The First Years company, established in the US in 1952, has won awards for its baby care, feeding and play products. It’s part of the Learning Curve family, which has other nursery brands, such as Lamaze developmental play toys, to its name. The First Years claims its Breastflow range is the only bottlefeeding system with a double teat that requires both suction and compression. This is meant to mimic the way a baby breastfeeds.
What we love
The First Years Breastflow Manual Breast Pump is easy to operate and comes with two bottles with travel caps and two milk storage bags. It’s compatible with all products in the Breastflow range, so you can buy extra bottles and teats.
The pump’s Flexi-Fit shield offers a reliable and comfortable fit on your breast. The mechanism works well, making expressing quite fast for a manual pump. Its swivel handle also allows you to choose the position for pumping that suits you best.
And on top of all this, it’s easily transportable and you don’t have to deal with too many bits when assembling and disassembling the pump, making it a doddle to clean.
What to watch for
Bottles don't come with teats, but these can be bought separately and are available in medium and fast flow at £5.99 for pack of two.
The instruction manual is certainly environmentally friendly because it doesn’t use as much paper as other manuals, but the size of the type is quite small and the babble of languages, squeezed on what is a large sheet printed on both sides and two smaller leaflets, is not ideal for a quick browse. A booklet with an index of topics would have been more helpful. The instructions are quite comprehensive, though, including a troubleshooting section and guidelines on breast milk storage.
Who is The First Years Breastflow Manual Breast Pump best for?
Mums who express occasionally after an easy-to-operate manual option that’s fast, powerful and comfortable.
Although the included bottles don’t come with teats, The First Years Breastflow Manual Breast Pump is a really efficient manual breast pump and one of the best on the market.
