There are a few minimal bodily controls on the Willow itself: an influence button, a mode button, and a plus and minus button to alter the suction stage. You all the time flip the pump on manually to start out a session, however you may want the Willow Go app helpful to see see what mode or stage you are utilizing (you possibly can sense a distinction in these, and the Willow all the time begins on the bottom stage) and the way lengthy you have been pumping.
The Willow Go has two pumping modes: a stimulation mode and an expression mode. Both have just a few ranges of suction and rhythm to select from within the app. The Willow Go will begin out in stimulation mode for 2 minutes earlier than switching to expression, to attempt to replicate how a child begins feeding and activate let down. You can manually swap modes on the highest of the Willow and throughout the app, and alter across the depth, too, to search out the best setting. Each aspect is managed individually, and also you’ll see a timer within the app to indicate your total pumping time for every pump (however not how lengthy you spent in every mode). It guarantees hospital-grade suction just like the basic Medela Pump in Style Advanced, and I pumped the identical variety of ounces that I might with my Spectra S1.
I attempted the Willow Go with each a sports activities nursing bra and certainly one of Willow’s personal pumping bras. Both have full protection and a hook to permit the bra to return all the way in which down after which safe round each the pump and breast, which is what it’s best to search for in any bra you employ with a wearable pump. It match effectively in each bras and was comfy sufficient to put on, however it actually wasn’t discreet.
Parts Party
Each aspect of the Willow Go has six elements: a container bowl, a duckbill valve, a diaphragm, a flange, a container again, and the pump itself that sits in the course of all these elements. Total with two pumps, that’s 12 items for the pump. The Willow additionally comes with two USB-An influence cords to cost every pump, however no energy adapter.
All these elements, plus stuffing it into your bra, make it exhausting to get a visible of how a lot you’re pumping. If you’re making an attempt to examine your progress or determine whether or not you’ve wrung each ounce of liquid out of your physique, it’s a must to do some head angling to see if something remains to be popping out of the duckbill valve. It’s beneficial to pump for round quarter-hour, however it’s best to have the ability to determine after just a few makes use of how lengthy a pump session your physique wants.
While you don’t wash the middle pump, you do wash the opposite 10 elements. That’s no small quantity, however the Spectra S1 has the same variety of washable elements. But I favor washing the Willow Go’s items. They’re bigger, making them simpler to deal with and simpler to air or hand dry versus a number of the smaller breast pump elements that I’m consistently afraid I’ll drop down the sink drain. I particularly love that the container bowl pops all the way in which off for me to scrub, slightly than scrubbing yet one more child bottle. These elements are all dishwasher secure, too.
