed to a quick light sickle to induce letdowns - also customizable. It also kind of "vibrates" while you're pumping so it helps even more to stimulate quick multiple letdowns. Added bonus: it remembers your settings from your previous pumping session and turns back in exactly in the last settings you used.There was a bit of a learning curve for finding the right settings for myself, but that's because with my PISA I had no choice but "hard and fast" suction and speed, there was no option to change those separately. Gone are those days, thankfully - Spectra tackled this issue as well.It's SUPER quiet and also comes with a nightlight that has 2 settings so if you're pumping near your baby during a nap or bedtime you don't have to worry about waking baby - plus you won't feel like your pump is trying to "sing you the song of its people"! (Seriously - who HASNT tried to figure out exactly what in the world their pump could be saying with all that noise?) Not with the speCtra, though, just a quiet purr.The only downfall is the availability of accessories - you have to buy full kits from Spectra instead of just the parts you need, otherwise you have to buy aftermarket - which work ok in my opinion, but I'm OCD and I prefer OEM parts.Lastly - Spectra Customer Service. They're AMAZING. As far as I am able to tell, customer service is run by breastfeeding mothers - which is what we need! They do great Q&A sessions on Facebook, and they'll happily help you with getting covered by insurance. From what I understand they're expanding this year to reintroduce the s9, and to be more available at local retailers (accessories included).Bottom line is, this pump in my opinion is worth every penny and then some. Even my husband, who as I said was apprehensive and is what you might call "tight with money" is happy about this purchase. (Happy wife, happy life, right?) Hands down the best pump I've ever used in every department. Look no more, mamas, you've found your pump in speCtra.

[See below for my update, posted after Spectra released the S1 pump.]I decided to try a Spectra pump after my second Medela Pump In Style Advanced crapped out on me, and I am so glad I did - the S2 pump is amazing - so much better than the PISA (and than the Hygeia EnJoye pump I briefly tried) in almost every way.SUMMARY:PROS: comfortable to use, sucking action more like a baby than any other pump I've used, quick/efficient, quiet, letdown mode, completely customizable pumping experience due to independent speed and suction controls, closed system if you use the included collection kit with its backflow filters, very good customer service through Mother's Milk, amazingly low price, lightweight, motor life of 1500 hoursCONS: collection kit not that great and some (surmountable) difficulties with using other collection kits, no option to run on batteries or car chargerOVERALL: All in all, even with my complaints about the collection kit, I love this pump and highly recommend it!ALL THE DETAILS: (Warning: I'm including LOTS of details, since this product has just come out, and reviews are hard to find.)I work full-time and have pumped at work since my son was about three months old - so I've been breastfeeding and pumping for over a year and a half now! I got this pump after using a Medela PISA regularly for most of that year and a half, and after trying the Hygeia Enjoye for a couple of weeks. (Both Medela PISAs I owned gradually lost suction strength until they were basically useless - Medela replaced it, at no cost, the first time this happened, but wouldn't replace the replacement when it became useless, too. The Enjoye lacked a letdown mode, which meant it always took longer for me to get the milk going, and to get a second letdown, and it was also just way too loud to use at work. I tried the Enjoye for a couple of weeks but ended up returning it.) The S2 is by far better than both of these pumps.First, this pump is the only thing I've used that comes close to mimicking a baby's sucking action - thus, it is gentle, comfortable, and super-efficient. I cannot emphasize the "gentle" part enough - compared to this the PISA really tugged at the nipples and was always at least a bit uncomfortable, even at pretty low settings. The EnJoye wasn't as bad in this regard, but the S2 is still way, way better. When I used the PISA, I always felt relieved not to have to pump at all over the weekend, when I was home with baby. With this pump, though, it's hardly different from nursing in terms of its comfort and gentleness. The letdown mode is quick, gentle, and fluttery, just like the baby's stimulation phase of nursing. Thanks to this, it is super effective at getting the milk flowing. (The PISA has a letdown mode, but it doesn't work as well as on this pump, and the EnJoye does not, unfortunately.)Because you can adjust speed and suction separately, this pump is also great once you switch out of letdown mode. With the Medela PISA, there is only one dial, so you have to turn up speed and suction together. This meant that unless I wanted the suction to be inadequate, the pump was almost always cycling too fast - the milk would still be freely streaming out and the Medela pump would tug again. With this pump, I can turn down the speed enough that it only pumps in between the streams of milk. That saves you a LOT of needless tugging on the nipples, and makes pumping so much more comfortable and efficient. On the S2, I have been setting the cycle speed to 38 and a suction setting of 3 or 4, and I finish pumping in 5-10 minutes - compare this to the 20 or more minutes it would take to get the same volume from the Medela PISA or the Hygeia EnJoye! Sometimes I have to switch back into letdown mode to get a second letdown, so it is really handy to have a button for letdown mode, and then that the pump defaults back to the same settings you used last time when you switch back out of letdown mode.This pump is also super-quiet. I wouldn't say it's whisper-quiet - it's more like cat-purr-quiet - but in any case, I'm not worried that everyone on the other side of the office door knows I'm pumping, and I can also pump while I'm watching TV with my husband without the pump noise making it difficult to hear the television. The Medela PISA was noticeably louder, but still within a tolerable range, and the EnJoye was just way too loud, even if I put it in the tote to try to muffle it.Other nice features you should know about: this pump has a nightlight with two brightness settings, and it has an integrated bottle stand. I don't really need the nightlight, but if you pump at night in the baby's room, I bet it would be super handy - the light is embedded in the underside of the handle so that it shines down on and illuminates the display and the control buttons. It's a subtle light, just bright enough that you can see what you're doing in a dark room. The pump has stand for one bottle in the top of it, and it holds the bottle snugly enough. It also comes with a bottle stand you can attach to the bottom of the other bottle if you're double pumping.I have absolutely no complaints about the pump. My only real complaints are with collection kit:- First, the bottles aren't that great - the bottom of one bulged out after I did the initial sterilization of everything (in boiling water, for 5 minutes, as per the instructions), so it won't stand up any more.- Second, though you can use other standard-neck bottles, the threading on the breast shield part that attaches to the bottles isn't great, so it can take a little fiddling to get the two attached.- Third, it comes with duckbill valves, which seem notoriously short-lived, given my experience with manual pumps that use them - they always start to pucker and then you lose suction and have to replace them. (And the S2 doesn't come with any extra valves either.) And the way the collection kit is designed, you have to tug and squeeze a bit to remove the valve, which won't improve its lifespan any. However, this problem is easily remedied - you can use a Medela valve and membrane with the Spectra collection kit and it works fine. (They Medela valves are more durable, and it's easier to find replacements for them - you can buy them separately from a Medela pump or collection kit, too!) UPDATE, October 2014: Had my second baby four months ago, and am using my pump again. Have been using the Spectra duckbill valves daily for almost three months, and they are still going strong--they are apparently much higher quality than the duckbill valves that come with some other pumps! I stand corrected.- Finally, the breast shield part doesn't detach - the breast shield and connector are all one piece - which makes it a little tricky to swap in a different size or style of breast shields. You would have to use an entirely different collection kit and tubing to use different breast shields, and here's the catch with that solution - you probably can't use the backflow filters if you do this, and then you won't have a closed system any more. In the Spectra system, you attach the backflow filter to the back of the breast shield/connector piece, then attach the tubing to the back of the filter instead of connecting it directly to the collection kit - that's what keeps milk and condensation from getting into the tubes. The backflow filters can only be attached if the backs of the connectors are flat, like on the Spectra breast shield/connector piece, but most other collection kits aren't shaped like this - the Medela and Hygeia kits aren't, for example. This isn't a huge deal for me, since I use the standard size breast shields (the ones that come with the S2 seem to be 24 mm ones), and since I don't have problems with milk in the tubes anyway. But if you need/want to use different shields, and if the closed system is appealing to you, keep in mind that you may have to choose between having the closed system and using the breast shields you prefer. I don't know why they didn't make their collection kit parts more interchangeable with other sizes and styles of breast shields.One other small complaint - the documentation is really sparse. For example, the first-time use instructions say to sanitize the parts before first use by putting them in boiling water for 5 minutes. Problem is, I'm pretty sure not all the parts should be boiled - the tubing and filters probably shouldn't. It'd be nice if they mentioned that! Also, the tech specifications aren't included in the owner's manual, but you can find them online, at least.Finally, there is no battery pack accessory or any alternate power source available for this pump. This would have been a problem for me when baby was younger and I was pumping more often - the Medela PISA includes that battery pack, so I could always pump in the car if I was somewhere without pumping facilities at work, and I could even bring my nursing cover and pump on the plane when I was traveling. Can't do that with this pump. If that kind of situation is pretty rare for you, you could just use a manual pump when you can't get to a power outlet. Otherwise, I guess you'd have to get a portable double electric for those situations - something like the Spectra 9? (Haven't tried any pump in this category, but as impressed as I am with the Spectra brand from this purchase, I would be tempted to try the Spectra 9 if I needed to travel for work again before baby was weaned.)All in all, the problems with the collection kit and the lack of a battery power option are both relatively insignificant given just how awesome this pump is.I know there aren't a lot of reviews out there for this pump yet, so if you have questions about anything I've written, post them in the comments and I will try to answer in a timely manner. Also, I will update this review after I have been using the pump for a while to let you know how it holds up - right now it's only been a week, but I love it!UPDATE, July 2013: Spectra has released the S1, which seems to be exactly the same as the S2, except it has an internal, rechargeable battery! From the early reviews, the S1 pumping experience seems to be just as good as with the S2. As far as I'm concerned, that makes the S1 the holy grail of daily-use pumps. Though I still love my S2, I would recommend that anyone shopping for a pump now have a look at the S1 instead. If you breastfeed and pump for any length of time, you will be glad to have spent a little more money on a pump that has a built-in battery - for most women, that option will come in handy some time when you need to pump in your car or somewhere else with no power outlet. And that way you won't have to also buy a portable pump to cover your bases.