#PumpedForLife and Freestyle Flex™ Launch Event

Last Friday, 18 October, a host of high-profile and everyday mums and experts descended on Melbourne, led by Netflix and Channel Seven’s hit show, Yummy Mummies’ star Lorinska Merrington, to celebrate every mums’ unique breastfeeding experience at Medela’s #PumpedforLife campaign launch.

Held at the Pregnancy, Babies and Children’s Expo, other high-profile mums who celebrated the launch included new mum and entrepreneur Sapphiroula Condoleon; motherhood-guru and speaker Sarah Jade; Midnight Mums’ community founder, Bridget Jarrad; mum-writer Rochelle Currie; and blogger Kaitlynn from Life with Kaitlynn.

Lorinska shared her biggest emotional experience with breastfeeding 

Lorinksa took us behind the scenes of life as a breastfeeding high-profile mum and entrepreneur and made us all feel a little better hearing even the most glamorous of us has endured fears with breastfeeding and the humiliation of a tantrum-throwing toddler in public.

And perhaps the most-heartening insight was hearing Lorinska’s challenge since facing and recovering from surgery to have a lump removed from her neck, only a few months ago, immediately after having her second-born Florence. 

While the lump was fortunately benign, she faced a longer than expected recovery and impacted her ability to breastfeed Florence for some time.

“It was a really challenging - facing pain, medication and needing to rest. I could’ve easily chosen not to breastfeed. But breastfeeding was so important to me - and I’m so grateful I had the ability to express and continue to feed Florence,” Lorinska said.

Lorinska’s motherhood hacks

Lorinska also shared her top tips to managing life as a busy mum, wife, entrepreneur, boss, and woman with endless events and commitments, including:

1. Using her Medela Freestyle Flex™ pump every morning to make sure Florence has a bottle during the day when she comes to work with her.
2. Ensuring she regularly calls on her village for support - including her husband, friends and family, health experts, a stellar business team who’ve helped in her recovery and care of her little ones.
3. Regularly scheduling time to look after herself - from eating well, exercising, to having nights out with the girls. 

Leading lactation consultant shared top misconceptions with breastfeeding

We also heard from Medela’s expert lactation consultant Kristy Newnham about why pain is the most common question and misconception with breastfeeding.

“Pain is your body’s way of telling you something’s not right,” Kristy said. “Breastfeeding or breast pumping should never be painful, so if any mum is experiencing pain, it’s important you get help from an expert like a lactation consultant or health practitioner as soon as possible.”

#PumpedforLife championing breastfeeding

Medela Head of APAC Cluster, and Managing Director for Australia & New Zealand, Jarrod Percy also shared his own experience as a dad providing expressed milk to his twins and highlighting the role partners can continue to play in supporting mums.

He also drew attention to why the campaign is important for bringing to light some of the challenges around breastfeeding and pumping across Australia - and thanked all the incredible mums who’ve supported the campaign. 

Other influencers who’ve been instrumental to sharing their diverse breastfeeding experiences as part of the #PumpedforLife campaign included AFLW star and mum of three, Erin Phillips and her wife Tracy, swimming champion Alicia Coutts, singer/songwriter Chantelle Delaney Sinclair, and travel mum Chelsea Bennett.

#PumpedForLife aims to get mums sharing their breastfeeding journeys via social media to drive conversations, information and support to normalise and celebrate every mums’ unique and diverse experience, tagging the hashtag #PumpedForLife, as well as @Medela_au.

It comes as new Medela research shared challenges some Australian mums faced during breastfeeding and breast pumping – including more than a third feeling ‘judged or criticised’ and one in four feeling ‘ashamed, embarrassed or awkward’. (1)

The research also found almost half of all mums turned to support via online platforms like Facebook groups – highlighting the importance of social media in normalising breastfeeding.

The campaign has so far reached an audience of more than a million people across Australia via media coverage and shared social media posts.

The event also celebrated the launch of Medela’s first-ever flexible, app-connected breast pump, the Freestyle Flex™, designed to fit all mums’ natural breast shape, for up to 11 percent more milk. (2)

ENDS

Media contact: To arrange interviews contact Katie Martel, Croft PR, +61 413 780 545, katie@croftpr.com.

About the Freestyle Flex pump

Developed by Australia’s most-trusted hospital breast-pump innovator, Medela, the Freestyle Flex™ aims to help mums have the flexibility to pump anywhere, anytime, for 11 percent more milk. (1)

The pump can be shaped to fit all mums’ natural breast shapes, and is compact, lightweight, quiet and USB-rechargeable so mums can express wherever and whenever, for the most comfortable feed.

And as a double pump, Freestyle Flex™ halves the time required to express compared to a single pump.

It’s also connected to the MyMedela app, enabling mums to track every pumping session, access expert tips and be part of a community of over 12,000 mums.

Freestyle Flex™ is available via Medelastore.com.au for $549.95. For details, visit www.medela.com.au.

About Medela Australia:

Medela provides breastfeeding mums, families and communities with leading breastfeeding products, expert insights, and ongoing research and education to support the breastfeeding journey.

Medela exists to enhance mother and baby health through the life-giving benefits of human milk. Medela has actively been supporting Australian mothers, babies, and their families in Australia for more than 18 years.

Medela was founded in 1961 and has become a global player in breast pumps and breastfeeding products thanks to continued research and innovation, and the continual evaluation of, and response to, customers' evolving needs.

Since 1996, Medela has continuously funded the Hartmann Human Lactation Research Group in the School of Molecular Sciences at the University of Western Australia. This collaboration has led to the momentous discoveries of the true internal anatomy of the lactating breast and stem cells in human milk.

Medela Australia provides support and education to mums through MyMedela and the following: www.medela.com.au www.medelabreastfeedingblog.com.au, @medela_au, #medelaau