When you’re a mom you get to try out all sorts of gadgets and products.  When you’re a nursing mom you get to try out even more!
I really love trying new products, who doesn’t love new things, right?

I had this idea that I was going to nurse my baby and we wouldn’t need a pump, bottles, formula, etc.

However, between my PCOS possibly causing low milk supply, my daughter being tongue tied & having a heart condition that physically made breast feeding difficult for her, we’ve been forced to rely on the pump.

At the suggestion of the Therapy Shoppe employee, I purchased the Medela Pump In Style, back pack version.

The Pros:

• The back pack is awfully handy, especially when we’re traveling somewhere and my hands are already full of baby gear.
• The bag is black, so no one knows I’m lugging around a breast pump.
• The pump isn’t terribly loud (see below). But my mom can tell when I’m pumping while we’re talking on the phone.
• The suction has been great so far.
• The pump is built for daily use.  I was using it up to 10 times a day for about 2 months straight.  More recently I’ve used it 2-3 times a day.  There has been no change in the quality of the pump over 4 months time.
•  Easy to clean.
• Comes with 4 bottles, ice pack, & cooler.
• Amazon sells a car adapter so you can pump in your vehicle if necessary.  I bought one, but haven’t used it yet.  It’s winter here in Iowa, folks.  I’ll gladly awkwardly pump in other peoples homes than sit out in the cold van. haha.

The Cons:

• The pump isn’t silent.  Since I mostly pump at home, this isn’t a problem for me.
• It only comes with medium flanges.  You can’t specifically swap out for another size without purchasing a pair separately.  For most people, this may not be a problem.  But for me it was, and having the wrong size flanges caused for less milk to be pumped, and the whole process to be less comfortable.  Again, you can get those on Amazon too.

I’ve used it for about 4 months and I can honestly say, YES, I would recommend this product to a friend!

If there is one product that I’d recommend to new parents above all the others, it’d be the Graco Nasal Clear Nasal Aspirator.
I can’t remember where I first saw it, maybe the big box store.

The Pros:
*Quickly and effectively gets the snot out
*No holding the baby down fighting with the bulb syringe.
*No bulb to wash out and hope you got it all the water out so you’re not flushing mold into your babies nose the next time you use it.
*It comes with a handy bag to keep all the parts in (there are two different tips).
*It easily fits in the diaper bag and can go anywhere you go.

The Cons:
Maybe the cost, I mean $20, for another baby item.  Trust me though, this one is worth it!

You really should clean it after each use, which takes a little time, but much less than the bulb syringe… I leave it at the changing station and clean it after each day we use it.  To clean it I just turn on the water and press the button to get a tiny bit of water in it, then I take it apart and wash it.  Less than 2 minutes.  Easy peasy!

Our son had a milk allergy that caused a constant runny nose (yuck!).  This thing was a life saver!