When you’re shopping for a breast pump, you might search for something covered by your insurance or one that’ll express milk most efficiently. And in either case, you may want a pump that’s a little more mobile. Enter: hands-free wearable breast pumps.
Traditional breast pumps include a bottle to collect breast milk that’s attached to a flange and, when you use a pumping bra, you can tuck those flanges into special holes in the bra, securing the pump to your breast and keeping everything in place. The downside? It still protrudes outside your bra.
Fortunately, wearable breast pumps can help. These pumps fit entirely inside your bra — no tubes, no external attachments. That means you can not only pump hands-free, but also much more discreetly.
Here’s what to consider when buying a wearable breast pump, plus a list of some of the best ones on the market. (And if you want to see more options besides just hands-free options, check out our complete list of the best breast pumps.)
How we chose the best wearable breast pumps
We reviewed and selected wearable breast pumps based on the following criteria from parents on the What to Expect editorial staff and What to Expect community members.
Comfort: When choosing any type of breast pump, comfort is a top priority. Wearable breast pumps should feel comfortable when worn and fit properly inside your bra. Remember: Finding the right breast pump flange size is crucial to getting a comfortable fit on any breast pump, wearable or otherwise, so make sure to measure yourself using the manufacturer’s size guide.
Suction: Breast pump suction is measured in millimeters of mercury (or mmHG), and higher suction power means the pump is able to express milk more efficiently. Breast pumps usually have a maximum suction of around 220 to 350 (on this list, the range is from 220 to 320 mmHG) with hospital-grade pumps in the higher end of that range.
We’ve considered suction power when selecting the best wearable pumps, but keep in mind that this can also be a matter of personal preference. While some moms may choose to invest in hospital-grade suction to express the most milk in the shortest amount of time, others might find stronger suction to be uncomfortable and may prefer a pump that’s a little gentler. We made sure that suction was effective according to breastfeeding parents, even if not the strongest.
Ease of cleaning: Wearable pumps have a number of parts to clean after use — but those parts do tend to be smaller and a little more fiddly than those of electric pumps. We factored ease of cleaning into our decision process when choosing the best wearable breast pumps, prioritizing those with fewer parts and items that can go in the dishwasher, and also noted any models which require a little more work to clean.
Price: Wearable pumps tend to be more expensive than plug-into-the-wall units, ranging in price from $100 to over $500, says Jacqueline Kincer, an international board-certified lactation consultant and founder of Holistic Lactation.
“Most of these pumps also have custom milk storage bags that are more expensive than the other ones on the market, so your upfront and long-term costs will also be higher than other pumps," she adds.
When evaluating the price of each pump, we made sure that higher-valued products provided enough of a benefit to make the cost worthy. We also ensured that these more expensive pumps have the stamp of approval from numerous What to Expect moms. That said, we included pumps that fall on both sides of the price spectrum.