Our newest arrival is 5 weeks old now and as we start to get some routine, I’m doing more expressing so he can be bottle fed breastmilk. We’ve hired a Medela hospital grade pump (so much more efficient than the consumer pumps I’ve had before) but double pumping means two hands tied up. Bane of my life.
Whether it’s tending to baby himself, checking emails, noseying on my phone or grappling with our eldest two sons, I usually need to (or want to) do something during 20 to 30 minute pumping sessions.
So when the team promoting a new handsfree breast pumping bra got in touch claiming to have a product that frees your hands up to do, well, anything, while you’re expressing, I was happy to road test it.
I’ve tried hands free pumping bras before…
With our second son, much of the first 3 months of his life, it felt, was spent with me grappling with hands free pumping bras that frankly failed to deliver. And you know? Turns out that a bad pumping bra is harder work than none at all.
But this product promised to be better. The product us a handsfree pumping bra by a US company called Nurturally and it promised this was “the sports bra of pumping bras.”
Now, a sports bra for me is two things:
- Comfortable
- Practical
So I thought we’d give this a go.
The Nurturally Pumping Bra
The ad is impressive and makes some big promises.
The bra is designed by the engineer husband of a Mum who was pumping herself as the website tells us:
“When Nurturally’s founder tried a few of the top-rated pumping bras, she found that none of them actually worked well, she asked her engineer husband to help her design the perfect pumping bra that solves all the problems that moms struggle with.”
And when it arrived at our house, I noticed the packaging makes some big promises too:
“Freedom inside,” is the promise. And as someone who was already coming to the end of her tether with having to drop everything every few hours to pump, this was truly a prospect I needed.
So, is it as good as it promises to be?
Nurturally Bra – My Honest Opinion
So there are a few things I was sceptical about trying this:
- One size fits all. Does it really? The model on the ad is significantly slimmer than me and I wondered whether this would actually fit
- “Truly hands free.” Previous experiences tell me that “truly” hands free means sort of hands free. But mostly not because you spend way too much time adjusting and holding into place anyway
So, first thing’s first:
It fits!
As advertised, this really is a one size fits all, I think. Very easily adjustable and incredibly comfortable.
Look, no hands!!
I’m not going to share a photo of me hands free pumping. It’ll put you off of your coffee. But it works. Genuinely. It’s really easy to get on (front clasp opening and closing for the win), get the bottles in place and then they stay in place.
So for the 5 days I’ve now been using this product, I’ve been able to actually do stuff while pumping.
Now, it does come with a bag for your pump too. So if you’re using a small portable one, you could be completely mobile. That part is a little wasted on me, sadly, as I’m using a Medela hospital grade pump. So I still have to be seated in the same spot, but I’m able to send an email or a text message, take a phone call and, importantly, pick up this little chap while I’m pumping:
Is it the best hands free pumping bra?
Yes. In my view it is. Granted, I’ve only used 4. But I had all but given up on the idea of hands free pumping. I’m very much looking forward to switching out the hospital grade hire pump for a smaller battery operated one so I can be mobile too. But this has saved me no fewer than 15 hours in the 5 days I’ve been using it. 15 hours where I’ve been able to do other things instead of just sitting holding bottles in place.
Absolute winner and highly recommended.
You can get it on Amazon.
I was gifted the product but wasn’t paid for this and wasn’t even asked to review. Opinions entirely my own. Genuinely love the product.
