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After trial and error, I found my favourite hack method.
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- easy,
- maintain its closed system and
- does not decrease the suction power.
You need:
- Medela tubing (you can also use Maymom tubing which is designed to fit Medela system). Cut 0.5 cm after the end of the yellow plastic piece.
- 2-cm long plastic tube with 5-mm inner diameter
A lot of mom simply get this by cutting the Spectra tubing, but if you don’t want to modify your Spectra, you can use the mouth piece of straw from children water bottle. I suggest you to buy a new replacement straw set and use the mouth piece.
UPDATE: There have been some questions where I got my replacement straw. To be honest, it’s from an unbranded water bottle from my local kids store.
If you stay in Singapore, you can get it from Kiddy Palace.
Here’s the picture of that water bottle.
As I said, no brand, but it seems to resemble SkipHop water bottle (this is the compatible replacement straw sold in Amazon).
My daughter is currently using OXO twist-lid water bottle and it seems its replacement straw can also be used for this hack. I’ll update this post once I get my OXO replacement straw.
Let’s continue to the hack…
This is the replacement straw I use for the hack
This tube should be big enough so that you can insert the clear part of Medela tubing into it without any difficulty.
5-mm inner diameter, cut 2 cm long
Things you need to connect Medela breast flange to Spectra pump
How to assemble:
- Insert the end of Medela tubing (the clear one) into the big tube.
- Now insert Spectra backflow protector into the other end of the big tube
- Now pay attention to the connection.
- Make sure that there’s very minimum gap between the end of Medela tubing and the end of backflow protector
- If you still see a gap, cut the big tube shorter to get a better fit, because a bigger gap can result in suction loss.
- Now you can use Spectra breast pump with Medela flange, yayy!
You can connect Medela breast flange to Spectra, while still using the backflow protectors.
- Usually, I will leave the hack intact to the backflow protector and the pump, so that I don’t need to fiddle with it every time I pump.
You can use the same method to connect Maymom breast shield to Spectra.
Maymom connected to a Spectra breast pump
GOOD NEWS!
Here are your options:
The little yellow adapter connects Medela breast shield to Spectra backflow protector. Source from here
Source from here
Lina says
Thank u! Ure truly my savior. I used to use 21mm breastshield because my nipple is small but the spectra’s shield doesnt have the 21mm one. This hacks totally save my life!
rina says
Hi Lina,
Glad that it works for you. I am also a 21-mm flange user, so I feel your pain for not being able to use your preferred flange size, and so that’s how the hack was created.
Andrea says
Hi there. Thanks for your thorough review of the Spectra and especially for the hack for those needing smaller shields. I have a question: in your hack photo, the connector from the flange to the bottle appears to be from the Medela Swing (http://www.bestbreastpumpreviewsformoms.com/medela-swing-and-swing-maxi/). When I go to the Medela website to find flanges and accessories, the part that connects the flange to the bottle and pump looks different (https://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/products/195/personalfit-connectors—box-of-2). Do you know if this connector will work with your hack also? Thanks a ton!
rina says
Hello Andrea,
Yes, I tested this with medela swing connector and medela-compatible Maymom breast shield.
I haven’t got chance to test it with Medela Persona Fit connector, I don’t have it for now.
I plan to purchase it soon and I’ll definitely let you know once I tested it out.
Stay tune!
Alexandra Dupree says
Hi! Thank you for posting this, can you share which children’s water bottle replacement set you got the straw mouthpiece from? I can’t find one that looks like that.
Thank you!
rina says
Hi Alexandra,
To be honest, the water bottle that I used is not a famous brand. Just kind of standard water bottle that I bought from a local children-store. It resembles SkipHop straw water bottle (see the post above for the pics).
You can try to use the mouth piece of replacement straw for OXO twist top water bottle. The outer diameter is bit bigger than what I used in the pic above, but it fits just fine.
Hope this helps.
Toni says
I too was wondering where you bought a water bottle replacement straw that size.
rina says
Hi Toni,
I bought it from Kiddy Palace (Singapore’s local children store). It resembles SkipHop or GreenSprout water bottle, so you can try to use the replacement straw that is compatible for them. See the updated post for more info.