Nuk Simply Natural Freemie Collection Cups

The Nuk Simply Natural Freemie Collection Cups are a hands-free pumping accessory designed to fit inside a bra, so you can pump fully clothed. Unlike other hands-free pumping accessories, such as bustiers, you won’t have bottles hanging from your chest.

This novel product was born out of one mom’s need to pump at work after having premature twins. As an emergency room doctor, Stella Dao wasn’t able to take a 30-minute pumping break every three hours, so she and her husband, Dan, developed the collection cups.

While the cups will work with several pumps, they’re only compatible out of the box with the Medela Lactina, Medela Symphony and Medela Pump In Style Advanced. So if you’re using a Freemie, Ameda, Philips Avent or the Medela Freestyle breast pump, you’ll need a connection kit that's sold separately ($27.75 on Amazon.com).

The Nuk Simply Natural Freemie Collection Cups are solidly constructed with durable plastic. In our Today’s Parent Approved lab tests, the cups showed no damage when dropped from counter height to the ground. For parents who are worried about exposing their little one to BPA, you can rest assured that all components that come in contact with breastmilk are BPA-free.

Ease of use

Overall, our parent testers loved this product and found it very easy to use.

Set up

The collection cups come with a quick set-up guide that you’ll definitely want to review as it outlines prep of the parts, connection to the pump and cleaning.

The collection cups are made of several parts, including funnels, valves, connectors, tubing and the cups. Given the number of parts, we found it useful to take a full inventory and read the instructions closely before we started assembling the collection cups. In an ideal world, the cups would come with adapter kits for all major makes and models of breast pump. Alternatively, when purchasing the cups, you could indicate which pump you’re using and the connection kit would be included. It may seem daunting at first, but once you’ve reviewed the guide, the cups should be easy to put together, use and take apart for cleaning.

Before you get started, you’ll need to boil the breast funnel, valve base and cup for 10 minutes to ensure a snug, leak-free assembly. Once that’s done, finding the bra that fits best with the cups is important for getting a comfortable pressure and suction when using the cups. All of our testers used the collection cups with a nursing bra, which provides a good amount of stretch.

Pumping with the Nuk Collection Cups

One of our hands-on parent testers found that the collection cups we somewhat awkward to use at first, so it may take some getting used to pumping with this product. But others felt it was very easy to use from the get-go, and that it more easily allowed them to do other things while pumping. For some of our testers, that freedom makes a device like this priceless.

If you’re wondering about breastmilk leaking into your bra during use, our tests revealed almost no leaking. While one hands-on parent tester noted that a few drops of breastmilk leaked occasionally, she was overall satisfied with the product’s performance.

All of our hands-on parent testers said it was easy to pour breast milk from the collection cups into bottles or storage bags after pumping. The instruction manual suggests practising pouring water from the cups into a bottle before using the collection cups, but we found it very easy in our lab testing. Still, a test run never hurts.

Cleaning

The cups need to be hand-washed with hot, soapy water and thoroughly rinsed after each use. To take apart and clean the collection cups, simply pop them open like a Tupperware container. If you plan to use them at work, make sure that there’s a place for them to fully dry between each use.

Final word

All of our hands-on parent testers feel that the Nuk Simply Natural Freemie Collection Cups are well worth the price tag, plus the cost of a connection kit if necessary. The hands-free accessory offers new moms the flexibility to do other things while pumping—without having to reach around bottles strapped to your chest. And because it sits inside your bra and under your clothes, it can make pumping at work more comfortable and discreet.