Never in all of my wildest dreams did I think I would be blogging about a breast pump, but here I am — it’s happening!
Before we jump straight into the review, though, I wanted to share a bit about our breastfeeding journey thus. On the day I’m writing this, Ace is 9 1/2 months old (and by the time I finished this post, he’s almost 11 – wow!) and we’ve been breastfeeding since the day he was born. Breastfeeding was always something I planned (and hoped) to do with my some day baby, but once I got pregnant my journey came into a little more focus and I started prepping and priming for all the things I could learn and need to feed my child. Truly, though, I firmly believe fed is best and I went into my very first breastfeeding class with the mindset that no matter what I needed to do to ensure my baby is fed, I would do it.
Now, the short-tail to that answer is that I’ve done just that, the long-tail paints the picture of a jaundice baby who would fall asleep minutes into their feeding. A baby who wasn’t gaining weight like they should in those early days and a new momma who would cry and stress over the thought that her baby wasn’t getting enough of what they needed. Days later, our doctor would help us start to turn things around by recommending that we start supplementing to give our little guy the boost he was needing.
And then, there came the tongue and lip tie. Our pediatrician noticed that Ace’s tongue seemed a bit tight and recommended that we should see a pediatric dentist to have him checked out. A few hours later and another pediatric specialist later, we had confirmation that Ace did in fact have a tongue AND lip tie. From here, we weighed the pros and cons and decided it was best that we scheduled an appointment for Ace to have his tongue and lip tie fixed. And then — we waited. Two long weeks later and hours spent crying over not getting the perfect latch and worrying our whether our little guy was getting enough, Ace had his procedure done and was on the road to recovery.
And from there? Well, like all good things — everything came together in time. Ace started latching easier and easier each day and nursing became more of a routine and less of a chore. We continued to breastfeed and supplement with formula from here on out and started to a change in Ace and myself. The weight started to pack on and our tiny newborn filled out. I started to feel more confident in providing for Ace and knowing he was getting exactly what he needed. My milk supply increased and I started pumping to prepare us for myself going back to work full-time. And now here is where our pumping journey begins!
Truth be told, I immediately disliked pumping with my traditional pump. The whole process felt exhausting and let me feeling defeated when I wasn’t producing as much as I hoped I would. Along with feeling incredibly uncomfortable in the beginning, I hated being tied to my machine for 20+ minutes and couldn’t imagine doing this process every day at work. Pumping was my biggest fear and I knew I had to figure something out so I wouldn’t lose my breastfeeding journey so early on.
During my pregnancy, I had heard a lot about the Willow Breast Pump. On Instagram, on the blogs of my favorite new moms and in basically everyt targeted ad I was getting on social media. They know their target audience and they were going to get me! With a price tag of $499.99, it was a big investment and one I thought a lot about before hitting the purchase button. In all honesty, my mom bought the pump for me and I truly could not be more grateful! It was the one thing that I thought and really hoped could help me in this journey of being a working, breastfeeding mom and *spoiler alert* I was right.
After ordering the pump online it arrived promptly with all the bits and pieces I needed for my first pumping session. The direction themselves are pretty easy to follow and the app made the whole process feel modern and right up my alley. I remember I followed along, step by step, ensuring I had each part together correctly so that I could get a perfect latch the first time around (But really, don’t sweat if you don’t. It takes time, just like everything breastfeeding related does). I remember hearing another new-mom explain it as having a big learning curve, which honestly scared me bit. However, I will say that I didn’t experience this myself, but more so a learning curve as I used the pump more and more over the next few months.
On my first day back to work, I was honestly excited and super nervous to pump. The huge benefit to the Willow is that you can pump anywhere and that’s exactly what I wanted to do! My full-time job is very busy and while I knew I could take the time to sit in a designated pumping room alone, I just didn’t want to. I carried my pumps and parts into the bathroom on that first day back, put them in and went back to sat down at my desk (see my first day back photo below — wearing my pumps and all!). From here, I’ve never looked back. I’ve pumped at my desk almost every working day for the past nine months and to me, that makes the pump completely worth it!
Now, this wouldn’t be a full review without sharing a few of the cons to all of the pros I have for this product, but in honesty — there’s not many.
Like with every breast pump, there’s a pumping noise you just can’t hide. Thankful the Willow is fairly quite and I work with a bunch of ladies that have found humor when my pump is too loud during a meeting or while working quietly at my desk.
The app has some flaws. Every once in awhile it will stop tracking how long I’ve been pumping for and how much milk I’ve pumped. Occasionally the main screen also freezes and I have to close the entire app down to get it to reboot. As long as I’ve had a time in mind on when I started, I’m fine to track my own time and can see how much milk was pumped once I’ve taking it out, but it is tough when this happens and I’m not to the “expression” stage of pumping yet. Overall, I’m sure updates are being made to the app and it’s still pretty amazing that everything can be tracked through our phones!
Sometimes I just can’t get the latch right. And truthfully, this didn’t start happening until a few months into using my Willow regularly. Maybe I became more relaxed with putting them in and thus had a harder time getting a perfect latch, but something did change, though, and oftentimes it takes me a few tries on one side or another to get the latch just right. Luckily, the app/pump tells you when something is off and you’re not left wondering if you’re connected to the pump properly.
A few other thoughts that I really felt can be seen as both pros and cons: The milk bags seal up tight after use and you don’t have to worry about spilling milk! On the flip side, the bags aren’t reusable and you have to purchase new ones every few months (at least that’s how I buy them — in a bulk order about every three months). And of course in the middle of writing this post, Willow announced reusable containers! The downsized — they’re only useable with the Willow version 2.0 and I currently have the 1.0. Anyways, the pumps are also amazing and can be worn around like a pair of headphones (eerrr, for your breasts), but that means they also have to be charged and sometimes I forget to charge one or the other. Oh, and you do have to purchase new parts every few months but that’s par for the course when it comes to all breast pumps — portable or not!
And with that, I think I’ve said everything I wanted to (err — plus some) on the Willow Breast Pump and a little bit on our feeding journey as well. I hope this post helps anyone who is considering the Willow Breast Pump or just needs a little encouragement in their own feeding journey. I am so grateful for all of the love and support Ace and I have received during this beautiful chapter and couldn’t have done it alone (it takes a village, ya’ll)! If you’re looking for breast + feeding resources, here are a few that that helped us along the way:
Mama Bird Lactation Services (Alicia is locally based here in Arizona and is INCREDIBLE — tell her Chelsea sent you her way!)
Earth Mama Organic Nipple Butter
If ya’ll have any questions about the pump, my experience or any of my other favorite breast feeding journey supplies, let me know! x0