11 Issues that Frustrate Willow Pump Parents
Is America’s promising $500, wearable, leak-free pump, becoming the next dinosaur in the land of lactation?
Willow is currently the only pump on the market that allows for a truly leak-free pumping experience. And as evidenced by just our pumping support group, that’s over 19,000 Willow specific pumping parents who need/want/have this pump to address their desire to pump leak-free and hands-free.
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However, we want to encourage Willow Pump to address the settings and technologies that parents want and are frustrated with. IF Willow Pump does not address these key issues that pumping parents want, they will become a relic of breast pumps past, and that is not what we or the pumping parents want. Without changes, Willow will not have a pump that works for the masses and will be quickly outdone by their competitors who may very well develop leak-free technology themselves.
Over the last few months, we’ve compiled 11 issues that are frequently noted as sources of stress or parental frustration in regards to using their Willow Pump. If you are considering a Willow Pump, know you are not alone facing these concerns. And if you are a current Willow Pump user, join our group. Get Support.
Issue 1: Parents Want to Control the Mode and Suction Level at any Given Time
It can be extremely frustrating to use a pump for which the user has limited control over suction and mode (stimulation vs expression). This can lock low supply parents out of the suction they need, and doom larger supply parents to frustration when they can’t easily resume their session where they left off after emptying bags or containers.
Issue 2: Willow Still Hasn’t Figured Out their Sizing
This is a weird one where I find fault with their methods, but I also think that it’s not their lane to be in to begin with. Pump manufacturers are not lactation consultants. They are medical equipments engineers and producers of materials. Insulin pump manufacturers don’t try to tell you the necessary dosage of insulin for your situation, so why should a breast pump company try to do the equivalent?
Where Willow is going wrong here is they aren’t placing the info in the hands of LCs to assist. They are trying to make it into a functional algorithm that just simply won’t ever work for everyone.
The calculator on their site encourages parents to size, but then gives them sizing that doesn'’t work for many. It encourages the use of the app, which is a problem all on it’s own, and the end result is consumers complaining they did everything Willow said and it still didn’t work.
Issue 3: Parents Don’t Understand How Much this Pump Costs to Keep Running
This is a $500 pump with ongoing costs of roughly $50 to $100 monthly expenses for most people. The majority of parts are proprietary which means if they break, you are just going to have to pay Willow for more parts.
I personally thought the expenses were worth it for myself, but I knew going into this that this was simply an expensive way to pump. If you don’t know that going in, it can be quite a shock.
Issue 4: The Containers Suck - We Spend More Time Troubleshooting Them than Anything Else
The valves are problematic and difficult to clean even with careful attention.
The seals mold.
The magnets pull on the pump and crack the hubs.
Containers are prone to many issues, and I would estimate at least 1/3 of the issues we field in Pump the Milk are basic flaws with the containers.
No improvements have been publicly made since they were launched which is problematic.
Issue 5: Willow Support is Inconsistent
Willow Support is inconsistent in the advice they give out. Some people there are fantastic! Others are trying to play LC with functionally no knowledge, and either miss serious issues, or encourage problematic pumping practices. Who you speak to will change the results you get.
Issue 6: The App Updates are not Forthcoming and Lead to Problems
App Updates have been problematic, and many people have found their pumps simply failed to work after an update.
Willow has been pretty good about replacing these pumps when under warranty, but for pumps that are sold second-hand, this is a concern.
Lots of people find the updates change the suction patterns and strength which heavily influence your body’s response to the pumps. I find this unacceptable as it places users at risk of sudden pump failure which threatens breastfeeding success.
Issue 7: The App is Wildly Inaccurate and Not Very Useful
The app often records inaccurate amounts - it can’t be edited, it’s glitchy, and overall, not super useful. This seems like an easy area to target for improvement.
Issue 8: The Pump Shouldn’t Be Used the First 2 weeks Postpartum because it is Not Good at Pumping Colostrum Based on How the Pump Works.
This isn’t necessarily a flaw, but it’s a concern since they don’t really declare this in any of their marketing of the pump.
Parents get the pump through insurance as their solo pump, then find their early success is derailed if they have to pump because this pump isn’t the right fit for the job.
Even the best pump is going to frustrate parents when it’s not the right fit for the job at hand.
Issue 9: High-End Price Parts but Low Quality (Looking at you Flextubes)
There does seem to have been some decline in the quality of the parts, with a trend towards thinner and less durable pumps.
The newer bags feel thinner and the number of leak incidents is concerning at times.
The Flextubes used to easily last 90 days, but now I find people need to switch them out every 30-45 days even with normal usage. Please, whatever changes were made to the Flextubes, reverse them, and bring back the dark blue ones.
Issue 10: Pump Hubs Cracking Rendering the Pump Useless
The hubs crack and render the pump an expensive paperweight. This issue seems to be related to the magnets and is most likely heavily related to containers vs bags.
Issue 11: Willow Brand Inserts are Too Short for Some
Love the Willow Inserts. They fit the flanges beautifully, people adjust easier with them, and yet, despite the constant chatter about needing longer inserts, Willow decided to go shorter with this. What is really needed here is the same style of insert that’s a touch longer than the Maymom inserts and smaller than a 15 mm to really make these as fantastic as they should be.
Is the Willow Pump Still a Good Pump? Yes, it is. The issues facing Willow are actually not terrible. But, they have to fix them or they will go the way of many other pump companies who eventually shut down due to these types of issues.
It is, however, a pump that requires fairly exact sizing, body adjustment, and isn’t designed to be the end-all be-all of breast pumps for the masses. As Willow Pump currently stands, it is best designed for teachers, hair dressers, medical providers, and other parents for which they need the ultimate discreet pumping experience without concern for leaks. But those groups of people have to be willing to LEARN the pump, and time isn’t always on the side of a pumping parent returning to work.
Willow Pump was originally a luxury product with a self-defined niche market, and it thrived when this was the strategy. Parents knew what they were getting into when they bought it, and the investment motivated them to follow the learning curve. Once it was picked up by DME’s, affordability was better for many people, but it gave the illusion that it was simply a more convenient version of a standard breast pump. For parents who found out that it wasn’t the right tool for them, there was a lot of frustration and disappointment as what they needed was to buy another pump all together - this time out of pocket.
I hope that Willow takes these concerns to their engineers and design teams and can formulate a better pump and app with more transparency and function that will make pumping a better experience for all. I know my breastfeeding journey with my third only survived because of this pump, and if these issues are fixed, this pump allows us to make things work in some complicated situations in a way no other pump has been able to.
I want to see Willow Pump succeed, but only they can fix their issues and make that happen.
