The First Years Breastflow Memory Double Review

The First Years is a company dedicated to a multitude of baby products from car seats to breast pumps. They pretty much try to cover the “first years” of your child's life from top to bottom by providing an array of age-appropriate products.

Efficiency

This pump tied with our other loweer-scoring pumps, for a couple of reasons, but mainly the “bar” you have to hold on to while pumping. This bar reaches across the front to both breasts where you attach the breast flanges supposedly allowing you to express both breasts with one hand. In concept, it seems that the company was trying to make it easier to pump, however, we found it to be frustrating and even saw our efficiency suffer as it was hard to maintain a good suction without having one breast flange turn just enough to loose suction. You will have much better control holding the breast flanges yourself or using a pumping bra to secure the flanges in place.

Comfort

This is not the most comfortable pump. It's not necessarily due to the breast flanges or the suction speed of the pump; it was mainly the bar and handle design. It seemed fine when we initially set it up and ensured it was lined up correctly on the breasts, but as we continued into our pumping session, we found that the bar did not secure the breast flanges tightly enough, and they began to shift around. Not only does this affect efficiency, but it takes away from the comfort as well. Lastly, holding the handlebars isn't very comfortable either. At least if you are holding it up yourself, you can rest your arm across your body.

Ease of use

This pump is not the easiest to use. The actual screen is straightforward to use, and it is nice to have all your settings saved exactly how you like them. However, we found that most women don't use the same settings every time they pump anyway. To its credit, the touch screen feature is nice and user-friendly, and if you are looking for consistency when you pump, this pump will give that to you when it comes to suction, speed, and time. This pump's ease of use score mainly suffered, due once again to the bar and the difficulty it causes with keeping your breasts and nipples in the correct alignment.

Portability

This pump is about average for portability. While this pump does come with a tote bag and insulated cooler, it is very difficult to fit everything necessary into the tote bag. We hate to continue harping on one bad quality, but once again, it's the bar and handle that make this thing hard to tote around. It's very awkward shoving the bar and handle into the bag. One of our testers mentioned it was like putting together a puzzle, trying to fit everything in this bag! The bag is a little on the small side, and we could not fit the bar and the insulated bag with all the other accessories needed to pump on the go. This pump includes a rechargeable battery which is nice for on-the-go situations, but it needs to be charged regularlyand it was one of the shortest-lasting batteries in our dry run.

Hygiene

This is an open system pump and the parts need to be cleaned regularly. We did notice that some parts were difficult to clean and their was a build up of old milk that was difficult to clean. Still, if you clean each section regularly, it should stay hygienic for you and your baby.

Acoustics

This was one of the quieter pumps we tested. It's not as quiet as our Editors' Choice winner, the Spectra S1, but also wasn't as loud as our Best Value Award winner, the Medela Pump In Style Advanced. It may be too noisy to pump next to your sleeping partner or baby, but all in all, we were not put off by the sound.

Conclusion

In our opinion, this pump is a good pump, but not the best. If you really can't invest any more money, but want a pump that will work long term, this pump could do the trick. While the memory function is a bonus, for us, the bar and handle was less than ideal.