Medela Solo Hands-Free Breast Pump review

Throughout my pregnancy, I was overwhelmed by a lot of things, the main one being the world of breast pumps. From hands-free pumps to double or singles, it was one part of mum life that felt pretty complicated to me, and a little scary. However, I jumped at the chance to try the Medela Solo Hands-Free Breast Pump, a step up from the Medela Solo Single Electric Breast Pump, but not too daunting as it only consisted of three parts.

Testing the Medela Solo Hands-Free Breast Pump

I started using the Medela Solo Hands-Free Breast Pump in the first week after giving birth due to my little boy struggling with a tongue-tie diagnosis. He found it hard to latch from me but seemed to much prefer a bottle so with the help of midwives, I decided to try and express some milk so I knew how much he was getting.

I started my pumping journey using a Haaka manual pump that caught my let-down milk, but I soon needed something more advanced when my milk started to come in.

I’m not going to lie, the Medela Solo Hands-Free did look a little daunting (although not as daunting as some on the market) and I looked at the box a bit like a deer in the headlights at first. Thoughts of 'What bit goes where!?' and 'What if my nipple doesn’t fit?' were going through my head. Thankfully, I scanned the QR code on the front of the box, downloaded the app that comes free with the pump and things got a whole lot clearer.

The pump itself consists of three parts, the breast cup that catches the milk, a tube that provides air and then the handheld control unit with just four simple buttons. All the parts are dishwasher safe and cleaning them after each use is super simple and stress-free. All in all, it is pretty small and neat, but I would say the cup itself is bigger than some on the market which is good if you want to pump a lot of milk in one go, but not so good if you want to easily slot it in your bra and have larger breasts.

The remote control can easily fit in a pocket if you want a hands-free experience too. It also comes with a charger that provides a lengthy amount of charge, you can easily pump a few times before the red light starts flashing at you to pop it on charge again.

One thing I love about the Medela Solo Hands-Free Breast Pump is the difference in the pumping settings. Using an electric pump can be overwhelming and can cause a little discomfort at first (especially when your boobs are sore) so I was pleased to find how gentle the first setting was. You can easily stay on that setting for a while before building yourself up to the stronger ones.

The transparent design of the cup makes it easy to check that you are placing your nipple correctly, preventing rubbing and supporting effective milk expression. You can also look at how much milk you’re expressing which is handy.

If you’re one for wanting to keep track of feeds and how much you’re expressing, the family app provides you with real-time tracking as well as pumping tips and handy guides.

Final verdict

On the whole, I was really impressed with the Medela Hands-Free Breast Pump once I got to grips with how to use it. Even though the app and handy guides really did help me get my head around how to use the Medela pump, the instructions themselves weren’t easy to understand - but that might just be personal to me and the fact I hadn't done too much research on breast pumps as a first-time mum.

I also found that the cup can leak at times, especially when transferring to a breast milk storage bag or container and you have to be careful about the extra milk you can catch in the middle of the cup.

Hannah Mellin has been working in the journalism industry for over a decade. Hannah has recently given birth to her first baby with her partner. She's up for trying anything and everything to make first-time mums feel less anxious and prepared for motherhood.