REASONS TO BUY
Efficient
Portable
Quiet
REASONS TO AVOID
Difficult to use
Uncomfortable
Medela Freestyle Review
While this pump is efficient and portable, the "hands free" feature is difficult to use and not reliable
Medela Freestyle
Credit: Medela
By Lindsay Smith ⋅ March 4, 2014
Contributions From: Curtis Smith
RELATED: The Best Breast Pumps of 2025
Our Verdict
The Medela Freestyle is great in theory, but in practice, we found it required patience and a little extra work. It's quite expensive, and all in all, we found that it just wasn't worth the price. This pump was designed with movement in mind and it seems great to be able to clip your pump to your belt and get some laundry done, but in all reality, it just wasn't practical. The parts that clip to your bra were kind of like a puzzle, and it was definitely not a one size fits all. While this pump can be efficient, it's hard to say how much milk you would express while “on the go” as most moms need to sit down and relax in order to express an optimal amount of milk.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The Medela Company began in 1961 in Zug, Switzerland and was founded by a man named Olle Larsson. They currently sell a variety of products world wide and are one of the most popular pumps available in the United States today.
Components, including the yellow “hands-free” straps that connect it to your nursing bra. We got tangled up in these more than once!
Credit: Micah James
Efficiency
This pump offers more efficiency than most competitors. It creates a good amount of milk in a short amount of time. We scored this pump a little low because we found its design to have a negative effect on efficiency. We found it very difficult to relax enough to allow all our milk to be expressed while busily going about the house. As you use the contraption, it does become easier, but for us, it just wasn't practical enough to actually use as designed. If you are talented enough to get stuff done while pumping, we commend you!
Comfort
This pump offers okay comfort, similar to the Medela Pump In Style Advanced which scored slightly higher. The loss of points was mainly due to the straps and bra hooks that make the whole pumping experience a little more cumbersome and a little less comfortable.
Part of the “hands-free” feature, clipping the motor to your belt/pants enables you to move about while pumping.
Credit: Micah James
Ease of Use
This pump scored poorly when it came to ease of use. In fact, out of every pump tested, it received the lowest score in the metric. The process of putting this pump on and hoping that it stays connected to your bra was quite a task. There are so many straps and connections, it's like trying to connect an octopus to your pumping bra. Our testers were very frustrated hooking it up, having a piece fall off, and then starting all over again! It has a lot of moving parts and could be extremely frustrating, especially for the frequent pumper, to set this thing up every time. On top of the extended setup time, it wasn't even very reliable or practical in our experience.
Loaded up and ready to accompany mom to work.
Credit: Micah James
Portability
We scored this pump well for portability. It comes with a great tote bag, plus an insulated cooler, ice pack, and extra bottles to store your milk in. It also includes a rechargeable battery pack that lasted over 6 hours in our dry run (this time will shorten when in actual use and varies depending on the settings you use). The actual pump is tiny, which makes it very easy to pull in and out of the tote bag, which is especially great if you choose to pump on the go.
Hygiene
This is an open system unit, very similar to the Pump In Style Advanced. However, we did not experience condensation in the tubing like the In Style Advanced, and we did not note any other reviewers stating they had this problem. The parts are pretty easy to dismantle and clean, but overall, as an open system requiring more cleaning, we had to give this pump a lower score in this area.
Acoustics
Not a super-quiet pump. As stated before, there are both positives and negatives to a louder pump. On the positive side, people can hear you pumping from afar and will usually give you some more privacy, such as in a work break-room. The more negative aspect might be that it's too loud to use if your baby or partner is sleeping nearby.
Conclusion
This pump is portable and efficient but very difficult to use. It's expensive and doesn't deliver the experience we were hoping for from a pump at the top of the price range. If it is your goal to pump “hands-free” and be able to get things done around the house while pumping, then it may be an option for you. Expect to spend a lot of time making this pump work efficiently, and be prepared that it may not pan out to be exactly what you were hoping for.
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