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World Breastfeeding Week … Medela Review and Giveaway!

By 63 Comments

**This Giveaway is CLOSED! Thanks for entering!**

I am a little behind in getting these reviews posted. My little guy, who is a proud 15 days old now, demands his time on his schedule and his two big sisters … well they are big sisters who demand their time too!

So here is my next review and the subject of this review is Medela!

I was introduced to Medela by the lactation consultant who taught the parenting class through my OB/GYN office at the time. She sold Medela products and used them during the breastfeeding section of the class. After the class, I contacted her about ordering a pump. I bought the Medela Pump in Style Advanced (PISA) from her. At the time they had a special offer blue bag style so I spent a little extra to get that bag for no other reason that I liked it. Hey, I was pregnant; it was summer time; I was miserable; my husband ok’ed the upgraded purchase because he figured it would make me happy … it did. He knows me well.

Here is the latest version of the Medela PISA in the Metro Bag:

I broke out my pump when my oldest was 5 days old. She wasn’t latching and was losing too much weight. I knew I had milk so it was just a matter of getting it to her. Little did I know, that was the start to my 10.5 month journey of almost exclusively pumping for her! I always had my pump. If we left the house, it went with us. I got very good at pumping from the passenger seat of the car while we looked for houses and drove on trips. I had a system where I would see how fast I could get my pump set up and get done pumping while at work. I knew that pump and it knew me. I was able to pump enough milk to not only donate through MilkShare but to give my oldest breast milk through her first birthday even though I lost my supply before that due to being pregnant again.

The second time around the breastfeeding block, I had a latcher. I felt like I was cheating on my pump. Nursing was so easy but I was so used to living with my pump. It took a lot of adjustment to get used to this new way of life. I did still pump while at work and when away from my second child. During that time, I realized I didn’t always need my PISA so I bought a Medela Harmony manual pump. It was great to relieve a little pressure or as a quick pump after a half heart nursing session to help with my over supply. I still took my PISA with me to work and realized it was dying on me due to all of the love and attention it had gotten. I finally gave in and upgraded to a Medela Freestyle. I LOVE that pump. I never thought I could love a pump but the Freestyle proved that to be wrong!

Here is my budget saving recommendation … if you need a double electric pump, suck it up and buy a Medela Freestyle. You will thank yourself over and over again for that little upgrade. The hands free option and lack of cords are so nice, even if you are sitting still. You don’t have to worry about finding a plug or cords or any of that. ahhh.
If you don’t need a double electric pump but still need a pump (I personally think every mom needs some kind of pump), get yourself the Medela Harmony. It is much easier to use than it may appear and you can’t beat the price!

My little guy is a latcher so I haven’t broken out my Freestyle yet. I do admit to using my Harmony pump though when my supply came in and I thought I was going to explode. Don’t worry though, my Freestyle will be coming out before too long as we work on bottle introduction before I return to work.

As a last plug for Medela here, I want to mention the Medela Mom Mavens. I was chosen to be a Medela Mom Maven when I was nursing my second kiddo. Medela describes the Medela Mom Mavens as:

 

Medela has created a group of breastfeeding ambassadors to share knowledge about the many benefits of breastfeeding, as well as breastfeeding advice, with other moms and moms-to-be.
As a part of a community of uniquely qualified women known as “Medela Mom Mavens,” your experience and your support could have a significant impact on women and their babies.

Medela encourages moms to apply to this program through their Prospective Medela Mom Mavens Survey. I also encourage other nursing moms to apply to be part of this effort!

And finally … the giveaway!

Medela has generously offered to giveaway two of their products to one of my blog readers! This Medela gift pack will include:

* Tender Care Lanolin – 2 ounce package and
* Tender Care Hydrogel Pads


This drawing will end Friday, August 21st at midnight EST. I will pick a winner using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to reply with their address. You must include your email address in your comment or have it in your profile so you can be contacted if you are a winner! Please make sure I can see your email address!!! There are LOTS of extra entries so make sure to use them all! You must complete the Mandatory Entry for the additional entries to count. If a winning entry is related to a Medela account, I will confirm eligibility with Medela before announcing the winner.

Now how to enter this great giveaway.


Mandatory Entry: Tell me where you are in your nursing journey (currently nursing moms), what you hope your nursing journey to be (expecting moms), or who you would give this to and if they are currently nursing or expecting (all others).

Additional Entries:

1) Follow me on Twitter. Leave a comment with your twitter name.
2) Tweet about this giveaway with this tweet:
RT: Win a Medela Giveaway! http://tinyurl.com/lr5oo8 @simplybudgeted #WBW #bfing
Leave a comment with the URL for your tweet. (One Tweet per day until end of giveaway!!)
3) Blog about this giveaway and provide a link to the blog post. Leave a comment with the URL to the blog post.
4) Add my blog to your blog roll call. Leave a comment with the URL and where to find the link.
5) Follow me through the Google Friends Connect on my side bar. Leave a comment with your name or account name.
6) Subscribe to my blog using the Subscribe To option on the sidebar. Leave a comment stating you subscribe.
7) Apply to the Medela Mom Maven community. Write “Simply Living” in the comments section of the survey so they know I sent you! Leave a comment here to let me know you’ve taken the survey.
8) Enter one of my other giveaways or leave a comment on one of my other posts. Leave a comment here letting me know which one. (Must be a new entry/comment dated after this is posted.)

 

If you have other nursing related recommendations or any other comments, send me an email at [email protected]! I love to hear from other nursing moms!!

And remember to check back for more reviews and giveaways! I hope to have at least one other nursing related item giveaway coming up!!

* I have not been compensated nor provided with any promotional products in return for this review. The giveaway item will be sent directly from the vendor providing the item.

Comments

  3. The first time around nursing my daughter never latched on right so I exlusively pumped for seven months for her. I am now pregnant with my second child and I am hoping that I get a latcher this time around and if not I have a whole support system set up already so things won't be so bad this time.

    Reply

  6. I am due this month with my 4th child. I am hoping to make it to the 6 month mark this time. I never had a pump before and I really think it would have helped. I bought the Medela PISA and can't wait to try it out. The giveaway products are just what I need.
    Thanks!

    Reply

  7. This is awesome! I love breastfeeding, and nursed my daughter for nine months, and donated milk to two little boys for those nine months, and I am now nursing my son, and donating milk to three little girls! I couldn't do that if it weren't for my medela pump!!!

    Reply

  9. I am due in September with my first child. I hope to breastfeed until the age of two with possibly switching to pumping around 1 year of age.

    jamie @ suburban saving mama.com

    Reply

  13. I very easily nursed #1 for about 15 months, including pumping at work for about 6 months, and hope to have a similar experience with #2, coming a month or so.

    Reply

  15. I am still currently nursing my son but I am starting to wean since he is now one…but I will probably still nurse at night for a few more months. This would come in handy, especially when we have our next one, which will hopefully be sometime next year!
    [email protected]

    Reply

  22. I would love to use this as a first-time mommy-to-be. Brestfeeding is a wonderful gift to your child. This would make it that much more easier for me to insure my little guy gets the best.

    transamws602(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Reply

  25. I'm an expecting mom and hope that I will be able to easily breastfeed my little one — I appreciate all the resources out here that are so helpful and educational.

    Reply

  27. I'm about to delivery my second baby next week. My first baby was so sick that he was bottle fed (I pumped for almost a year!). I'm hoping and praying this new baby will be healthy and able to breastfeed…Love Medela products!

    heatherdemke(at)gmail(dot)com

    Reply

  28. nice giveaway… I have reached the one year mark with my first baby. hooray! she's 14months now, and I think she may be weaning herself out, but would love to get this either for our friends expecting babies or myself planning on number 2

    Reply

  29. What a great giveaway. I want to win this for my daughter-in-law. As for me, I nursed 8 of my 10 children. Many of them never took a bottle. I wouldn't have had it any other way!

    Thanks

    libbeas[at]aol[dot]com

    Reply

  42. I am currently still nursing my 16 month old son. His molars are coming in now, and his latch has changed. Ouch!

    gitrecca at gmail dot com

    Reply

  43. I am pregnant with dd#2. I nursed my daughter for 14 months. I look forward to nursing my new baby.
    thanks,
    ruth dot gray at gmail dot com

    Reply

  48. I was unable to breastfeed my first so I am determined to with the second. I have not purchased a pump yet. This is my preferred brand.

    Reply

  52. I am currently expecting #2 with number 1 I too had to break out the pump eary because he was losing weight. I hope this time is a little better but I plan to stick with it and be prepared to do what I need to to make sure she is getting enough to eat!

    Reply

  63. im due in dec and im nursing again. my son who is 2 now nursed until he was 7 months old and i wouldve done it a lil longer but he refused. with the new baby i will do it as long as they want to an ectent. but thanks for this giveaway
    [email protected]

    Reply

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