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When I was pregnant, I started to research about the breast pumps that I could potentially use after my baby was born. To be honest, I was so overwhelmed with choices that I decided to just stick with the usual – Medela. Not only did my insurance cover the cost of the pump, it was what most of the other pumping moms are using back then.
A few weeks after I gave birth to my baby girl, I decided to exclusively pump. You can read more about my experience in my blog post here! Anyway, as I made the decision to pump exclusively, I knew that I needed a more portable pump to make pumping easier and more manageable. One of my friends had told me about the BabyBuddha portable pump, and I had mentally filed away to the back of my mind, but I immediately started to research more about it.
As you can imagine, the more I read about the BabyBuddha pump, the more excited I got. There are many hands-free breast pumps on the market, but the BabyBuddha pump is easily the number one option for many mamas out there.
A portable pump that is less than 1 pound that you can carry around? Heck yes!
Affordable pump that doesn’t drain your wallet? Heck yes again!
Most importantly, the Baby Buddha pump doesn’t require me to sit in one spot and be totally still as I’m pumping, and I don’t even have to worry about the efficiency of the suction or losing another drop of my previous milk. Read on to find our more about this small yet mighty breast pump.
1. Affordability
Let’s talk about cost. I’m sure this is on the top of your mind. The BabyBuddha pump comes at an affordable cost of about $250. Occasionally, you might find it at a lower price. Compared to the Willow pump which is listed at around $500, it is so much more reasonable. Some insurance does cover some or all of the cost of it, so definitely check it out!
2. Customer service
Baby Buddha customer service is great too. My pump actually malfunctioned a few weeks after I started using it. When I contacted their customer service, they went through each possible scenario to help me diagnose the issue, and even sent me a replacement unit for free! I was so thankful for this because I really didn’t want to spend another dime on breast pumps.
3. Portability
The Baby Buddha is about the size of a smart phone (it’s even smaller than an I phone). It comes with a lanyard and you can easily hang it on your neck. In my case, I preferred to put it in my pocket which is totally fine too. This makes it totally hands-free which allowed me to work around the house while pumping. Yes, you don’t have to be chained to a pump that needs to be plugged into a wall. Just to give you an idea on the things that I have done while pumping with the Baby Buddha – I have washed my dishes, did my laundry, folded my clothes, had a nice long meal without any interruption and worked on a computer. Literally anything is possible, except maybe not cuddling with a baby!
4. Battery life
It is a battery-powered breast pump, and it lasts about an hour, which is probably enough for 2 to 4 pump sessions. It takes about 3 hours to get it fully charged again.
5. Noise level
It is not a quiet pump, but it is not super loud either.
6. Hackability
Baby Buddha actually posted pump part hacks on their website. It is kind of odd, but I love that they do this. Personally, I have used the Baby Buddha with the Freemie collection cups, which made pumping so much more discrete. It’s a whole new level of experience! Because of this, I have actually pumped while at work in my shared cubicle, at a friend’s house while having dinner together, and in public spaces like the airplane. While doing so, I was of course wearing loose clothing to make it less obvious because the Freemie collection cups are not small.
7. Strength
This pump is comparable to a hospital grade pump. It is strong! There are 5 levels of stimulation and 9 levels of expression, but I never had to go past level 3 for each of the mode. Kudos to Baby Buddha for creating such a tiny yet powerful pump. It is incredible! The pump begins with stimulation mode, but I have heard from other mamas that they actually start with expression mode before switching to stimulation mode. The reason for this is that the expression mode provides for a softer warm up for some people. For the first days, I had sore nipples but that’s just the break-in period. My pump sessions were completely comfortable after that. It also took me about 15 minutes per session compared to the Medela when I had to sit still for about 25 minutes.
8. Built-in timer
The pump will automatically turn off after 30 minutes. This is so great especially when I’m not watching the time, and I could over pump on some sessions. The built-in timer ensures that I never go past 30 minutes.
9. User-friendly
It took me around 5 minutes to figure out how to use the pump. It comes with a power button and a roller ball to adjust the suction levels, and allows flipping back and forth between stimulation mode and expression mode. However, I do want to note that the roller ball is quite sensitive and can easily change the levels if it brushes against something, so you just need to be careful if you’re multitasking.
10. Hygiene
The Baby Buddha is a closed system pump, so that means your breast milk will never get in contact with the pump motor. This is really clean, and it allows you to share your pump with other users as well (but I do not recommend this).
Overall, the pump is not without its cons, but it is definitely one of the better options out there if you’re looking for something powerful, small and portable for pumping. As an exclusive pumper, I can safely say that the Baby Buddha made my routine easier and I absolutely love it.
If you’d like to give it a try, click here to get your Baby Buddha Breast Pump now!
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