Ameda Purely Yours Breast Pump with Backpack (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

Ameda Purely Yours vs Medela Pump in Style AdvancedCurrent Cost:Ameda ~ $230 Medela ~$250Yes, I own both! I’m a full-time working mom of 2 sweet boys, 2.5 yrs and 6 mos. I purchased the Ameda with my first and used it full time (3x a day, 5 days a week) for 4 months. I purchased the Medela with my second and have used it full time (3x a day, 5 days a week) for 3 months now and still going strong. I have a LOT to say about these pumps, but the bottom line is Medela is far superior. If you don’t want to read the full review, save yourself time, money, and frustration and purchase a Medela.My experience with Ameda:I purchased this pump for two main reasons. First, it was a closed system (milk can’t get into tubes) and the cost differential – there was a greater one when I purchased the Ameda in 2011. At first things worked well. I starting pumping at night to build supply before returning to work. After returning to work, things continued well for a few months, then all of a sudden my supply started dropping. I could tell that my pump “wasn’t quite the same” so I read and read online. Ultimately, I determined that I needed to replace the valves. I did, and things improved… for a few weeks. Then, again, my supply dropped, I replaced the valves and things improved for a short time. This repeated several times (those valves are $7 for a pair… that adds up!!!!). I spent more than what I wanted to on replacement valves. This went on until my son was 7 months and then my supply all but dried up. When it got to the point that I could only get 4 oz per day and I was pumping 3x a day for 20 minutes each I decided it was time to switch to formula. Did I blame the pump? Not at the time, but now, absolutely!So, I cleaned everything well and packed it away carefully knowing that I would need it again for the next baby (except for the time when my close friend had her Ameda motor die on her after about 6 months of daily use and she borrowed mine for a week – hers was under the 1 year warranty, so Ameda did send a replacement free of charge).When my second baby came, I pulled it back out and pumped some during maternity leave without issue at first (new valves). Then all of a sudden I felt the pump “wasn’t quite the same” so I took it to a lactation consultant to look it over. We tested just the motor and it was reading the correct suction pressure. We checked the tubing and other connections until we found the root cause; THE VALVES!!!!!! The bad valve was essentially causing the pump to pull less than half the expected vacuum. Bottom line, it was worthless with bad valves. The lactation consultant opened a new package of valves from her own store and one of them was bad right of package. We went through all of mine and the majority of them were bad. No wonder my supply dried up… I was pumping, but with bad valves I wasn’t actually removing milk. If you don’t remove milk your body slows the production. I decided at that point to test until I found a few extra good valves and then anytime I needed more, I would just have to come back and test to 100% verify that the valves I was using were good. I DID NOT want to lose my supply again just because of the bad valves. Well, it didn’t matter, because a week into me pumping at work, my motor started to go out. Yes, it was 2 years old, but the actual working life of the pump was about 5. Either way, I may have only used it for 5 months but it was not under warranty so I purchased a brand new Medela pump.My experience with Medela:I purchased a Medela Pump in Style and what a difference!!! I could tell an immediate difference, but for the sake of not wanting the “new and shiny” aspect to persuade my review, I’ve waited to write this. So, with the Ameda in my first two weeks of work, I already saw a decline in my milk supply. This gem got my supply back up to normal within 3 days. If that’s not enough to persuade you to go with Medela, I don’t know what will. I have no complaints with this pump. In fact, that close friend that I mentioned hers broke on her… when she has a second little one I plan to help her buy a Medela. Yes, I’m that passionate about it. I feel sorry for the mommy that buys the Ameda and then doesn’t have the support system or money to problem solve the Ameda issues and buy all those replacement valves.Here are my opinions on the other aspects of the pumps:Bag:The backpack is tall and forces you to stack things. So, when you need the cooler from the bottom, you have to pull everything out. The tote, while maybe a little bigger is better organized so I don’t end up pulling everything out and readjusting. The Ameda is designed so you can pull the motor out of the bag, the Medela is not. So far that hasn’t presented a problem, but I can understand if you want to tuck it away in a small bag how it might be. The Ameda has no room to spare. If you want to bring a book along, good luck. With my Medela bag, I pack the hands free bra, extra bottles, a book, and extra accessories… with room to spare!Setup/Takedown:I felt like it was a much bigger deal to setup the Ameda to pump. You have to pull everything out of the bag and setup and then take it all back down and put away. With the Medela, the motor stays in the bag and everything stores nicely so you don’t have to pull everything out. I never have to take the cooler out and the tubes stay attached and have a nice little storage bag next to the motor.Flanges/Valves/Fittings:The Ameda accomplishes a “hygienic” closed system, which is a great concept, but comes at a price. I attribute this to my inadequate pumping and ultimately my supply drying up. The silicone diaphragm seemed to always get stuck in the vacuum position and the valves constantly needed replaced. I never did have to clean the tubes though. I also bought a different sized flange, but it was one that slide into the existing one and I never felt it made a good seal. The Medela is an open system and I do get condensation in the tubing. It’s worth it to me though because I know I’m getting great suction. I simply run my pump for a minute or two afterwards and it dries them out. The little white membranes provide the same function as the Ameda valves, but they are much less expensive and are much less likely to need replacing. I also had to buy a different flange size for the Medela, but it is designed so that the flange itself can just simply be a plug and play. It’s not an insert like the Ameda so I don’t have to worry about another joint that could potentially lead to suction loss.Cooler:The coolers are about the same size, but the Medela only has enough room for 4 bottles. The Ameda has room for 6. I only 4 - 5oz bottles so it works perfectly for me. With the Ameda, the ice packs never lasted long enough in my opinion. The Medela icepack is far superior. I even heat my milk to scald (150 deg F) – lipase enzyme issue you can Google if you’re interested in learning about it – and then I stick it in the bag and it is able to cool it and keep it cold until the evening! It’s awesome.Bottles:Ameda is 4 oz, Medela is 5 oz. Other than that, they are essentially the same. I don’t use them. I pump into the Playtex drop-ins pump and store liners and then they pop into the drop-in bottles (less bottle washing!).Motor:The vacuum supposedly is rated the same (lactation consultant shared that with me, but I’m not going to lie I didn’t read into it), but my experience is that the Medela is more reliable (several reviews report motors dying prematurely… which I experienced as well as my close friend). Also, the Ameda has the ability to adjust both speed and suction. At first I thought this would be perfect, but the more I used it, the more I was annoyed that it didn’t just automatically adjust. How am I supposed to know how fast it should go? Haha. So, the fact that the Medela pump does it’s automatic fast speed at first for letdown then adjusts to regular on its own or with the push of a button makes my life much easier. I’ve never once thought how nice it would be to adjust the speed myself. With the Ameda I always had to use full suction. With the Medela I have it at half suction and it works perfectly! Also, the Medela works faster for me than the Ameda did.Cleaning:The flanges are essentially the same. The two things that are different about cleaning is that the Ameda valves are a pain to clean because you really can’t clean them for risk of damaging them… and they are expensive! I gently rinsed them and left it at that. With the Medela, I do have to rinse the tubes once a week and have to do it when I’m certain I won’t need them… because you have to wait for them to dry completely before use again. So far it hasn’t been an issue.Availability of parts:Because Medela is a better known brand, you can find just about any replacement item you need at Target. So, when you need that emergency membrane/valve, you can almost guarantee you’ll find it at a nearby story, whereas, with Ameda I was overnight shipping if I had an emergency.Noise:The Ameda is much louder and more obnoxious sounding the Medela. Mine had a whirring sound when it pumped. Others who heard it thought something was wrong with it and usually asked if everything was okay (they were Medela users).Batteries:If you’re going to pump in the car, even once, buy the car adapter. These things sucks batteries like crazy (both of them). The battery pack is external with the Medela, which is has to be since you can’t remove the motor… but it makes it annoying.Hands free:Do yourself a favor and get a hands free pumping bra!In conclusion, buy Medela and rest assured you’ve made the right decision.

I chose this pump after reading reviews online for months for the medela and other pumps. I chose this one because I liked the idea of the "closed"system. Its extremely easy to put together and clean. I have no problem using it. This is for my third child and I only used a hand pup with the first on, stayed home and nursed the second one for a yr. And for the third baby- I have to go back to work after 10 wks so i wanted something easy to use and something to express milk as quickly as possible. I have not had to go back to work yet. I have used it at home and it quickly pumps about 3oz in about 5 mins. I am not trying to express all of my milk at once just because I am still nursing as much as baby wants. But with the 3 ozs (per side), in such a quick time, I am encouraged that I will be able to pump all my milk rather quickly at work.

I'm surprised at the bad reviews, I've had no problems at all with this pump. It's simple to use, easy to clean, and I can pump directly into Evenflo glass bottles since I don't want to use plastic ones. I bought a parts replacement kit just in case, but haven't had to replace anything yet, not even the membranes that I've been cleaning extra carefully thanks to warnings from other reviewers. I chose this pump because it was less expensive than the Medela, and many reviews say those have problems with milk backing up into the tubing. I'm pleased with the Ameda and would definitely recommend it.

I've had this for almost 8 months now. I recommend getting it BEFORE you have your baby and if you're positive you'll be going back to work (because of the price). I used it 3 times a day after I went back to work and it's very efficient. It could pump up to twice as fast as my friend's pump; she was doing it at the same time with me at work. It's easy to maintain since no air gets in the tube. The backpack is very nice because I had to carry a purse and huge tote bag of food into work everyday. I also liked the little black bottle carrier that will hold up to six 4-5oz bottles and the 3 ice packs it comes with. You'll want to buy more of the bottles or just by regular bottles that will fit right on it. I know that Dr. Browns worked and those cheap little 3pk Gerber bottles worked too. I'm sure it's going to last just fine for my next baby too.It's been about 13 months with this product and I still like it. I only use it about 2-3 times a week these days though. It was losing it's suction last month until I figured out that I needed to replace the white rubber-like thing that attaches to the shield piece. It came with 4 of those pieces so I haven't needed to buy anything extra yet. Great product.

The backpack is very convenient but the pump is awful. It's loud & the suction goes down after the first few minutes because the diaphragms don't relax completely. The worst part is pumps aren't returnable so that's $200 wasted.

so far so good with the pump, I've been using it about a week. I like the compact/backpack and portability of it, though I haven' gone anywhere with it, I can tell it will be easy to travel and commute with.Sometimes I have issues with the cycle dial and when I turn it all the way up, it in fact slows down, I have then readjust the dial - it's frustrating, but not a huge issue. I suppose I could call the manufacturer, but my time is limited these days with my newborn, so I'll just continue to do the redial.