The Elvie Stride Pump

The Elvie Stride Pump is a Wearable Breast Pump option that is changing the rules of breast pumps…..again!

Elvie Stride is a competitor aimed at being more affordable and accessible.

Elvie Stride is not a leak-proof pump and it is not possible to use this pump in any position. During use, you would need to remain upright and avoid movements that could cause the milk to slosh in the cups causing a leak. That said, the Elvie Stride does allow a fairly good range of motion, and wires and tubing make it more comparable to the more traditional Freemie and Spectra Cups.

Is the Elvie Stride The Right Pump for your Needs?

Choosing the breast pump that is right for your needs is a very personal decision. This decision requires assessing why you are pumping, what challenges to pumping a wearable pump might address, your budget for the initial investment, the ongoing price of replacement parts, and the situations in which you will be using your breast pump.

Once you have taken all of these things into consideration, you can determine if the Elvie Stride is the right pump to support your breastfeeding journey.

Elvie Pumps are the most discrete pump option currently available in terms of shape.

The profile of the Elvie Stride and Elvie Pump OG are remarkably similar. The same natural shape that made the Elvie Pump OG the most discrete option on the market carried over to the cups for the Elvie Stride.

Using the Elvie Stride Hub

The Elvie Stride Hub is certainly quite intuitive and easy to use. The buttons are easy to access and well marked. The indicator lights are easy to see. The trickiest part reported is that you do have to push the Pause/Play button when you want to stop the pump before you can power it off. This is a great feature though that reduces the chances of accidentally shutting it off while you are moving around trying to pump. There is not an indicator for whether you are in expression or stimulation mode but the cycles are distinct enough when you are using it to tell.

Parts to Elvie Stride Pump

Elvie Pump requires the use of their proprietary parts, and the only company that produces these parts is Elvie. At this time replacement parts are not available for all Elvie Stride parts, but there are at least the duckbill valves available.

The two parts that will need replacing are the green circular membrane and the duckbill valve.

The duckbill valve is likely to need replacement every 2-4 weeks. You can use the Maymom Freemie Duckbills with this pump.

There is not enough data to say how often the green disc membrane will need to be replaced, but likely every 60-90 days.

The lack of replacement parts is a concern but will hopefully be addressed soon!

Having trouble with your Elvie Stride Cups Leaking Milk in the Tubing? Issues with the Elvie Stride Cups popping apart? Watch this video on proper assembly to make sure you don’t experience these rare but frustrating (and preventable) issues!

Like EVERY breast pump out there, the key to using the Elvie Stride Pump successfully is to have properly sized flanges!

So how should the flanges fit with the Elvie Stride Pump?

The Elvie Pump uses the standard breast pump sizing that all pumps, with the exception of the Willow Pump, use. The positive suction of the Elvie Pump requires a fit that allows the nipple to move and stretch freely while preventing the excess room that can place pressure on the areola or cause swelling that can restrict milk flow.

On average, this requires a fit that is 2-4 mm bigger than the size of your nipple when measured BEFORE pumping.

When visually checking the size of your flange before pumping, you want there to be a small amount of room around the base of the nipple to allow the nipple to easily enter the flange, but not so much room that the areola will be excessively pulled into the flange (some areola will enter the tunnel during pumping which is fine, it is when excessive tissue enters the flange that we have problems).

A challenge with the Elvie Pumps, as with all wearable pumps, is that we cannot see the nipple during pumping which can greatly assist us in finding your ideal size. So, we need to put emphasis on measuring correctly before pumping and optimizing the flange fit to begin with.

Elvie makes pump flanges in size 21 mm, 24 mm, and 28 mm, and in my professional opinion, they made the best effort to assist in proper sizing of any pump manufacturer out there today. The top of the Elvie Stride flange is visible when removing the milk cap, and has the nipple guidelines to help you size. They indicate that the ideal sizing will be the flange with the guidelines that closest fit against the edge of your nipples as in the graphic below. Flanges with a circle icon are 21 mm, triangles are 24 mm, and squares are 28 mm. The Elvie Pump comes with 24 and 28 mm flanges, but the 21 mm flanges are sold separately. These are rough guidelines and are not perfect, but it’s better than any other option a pump manufacturer has thrown out so far!

This graphic is for the Elvie Pump OG, but the guidelines function the same!

So do we have options outside of 21, 24 and 28 mm for the Elvie Stride?

Yes, we do have options to modify the sizing of the Elvie to accommodate a wider range of nipple sizes using readily available silicone flange inserts to take the Elvie Stride down to a 10 mm flange.

Do you need to cut inserts with the Elvie Stride?

Arts and crafts time is over with this pump! Inserts do not need to be cut. Maymom, Willow, Iapoy, Momcozy, Lingahzi (Onionbaby)…..they all fit without cutting. Longer inserts partially block the suction hole but no change in suction was noted. Freemie inserts may require some trimming depending on their size (the smaller the sizing the better they seem to fit without cutting). Please avoid cutting inserts if at all possible as the cut edges combined with the strong suction of the Elvie Stride (it’s as strong as a Spectra and stronger than the Medela Symphony) is a recipe for a damaged nipple.

How do the Different Inserts fit in the Elvie Stride Flanges?

****Under Construction: Check Back Soon for More Videos****

The unique shape of the Elvie Stride Flanges poses some challenges with finding the perfect insert fit, check out these videos for information about how each brand should fit to get the best pumping experience with the Stride.

Elvie Stride Legendairy Flange Hack

One challenge with the Elvie Stride is the flange length! While longer than the Elvie Pump OG flange tunnel it’s still short compared to many pumps. Thankfully the Legendairy Cup Flanges are here to save the day again! Seating a Legendairy 24 mm Cup Flange in a 28 mm Elvie Stride allows for the use of longer inserts, and the silicone texture is great for holding excess breast tissue out of the flanges. This does result in the flanges not sitting 100% flush but it’s a stable set up that works well!

Curious if you can use other wearable cups with the Elvie Stride? You can!

It’s important to note though that the Spectra cups did show that they created higher than intended suction with this pump. As always higher suction carries and increased risk of tissue trauma, and if the suction level is painful you need to back down and contact a lactation consultant for assistance in determining if the flanges being used are the right size, shape and type for your needs.

It does appear that it will eventually be possible to purchase additional cups to use with the Elvie Stride, and Freemie has recently released a new slim profile cups that will need to be evaluated for compatibility.

So how do you attach alternate cups and flanges to the Elvie Stride?

All you have to do is gently remove the Elvie Stride Tubing from this connector on the Elvie Stride original tubing and replace it with Spectra, Freemie, Legendairy or Medela compatible tubing depending on the set-up you wish to use. Do note you can only attach set-ups that have a back flow protector to prevent ruining the pump motor!

Elvie Stride Flange Sizing Options

Have you already measured your nipples and want to know what options exist in your size?

Check out all of your options below to see how you can make the Elvie Stride Pump work for you!