‘Is the Elvie breast pump worth it’ is a question you’re likely to ask before you pop one in your virtual shopping basket. The answer is yes.

If you’re a savvy shopper who likes a bargain then it can be hard to believe that something so expensive – the single pump is £269 and the double is £499 – is going to be worth it.

But the Elvie breast pump is one of the best breast pumps we’ve seen – as we highlighted in our five-star Elvie breast pump review where we asked a breastfeeding mum to put it to the test with her baby . O ther breast pumps are cheaper, of course. But w e named the Elvie Single Electric Breast Pump the best premium breast pump you can buy based on feedback from our tester Lisa Murphy-O’Reilly, mum to three-month-old Arlo . “It’s completely changed expressing for me,” she told us. “Now I can actually go out for the evening with friends without carrying a big bulky pump along with me, and I won’t be stuck hiding in the toilet to express.”

The Elvie Single Electric Breast Pump

Elvie Double Electric Breast Pump – £499 £399 (SAVE £100) | Mamas & Papas You can save £100 on the Elvie double electric breast pump with this Black Friday deal. Two pumps are included – just pop them in your bra and press play on the free app to start expressing. It stops when the bottles are full.

What’s so special about one of the most expensive breast pumps you can buy? The Elvie Single Electric Breast Pump is a wearable breast pump that fits discreetly inside a standard bra. This means breastfeeding mums can express at the office or even on the bus without anyone noticing. We know what you’re thinking:  Could you actually use it on the bus? We’re not sure why you’d want to but yes. It’s really that portable and discreet.

Is the Elvie breast pump worth it? Yes, i f you’re looking for a versatile breast pump that will allow you to express breastmilk quickly and easily whilst carrying on with your life. If you want the convenience and freedom of expressing without having to sit hunched over a breast pump near the mains supply or in a quiet corner, it’s worth buying. Here are five reasons why we think the Elvie breast pump is worth it.

Breast pumps are complicated AF to assemble. Even those that aren’t a pain to assemble usually have lots of fiddly little pieces to put together. Cleaning and sterilising a breast pump can be a bit of a chore, even if putting it together in the first place isn’t. Expressing can be stressful. So taking the hassle out of assembling and cleaning the breast pump is worth paying extra for.But the Elvie breast pump, by contrast, takes seconds to assemble and there are five parts to clean. This might not seem like a big deal. But mislaying a tiny plastic tube on your draining board or not being able to express because you can’t remember how to put the pump back together is actually enough to reduce you to tears. Our tester says the Elvie breast pump is much more straightforward to disassemble for cleaning than any other pump she has tried. 

It really is as simple as popping it in your bra and getting on with life while you’re pumping. That said, there is a bit of a knack to using it, especially if you’re used to a more traditional breast pump. For example, the seal needs to be completely flat against the shield for the pump to work and you need to make sure you’re uusing the right size shield. All the parts also need to be thoroughly dry before use. The suction can be a bit hit and miss at first but it’s not magic; it’s a device that you need to take time to get to grips with.

Does it leak? According to our tester, that depends on what type of bra wore. That’s to be expected with a wearable device – what you wear will affect how it performs. You don’t need to fork out for a fancy pumping bra, which some hands-free breast pumps require, but a saggy bra will do you no favours with this. You need a well-fitting bra that can hold the pump securely in place against your breast. It’s a game-changer but it’s not gravity-defying.

Is the Elvie breast pump worth it? Yes. Because you can connect the Elvie Single Electric Breast Pump to the Elvie Pump app, which you can download for free on your smartphone. T he pump works without the app if tech isn’t your cup of tea. But honestly, you’d be mad not to use the app. The clever tech is partly what you’re paying extra for. From monitoring your milk volume and tracking your pumping history to the ability to control the pump remotely, the Elvie app features incredibly useful functionality that other electric breast pumps can’t compete with. Our favourite techy feature? You can actually a djust the breast pump suction via your smartphone – without having to rummage around in your bra.

What’s more, any issues you encounter are easy to sort. The Elvie app and website have great FAQ sections and our testers have found the customer services team to be very helpful.

The Elvie breast pump is an expensive bit of baby gear. ( The single electric breast pump is £269 and the double is £499.) But when it comes to value for money, it’s a sound investment.

In the fashion world, there’s a saying for when you’re weighing up whether or not to buy a pricey pair of shoes or a designer coat: price per wear. Unlike much from the fashion industry, this also applies to shopping for baby gear. Think about price per use.

If a coat costs £270 and you’re likely to wear it for around 90 days of the year and wear it for three or four seasons, it’s better value for money than a much cheaper coat that you’ll wear less frequently and end up replacing sooner. It sounds like clever marketing but it’s common sense. Sometimes, the more expensive product is more expensive because it’s a better product. And that makes it better value than a cheaper alternative.

To put it another way. Say you spend twenty minutes cleaning, drying, and assembling a fiddly breast pump every time you use it. But only five minutes doing the same with the Elvie. The Elvie is worth it because the cheaper alternative – although it will cost you less money – will probably end up costing you more time.

Our tester was able to express more milk with the Elvie Single Electric Breast Pump than with other pumps she tried. There’s no guarantee that will be true for everyone who uses it, of course. But it’s enough to convince us that the Elvie breast pump is worth the price tag.

It’s difficult to convey how challenging it can be to use a breast pump. Picture yourself tethered – by your boob – to the nearest plug socket. Trying not to stress about whether you’ll express enough milk to earn yourself an evening out with friends or – more likely – an early night to catch up on sweet, precious sleep while your partner feeds the baby. Imagine being aggressively squeezed by a hungry, clanking breast pump. Imagine feeling positively bovine at the very time when your body image has taken something of a pummelling. 

Then imagine doing away with all of that, and popping the Elvie breast pump in your bra while you make dinner or watch TV. Without needing subtitles because the pump isn’t noisy. Imagine expressing peacefully while you read a magazine. Or whatever it is mums do when they finally get five minutes to themselves. (I wouldn’t know because the Elvie wasn’t around when I was feeding my babies.)

Some things to note about using the Elvie wearable breast pump: sit upright when pumping and don’t overdo the multitasking. You could probably get away with shovelling pasta into a toddler’s mouth whilst using this wearable device without spilling a drop. But it’s not the time to mop the kitchen floor. (In fact, it’s a good excuse to let someone else do that.)

The Elvie Double Electric Breast Pump – Double

In conclusion, the Elvie breast pump is worth every precious penny it costs because it actually does what so many bits of baby gear promise but fail to deliver on. It makes life easier for mums. Our tester found she could express more milk in less time and carry on with other things, which is why she gave it a five-star review and we rated it the best premium breast pump you can buy.

Here’s how our tester put it. ‘I hated expressing before I got the Elvie breast pump. Using a traditional pump made me feel like a milk machine. I was already feeding my baby around the clock – the last thing I wanted was to be tethered to the sofa like a cow at a dairy farm. The Elvie, by contrast, made me feel like myself again. It makes expressing hassle-free.’