Facts are facts, and this pump cost me $400 out of pocket. Was I thrilled to order it? Not at all. Was I open to buying it to share with the community, of course. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. I really did have higher hopes for the Medela Magic Inbra. After all, I spent my own money on them so I didn’t want it to be a bust. I'd certainly much rather have to spend money on a pump that I actually like. So let’s dig in, are these pumps worth the $400 price tag and have they brought something new to the table?
Let me start here, more is not always better. This pump fully assembled and ready to use require seven parts and pieces. Yes, seven pieces! And with three of these seven pieces being silicone means they will eventually need replacing. I’m not against replacing parts, it’s a part of game, but this pump requires three small silicone replacement parts when your average pump only requires two or in some cases only one. Whomever designed this pump must have loved Tetris growing up because every piece of this pump has an order to be assembled. Between the cup hinges, quarter turn collection cup, and silly locking mechanism, which I will get into next, this pump is over-engineered and far too complicated for even your most experienced breastfeeding mom.
Seven pieces assembly
I have heard the Medela Magic Inbra compared to the Willow 360. Being totally honest, I need to break out the 360 again to compare the feel, but I can’t disagree that there are attributes about the Inbra that do remind me of the 360. The thing is, it reminds me of how annoying and over complicated the 360 is. In my opinion, comparing the Inbra to the 360 is an insult, not a compliment. How are they alike? If you’ve read the 360 review you’ll know every color of the rainbow has its own error code. I feel this is similar with the Inbra, difference is, the Inbra’s errors are not always as easy to resolve. I have had one too many unexplained errors with the Inbra, it’s been extremely frustrating, and yes they were charged. Thankfully I’m only using these to test and if I run into this issue I just snag my trusty BabyBuddha pump to finish the job. But if the InBra IS your pump, for $400 I’m willing to bet you are also thinking the same thing: this pump better freakin’ work! More recently I was trying to use the InBra pump and after 6min and 40sec I threw in the towel. It was over six minutes of turning the pump on, for it to turn off, over and over again. Eventually I gave up, I left the working Inbra pump on my left side and reached for my BabyBuddha and Pano flange to take care of the right side. This was the second time this happened to me, first could be seen in the unboxing.
Why don’t we move onto that locking slide, quite possibly my favorite feature of this whole silly pump kit, cue sarcasm. As a whole, is it awful? No. I’ll give Miss or Mister Tetris props for thinking this up but they left out one major detail, a safety. This slide is all or nothing, missing a “pour” position. If you haven’t seen my first attempt at using the Inbra on the go, watch here! In this video you’ll see I unlock to pour my milk out of the milk spout, according to Medela's instructions. Problem is, my cup begins to open due to the pressure of my milk on the backing plate of cup set. I was not expecting this, luckily I had my Ceres Chiller readily available to pour in immediately. I almost wore my milk into the mall, tears included. Someone asked in the comment section if mine was defective, as theirs has not had this issue. To that, I’d say, for sure, this could have been a fluke. However, considering that it still happened whether or not it was a one off, I’d still recommend to everyone to split the difference between the unlock and lock indicators. When you only have the slide half latched it still holds the cup assembled but allows a smaller window to pour your milk. Win, win situation.
I want to talk more about this slide design, because why? Sure, the Tetris folks are creative but who’s this benefiting? The only reason I see this slide necessary is if it was actually holding milk back from leaking. This slide feature is poorly designed and a little misleading, and based on my DMs some moms are under the impression that it’s leak-proof and you’re able to lay flat while pumping. I can totally see where this could be assumed, unfortunately it wouldn’t end well and you’d quickly discover that these pump are in fact not leak proof. And because of this design you also need to disassemble to pour. Again. another flaw in my opinion, especially if you’re out and about.
In my opinion, this was a strange suggestion to support. I would not advise anyone to lay down while using these pumps. Within this FAQ they share depending on volume, AKA, if you pumped little to no volume. There is also an alert feature to watch tilt to avoid leaking. I am unsure if this FAQ was recently added or if it's always been here. Those of you more tech savvy than me, put the Wayback Machine to work on this one. Either way, I would not recommend laying down with theses pumps in your bra.
So what if you’re out and about? Well you better invest in a staging mat because you’re going to need it. First, this pump doesn’t sit upright, it lays horizontally. Second, which is far more important and the real pain in the butt, after quarter turning the collection cup off the hub.. now what?! That’s where the staging mat comes in because you’re either going to be laying the flange flat on its face on a dirty surface OR you’re going to have the flange tunnel with gray silicone piece resting on a dirty surface. I found this super annoying while pumping in my car. I was damned no matter which way I tried to lay the hub and flange assembly while pouring my milk. This pump may have been designed to be a mobile pump but it certainly presents a ton of issues.
I’ll tell you more about laying the assembled pump flat, post pump session. Don’t worry Medela, it’s not a bad thing. The pump automatically empties/draws in any milk left within the flange tunnel. I think it’s a cool feature but it’s definitely not perfect. You’ll still have some residual drops that will sit in the depressed mold of the gray silicone piece. Can’t expect perfection in everything, so I’d say it’s a welcomed feature but just be ready for a few drops when you disassemble to pour. One thing I did find out, almost the hard way, the tunnel will backfill from inside the cup. So, just be sure to pour your cup right away because milk sitting in the flange while pouring out of the spout is annoying and messy.
Let’s chat a little more on why Medela incorporated the ability for the tunnel to empty into the collection cup, here’s where your Magic comes into play. This pump is unique in the sense that it allows milk to pool around your nipple while using the pump. This feature is supposed to help mimic and replicate milk surrounding your nipple within a baby‘s mouth. I personally did not find it any more comfortable than any other pump that I’ve ever used successfully When I first noticed how much milk was pooling around my nipple I genuinely was concerned and very confused why the milk wasn't emptying into the cup. I have had issues in the past with a heavy letdown not being able to empty properly through a duckbill and I thought that this may have been a similar situation. I am happy to report that I never had any kind of backfilling into my bra which caused any leaking that I’m aware of. I did have one instance where I definitely had leaking in my bra, but I can’t pinpoint exactly where that came from and I’ll give Medela benefit of the doubt that it was not due to the Milk surrounding my nipple feature. This all said, if Medela is designing a pump to allow milk to surround your nipple, they need a design to draw the milk back into the cup. Either way, helpful to have but definitely not 100%.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for sticking it out. This pump has absolutely proven to be a royal pain in the caboose, especially at the price point. If there’s anything positive I can share about this pump it’s that when it works, it works well. I find the suction pretty comfortable. It’s super easy on the nips, I don’t feel any rippin’ or tearin’. The first time I used this pump I thought to myself, where’s the suction?!? But as it would turn out, they did a good job dialing in this technology. Don’t get me wrong. I’ve definitely blanched after several sessions of playing with different suction levels, but I have certainly found one that I’m very comfortable when using a more moderate suction level. I do express well and even when following up a session with a pump I know I can rely on, I’ve found the Inbra hasn't been leaving much behind, which is exactly what I’d like to see.
It’s obvious that I have found a lot of flaws with this pump and at the price point of $400 it blows my mind. I think my biggest complaint is the inability to operate your pump from your bra. Downloading the app is absolutely essential to operating this pump effectively per your own mode choices. This was one of the things that I discovered pretty quickly using the pump for the first time, I wanted to switch the modes and I couldn’t do so without the use of the app. What happens if my phone is dead and I need to use the app to operate the pump effectively for my comfort, I wouldn’t be able to and I actually found myself in this position while using the InBra during a session. It’s just another red flag and another inconvenience. I don’t think the app is terrible, I’m grateful that it’s there because it’s the only way that I’m able to direct my pumps to switch which modes I want to be pumping within, but I don’t want to be that reliant on technology to operate my very expensive pump.
One tech they haven’t dialed in yet are the sensors. Good gawd, these sensors are strictly there for show because oh boy are they off. I can’t even give them an A for effort because it’s so bad. I think as a customer it sounds like a real awesome selling point, until that customer has been converted to a user and you’re adjusting the volume after Every. Single. Session. The only other pump on the market right now that has accurate volume in real time, is the Momcozy Air 1. Say what you want about Momcozy, but they have some quality engineering. Not only are the Inbra sensors super inaccurate, they’re also useless. The app shows a circle image that is supposed to reflect ounces but there’s no markers, just a branded yellow circle. It’s useless, so if you were for a second sold on this sensor, I suggest letting that excitement go.
💡 button (top right corner) turns your lights on the pump off and on, which I think was a wise add
Lastly, flange sizing and material. This is a hot topic and normally, I’d suggest inserts would be a fair fit if the pump doesn’t offer your size. However, I have been hearing more and more that if Medela doesn’t offer the size flange as is, you cannot use inserts. This is a huge problem and a dumb one if you ask me. Currently the Inbra comes with 21mm and 24mm sizes, and Medela offers sizes 18mm and 27mm for purchase. I hope for their sake they have more flange sizes in production otherwise they’ve really limited their user base. If I find more out about this huge factor, I’ll come back here to report. I use 21mm on both sides, so this has not presented an issue for me. As for the flange itself, I have found them rather comfortable, even if they are plastic. I find that the suction of the pump doesn't put a mean grasp on your nipple or pull them too far into the tunnel, which could be an issue with elasticity. I'll give them an A for this part of the review. For reference, I measure 21mm on both sides and I am successfully using the 21mm flanges provided within the packaging of this pump.
If the Medela Magic Inbra sounds like it's the pump for you, here's a link to purchase!
To wrap this whole thing up, like I’ve said before, this price point is wild on so many levels. I’ve left my feelings out of this entire review, as I should. But you don’t know me that well if you think I’d leave this out:
Dear Medela,
I had higher hopes for this pump, I really did. I was rooting for you, even though you showed your true colors when the head of PR accidentally replied to my story questioning if I was disgruntled and suggesting I need a life. As I know you know, there never was any kind of collab on the table; we don’t even converse. Odd that your head of PR wasn’t aware of this and strange choice of words suggesting I get a life. My job is to help guide moms in successfully pumping and feeding their babies. This is my life, I’ve found my path. I suggest you find yours, if you ever want real life constructive criticism. Despite what you may think of me, I’m happy to help. I think it’s safe to assume this review offers some valuable insight to where you can better your product for both your brand and for us moms. Consider it a freebie on me.
X, Kristen
