The last things needed are a cooler bag and chillers to store the expressed milk during the commute to and from work.
1. Moms Precious Smart Pack package - inclusive of Mom's Precious cooler bag, three Mom's Precious ice packs and six Mom's Precious milk storage bottles
It is designed to fit the Spectra 3 breastpump motor on the bottom with a small access at the back to pull out the power cord to be connected to the wall power outlet. This is so that you wont have to take the motor out of the bag to be used. The top part is then used to store the cooler bag. It also comes with a removable mat which can be used to provide a clean surface for moms to work on.
I bought this smart pack because of it's back-pack design and it can fit my pump as well as a cooler bag for my EBM and chillers. When I used the iQ Uno, I placed my EBM, chillers and the breastshield in the cooler bag and pushed the cooler bag right down into the back-pack. Then placed the motor and other stuff on top. Now that I have the Spectra 3, I still can use this bag if I need to bring the Spectra 3 out of the office. Shah and I went for a Java Programming course two weeks ago. It was held in KL near KL*CC area. So every day, Shah and I took the LRT to and fro. I brought with me my Spectra 3 breast pump in the back-pack. I placed the motor at the bottom. The cooler bag was big enough to store 6 milk storage bottles + 2 Spectra breastshields in a ziplock bag + 2 Moms Precious chillers + 1 coleman brite ice. So don't be fooled by the size of the cooler bag. It may look small but it can fit lots of things. Based on my exprience, The cooler bag + 2 Mom's Precious ice packs are able to keep the EBM cooled for up to 12 hours. I've even used it up to 14 hours and I found the the ice packs were completely soft but the EBM was still kept cold.
When I wanted to use the pump, I just threaded the power cord thru the back access, connect the breastshields to the tubing and motor at the front and I was all set to pump. When I was done, I closed the bottles, store the breastshileds back into the zip lock bag and place all into the cooler bag which was in the back-pack all the while. All was done in the bag itself with no risks of leaving anything behind. While on the course, I also brought with me the Avent Isis manual pump in a pouch just incase there was no electricity. It was not that heavy to carry the back-pack with the Spectra 3 to and fro on the LRT.
2. Happy Mother's Set with Techni Ice
This was the first cooler bag and chiller set I bought. The Techni Ice is easy to use and the cooler bag that comes with this set is generous in size. However, based on my experience, this cooler bag would not be able to keep the EBM chilled for more than 8 hours if you use it with the Techni Ice alone. Maybe because the insulation of the bag is not that good. In any case, the bag can be used to store chilled EBM for a short periods of time, for instance when transporting chilled EBM to the nursery or babysitter's place or from office to home. Now I use the Techni Ice as back up chillers in my mom's freezer for instances when there is no electricity at home.
I like using this ice pack as chillers for my EBM. Two ice packs placed in a good cooler bag can keep the EBM chilled for more than 8 hours. The size is small too and it is not heavy when frozen. It also comes with a sleeve so that the condensation from the chiller will be absorbed.
4. Coleman Brite Ice
You can get this at most department stores at their camping/outsdoors section. It is easy t use and is able to keep my EBM chilled for more than 8 hours. However, it is much heavier than the ice packs I mentioned above. Even so, to give me long lasting cooling I use the Brite Ice together with the ice packs every day at the office.
I guess that completes my review. I'm not sure if it will help a lot for any mothers out there who are planning to work and continue breastfeeding. But I just wanted to jot it down for my own notes.
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