Review: Willow Go

Look, pumping breast milk sucks. I started using a standard portable pump—the classic Spectra S1 (8/10, WIRED Recommends), as soon as I came home from the hospital. It worked fine, but I mostly stumbled through the motions. It was just one more task to fit in the haze of caring for a newborn.

But not long after my child headed to day care and pumping became a permanent fixture in my routine, I tried a wearable pump, the Willow Go. Since the entire thing can fit into a bra, it promised freedom from my portable Spectra's tubing that made me too nervous to leave my chair. After all, it takes only one grabby baby hand before I’m crying over spilled milk.

I didn’t expect to be impressed. The Willow Go doesn’t promise the buzziest of features but still retails for far more than the Spectra. But by day two, I found myself wondering why I wasn’t using this from the beginning.

Photograph: Willow

The biggest upside about the Willow Go compared to other wearable breast pumps is that you don’t have to know your exact flange size in advance. Before you ask, a flange is what some people call the breast shield—the plastic piece that fits over your nipple. Any lactation consultant will tell you that a properly fitted breast pump is key to getting the most milk out of a session, and it makes it more comfortable to use. If it's too small, the flange doesn't catch all the milk; too big, and the pump will suck in the outer parts of your areola. That hurts.

Many brands ask you to know your size to order the right flange set, and you don’t want to get this wrong, as opened breast pumps usually can’t be returned. But the Willow Go comes with a sizer and a guide for which of the included two flanges and inserts to use to get the perfect fit, no advance work required.

The app guided me through fitting the parts together, properly placing it within my pumping bra, and starting my pump session. Once I was pumping, I found it pretty comfortable to wear, and I could pump while moving around my house, typing at my desk, or even washing dishes. You won't want to do any tasks that require major bending (so skip loading the dishwasher bottom rack), because the Willow Go has an opening at the top. You use that opening to pour out milk at the end of your session, and you can easily splash milk out of it if you were to bend too much.

Photograph: Willow

There are a couple of minimal physical controls on the Willow itself: a power button, a mode button, and a plus and minus button to change the suction level. You always turn the pump on manually to start a session, but you'll need the Willow Go app handy to see see what mode or level you're using (you can sense a difference in these, and the Willow always starts on the lowest level) and how long you've been pumping.

The Willow Go has two pumping modes: a stimulation mode and an expression mode. Both have a few levels of suction and rhythm to choose from in the app. The Willow Go will start out in stimulation mode for two minutes before switching to expression, to try to replicate how a baby starts feeding and activate let down. You can manually switch modes on the top of the Willow and within the app, and change around the intensity, too, to find the ideal setting. Each side is controlled separately, and you’ll see a timer in the app to show your overall pumping time for each pump (but not how long you spent in each mode). It promises hospital-grade suction like the classic Medela Pump in Style Advanced, and I pumped the same number of ounces that I would with my Spectra S1.

I tried the Willow Go with both a sports nursing bra and one of Willow’s own pumping bras. Both have full coverage and a hook to allow the bra to come all the way down and then secure around both the pump and breast, which is what you should look for in any bra you use with a wearable pump. It fit well in both bras and was comfortable enough to wear, but it certainly wasn’t discreet.

Each side of the Willow Go has six parts: a container bowl, a duckbill valve, a diaphragm, a flange, a container back, and the pump itself that sits in the middle of all these parts. Total with two pumps, that’s 12 pieces for the pump. The Willow also comes with two USB-A power cords to charge each pump, but no power adapter.

All those parts, plus stuffing it into your bra, make it hard to get a visual of how much you’re pumping. If you’re trying to check your progress or figure out whether you’ve wrung every ounce of liquid from your body, you have to do some head angling to see if anything is still coming out of the duckbill valve. It’s recommended to pump for around 15 minutes, but you should be able to figure out after a few uses how long a pump session your body needs.

While you don’t wash the center pump, you do wash the other 10 parts. That’s no small number, but the Spectra S1 has a similar number of washable parts. But I prefer washing the Willow Go’s pieces. They’re larger, making them easier to handle and easier to air or hand dry versus some of the smaller breast pump parts that I’m constantly afraid I’ll drop down the sink drain. I especially love that the container bowl pops all the way off for me to clean, rather than scrubbing yet another baby bottle. These parts are all dishwasher safe, too.

Speaking of the container bowl, it has a small opening at the top to pour milk out of, with a plastic barrier to prevent accidental spills that also makes it a challenge to get every last drop out of the Willow Go. The Willow Go can’t be used to store the milk after a pump session, though it can stand upright while you take it off and grab either a bottle or freezer bag to pour it into. It’s a great choice for parents who are using specific bottles that don't pair with a pump, but if you prefer to pump into a container or bag that goes straight into the fridge or freezer, you won’t enjoy having an extra step.

And all those parts the Willow has can become a big issue if you’re likely to lose any of them. You’ll need to order replacement parts from Willow and wait for them to arrive (and they’re pricier than your standard pump replacement parts). This is true for basically any pump except for Medela’s brand of pumps, which are more widely available in brick-and-mortar stores or even as rentals from hospitals.

Willow's pump is also pricer than your portable pumps from major makers like Medela and Spectra. Popular models like the Spectra S1 and Medela Pump in Style cost a little over $200, while the Willow Go retails for $350. But it's cheaper than other wearables, such as the Elvie Pump, which costs $550. And Willow does qualify for insurance, but it's an upgrade pick—meaning insurance will pay some of that $350 bill, and you'll pay the rest.

But even with that higher price, I’m happy with what Willow Go has been able to offer me: a pumping session without winding tubes and large pump bases hogging my desk space. When you're pumping every single day, a little freedom goes a long way.