In partnership with Elvie. Editor’s Note: We only select and work with partners that meet our quality standards, so you can rest assured we only endorse products we believe in.
I’ve reached the age where late night martinis have largely given way to sunny afternoon park hangs: in short, most of my friends are becoming moms. Watching them juggle their new families, intensifying careers, and busy social lives simultaneously has been nothing short of amazing. One thing has come up again and again while chatting about this new chapter in their lives: the need for technology that supports new moms as they take charge of navigating their complex, ever-evolving lives.
In my new-mom-surrounded life, I started to notice how few products marketed towards moms actually took women’s real needs into account – especially when it came to breast pumps. They all seemed to be slower, louder, or unwieldier than they claimed, making finding a place and time to pump a constant headache.
Enter, Elvie. I first heard about Elvie via a friend who used their expert-designed Pelvic Trainer. I immediately loved how empowering and no-nonsense their branding was: smart language for smart women instead of the usual whispered, cutesy euphemisms. Finally, this seemed like a brand that was approaching matrescence (the way the body changes during motherhood) from a genuinely thoughtful & rigorously designed perspective. At that point, I’d had enough of watching my friends compromise to fit their lives around sub-par technology. Here was a brand designed to fit around women’s lives, not the other way around. I decided to ask the new mothers in my life about their biggest breast-pumping challenges and see how the Elvie Pump stacked up.
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Discretion and Comfort
The first thing that came up with my nursing friends when I asked them about their experience with other pumps was how ill-fitting they were. Poor design meant that they were constantly uncomfortable and self-conscious about pumping. The breast pumps they’d tried were unwieldy and made them feel like they had to constantly jump through hoops to pump in private.
The Elvie Pump ($412) is a slimline wearable electric breast pump designed to be used anywhere from home to the workplace. I was shocked by how discreet its silhouette actually was. The Elvie Pump is designed to fit flush with the breast and fits in most standard nursing bras. This means a more comfortable fit that’s less noticeable, so you can feel at ease wearing the Elvie Pump out and about – no more inconvenient trips home or to a weird coffee shop bathroom in the middle of the day to pump in private. To make things even more worth your investment: the Elvie Pump is FSA/HSA eligible.
Wireless Mobility
My friends and I talk all the time about how it feels like medical tech for female-bodied people is still in the stone age. Apparently Elvie’s been eavesdropping, because the Elvie Pump is controlled by a seriously impressive, super discreet app – no disrupting your stealth mode pumping with loud alerts or inconveniently-placed controls. You can start and stop the pump and adjust speed and suction without touching the pump itself. Plus the Elvie Pump’s sensors accurately track output so there’s no need to run off and double check that things are working smoothly. The Elvie Pump’s wireless, handsfree design means you’re not tethered to an outlet or tangled in wires every time you need to pump. This is technology that actually delivers on its promise of mobility.
Quiet Power
Of course, a huge downside of traditional breast pumps is the noise. It doesn’t matter if a breast pump’s silhouette is sleek if it’s deafeningly loud to operate. The Elvie Pump is insanely quiet: at only 32dB, it’s literally whisper quiet. For context, 30dB is about the quietest sound level a healthy human ear can hear clearly in a still environment. I could genuinely barely hear the Elvie Pump while it was operating in my quiet office. It was definitely quieter than my desk fan or mini fridge, and even managed to sound quieter than my ticking wall clock.
Leak-Free Living
One of the problems that made my friends the most self-conscious about pumping was the potential for leaks. They were sick of having to do extra laundry to clean wet, milk-stained clothes due to other pumps’ poor fit and sub par suction. Elvie Pump’s Smart Rhythms™ feature has seven intensity settings and two modes to help boost milk flow and securely attach to the breast, minimizing spillage while maximizing output. Elvie’s clearly well-tested pump design was really apparent in this category: its container is at the bottom, so there’s no need for messy flipping that could result in unnecessary spills. But leaks don’t just happen during pumping: Elvie’s also designed the Elvie Catch ($19) leak-free collection cups to discreetly collect extra milk even when you’re not pumping. Plus they have the 6 oz Elvie Breast Milk Storage Bags ($15) with a hygenic, super secure double-seal zipper. The bags are made from thick, tear-proof material to prevent punctures, minimizing mess. No crying over spilled milk here.
What’s my Roman Empire? Thinking about all the amazing new moms in my life, of course. Luckily the folks at Elvie seem similarly obsessive about supporting women. Their slimline wireless Elvie Pump thoughtfully addresses each of the top 4 issues my breast-pumping friends had with other pumps. No more hiding in the office bathroom or staying home to pump: the Elvie Pump lets you pump with pride.
