Medela Babies & Kids

Great hand held pump – This pump is great and easy to use, the handle has 2 different ways to pump to stimulate the milk. I recommend you read how to use it both ways to understand how to get the best out of it!! Show details

Amazing spend! – I have tried the harmony, which was also good for manual pumping but this has been so much easier and less time spent expressing. Would recommend to anyone to ssve yourself time and be able to get more jobs done around the house Show details

Waste of $37 Did not stay in place and did not work. Had to pry the flimsy thing out of my daughter’s mouth. This product was recommended by a… Read more

nurse to try and help me to Breastfeed my 2 week old that has struggled to latch. All it did was curse me more stress. 1 star is to much

Easy to assemble and disassemble for cleaning. 4 month old exclusively breastfed refused every other test/bottle and brand combination. Tried this… Read more

one as a why not and the baby took to it instantly then just as easily back on the booby. Amazing wish I had this for my first born

Narrow/standard bottle issue – Like the bottles, easy to use & clean however.. Cons: Only 2 size teats no fast flow option Difficult to find narrow (standard) neck teats as spare,… Read more

only find wide neck ones (in my area) unless you want to buy them online Can only buy narrow neck as single bottle not pack of 3 like wide neck bottles

Excellent – I was unable to successfully breast feed my first two children because of my inverted nipples and not through lack of trying. I saw multiple… Read more

lacktation consultants and doctors and due to babies weight loss had to fall back to the bottle. I only stumbled across this product in the chemist and cannot recommend it enough, it is FANTASTIC! My third child is feeding well & gaining weight without the need of a nipple sheild or any other assistance. The midwives at my hospital were also impressed. Comfotable, work fantastic

Convenient - Necessary/Handy as a backup or travel sterilizer – Our journey into microwave sterilizer bags started abruptly. Tuesday morning a few weeks ago, our UV sterilizer wouldn't switch on. With the calls of… Read more

our hungry baby filling the house and piles of feeding equipment (shields, bottles, pumps dummies etc ) needing to be cleaned to be able to be used, we needed a solution and fast.

So out came the microwave sterilizer bags that we had recieved complimentarily as part of various different bottle combo packs we'd bought before babies arrival. Luckily we hadn't thrown the bags out and they were stashed in a drawer in babies room.

In the 2 weeks it took to get our UV sterilizer back in action I became quite expert in using these bags. Both the Medela bags (reviewed here) and the Spectra bags (in an other review). Although there was a small learning curve both brands of bags work fine although are slightly different to use. And not surprisingly the instructions to use them are slightly different too. So after the review of the medela bag just below I have included some tips, tricks and what I have found using microwave sterilizer bags.

Medela Quick Clean Microwave Bags review

Good points - Compact and easy to travel with - we won't be taking the UV steiliser travelling anymore, although it is better to use at home. - Quick and easy to use, utilising commonly found items in most kitchens - Intructions pretty good - An integrated snap lock which runs the full length of the bag - this makes it easy to run your finger along to seal - A dedicated cool spot to pick the hot bag up - It sits upright on the microwave turntable - A steam escape vent on the side of the bag - you can see the trail of steam as the microwaves table spins - The steam vent acts as a drain when finished as it is positioned opposite to the cool pick up point - Durable - way more than the "20 times" usable lifespan (allegedly). It looks like it's brand new (although steamy) after 20 uses

Neither here nor there - One of our medela bags had its snap lock strip delaminate from the bag (after several days and many, many uses - way more than the rated 20).

Bad points - Apparently can only be used a rated 20 times. 20 uses comes around in a day or two - The bag has a 'use counter' that you are supposed to tick each time you use it. The plastic that the bag is constructed from is very smooth (not to mention steamy when just out of the microwave) that I couldn't find a pen that would actually mark the bag - making the counter somewhat irellevant. (Not an issue if you ignore the number of uses altogether and replace when the stop sealing - see note in further comments).

Conclusion Great bag, easy to use and perfect for travelling. I like the position of the steam vent and the full length zip loc. It looses a star for the arbitrary number of uses rating, and the useless use counter. I slightly prefer the medela bag to the spectra bag if side by side but both are good to use to get the job done.

General comments on microwave sterilization:

Successful usage of bags (well any sterilizing process really) depends of a couple of factors and a basic understanding on what makes them work

How they work They work by making steam from a small amount of water (say 20mls) added to the bag being turning into steam by the microwaves. The parts inside that bag need to be exposed to the steam for a period of time (3m) to reliably kill any bacteria that may be present. Microwaves by the very nature of a wave have areas where they hit and heat and gaps where they aren't and are cool (which is why microwaves have turntables to more evenly distribute the heating effect)

Factors to consider and tips when using bags to us sterilizer bags successfully 1. Microwave power - A lot of microwaves are powerful - like ours is 1100 watts. But some smaller microwaves are pretty weak at 600, 700 watts. Obviously more powerful microwaves turn more water into steam faster therefore on more powerful microwaves you need less time to make the steam. The medelas usages instructions specified suggested on time windows for different microwave powers. In the case of 1100 watts it suggested 90 seconds. BUT the items still should remain in the bag for the remaining time to sterilize the items properly. So I used the microwave for 1:40 and let it sit until the 3 minute mark before emptying the bag - If you don't know how powerful your microwave is, put the model number into google to find the power of the microwave you are using (or look on the label on the back (or underside) of the microwave

2. How you load the items in the bag affects how the steam can get in and around them. So don't over load it And don't put too many of the same things in there as they tend to stick together (thus not getting exposed to steam) - use a mix of different hard and soft things in the bag at the same time - bottle, lids dummies, shields. The bottles proved some structure / space for the steam to move around the items to sterilize them.

3, The materials that the items being sterilised are made out of... Most, if not all, are likely to be constructed some from a type of BPA free polymer. Each polymer has its own resistance to thermal warping to consider. - Most items made from rigid plastics will be in their thermal tolerance window- bottles, lids etc so you don't have to worry too much about them melting (although they can get rather hot to touch when unpacking). - Softer polymer items tend to be more susceptible to heat warping. Dummies are thick enough to no be much of a concern - But with tubing, you have to be careful. The very nature of tubing being small diameter, hollow and long means there is inevitably still some pockets of water inside the tube. Where the microwaves hit the water it is heated and turns into steam. These steam pockets are often trapped between pockets of cool water and are able to get super heated in the spots that the microwaves hit. Super heated steam can warp/melt the tubing. We don't sterilize our tubing using microwave bags as it doesn't come into contact with the milk anyway however if your pump has tubing that does get milk in it - be very careful to empty that tube of as much of that residue water as possible before putting it into a microwave bag to avoid overheating parts of the tubing.

4. The chances are, that you have a reasonable amount of stuff to sterilise a 2 to 8 times a day depending on your baby. To save time I recommend having at least 2 bags in circulation at any given time when washing. One in the microwave being nuked as you stack/unstack the other one.

5. Emptying hot bags - Wait until the 3 minute mark and then pick the bag up from the cool spot, tip the bag over the sink before opening the bag to avoid getting burned by hot water or steam.

6. Workflow for sterilizer bags differs slightly to using a UV machine. With a Ultra Violet it is: Wash > Dry > Sterilize > Store With a Microwave bag it is: Wash > Sterilize > Dry > Store

On the rated number of uses.....: The Spectra bag claims it can be used 30 times The Medela bag claim 20 times. The material for both bags appears to be the same or very similar. There is no good written (scientific or otherwise) reason in the instructions of either as to why the bags are to suddenly to stop being used and become rubbish after this number has been reached. After the respective arbitrary 20 and/or 30 uses each/both brands of bags appear and work as new. To the point that it's almost like the numbers printed are there just to encourage people to buy more of their bags prematurely. A bit like the instruction on shampoo of "rinse and repeat" that virtually doubled shampoo sales (google it).

Personally, I will continue to use each bag until it stops sealing the steam in properly. So far one of my Medela bags is well past 100 uses and still operates fine - zip lock seals, it puffs up full of steam). Another I threw away after the ziplock separated from the outer bag after at least 60 uses (guesstimate cause you can't actually mark the bag counter window but even then that's at least 3 times longer than the rated number so a win for the environment).

Unfortunately this product destroy the brand name. The fist time I use it the tube broke and I bought it brand new from baby bunting. When I then… Read more

bought a replacement tube, like the other review, it doesn’t have enough suction. I found out that you have to reconnect the tube on the collection cup several times during pumping to have a better suction. Have to reconnect every few minutes or so. Not recommending this product at all. I wish I looked at products before I purchase it. As it’s over $200

STAY AWAY from Medela breast pump – STAY AWAY from Madela breastpump!!I used a Medela pump 8 years ago for my daughter and had a great experience. However, for my second baby, I wanted… Read more

a hands-free option so I could multitask. My husband purchased the Medela Swing Maxi Hands-Free Breast Pump from Chemist Warehouse in July 2024, just a few days after I gave birth. He even had to drive an hour to Epping since it was out of stock at our local store. Unfortunately, by December, I noticed the pump wasn’t working as well. It started sounding weaker and wasn’t extracting as much milk as before. Yesterday, it completely stopped working and won’t even turn on! It’s incredibly disappointing to spend $400 on a pump that only lasted six months. Sadly, my husband didn’t keep the receipt, so we can’t return or exchange it.

Today, I decided to try the hands-free breast pump from Kmart, and I’m blown away. For only $89, it has incredible suction, comparable to the Medela Freestyle that costs $499! To all the new mums out there, I highly recommend avoiding Medela. Save your money and consider better, more affordable options instead!