Willow Pump 3rd-gen: How a CES gadget saved my sanity

You want to know a secret? I am pumping breast milk right now, front of my work colleagues and they have no idea. Technology is awesome. [MUSIC] Okay, let me explain what I mean. This is the CNET work area over at CES 2020. And for this trip for me, it's a little bit different than usual. I have an eight month old baby at home. That means I have to pump breast milk in the middle of CES while covering all the craziness. That's not easy to do, but this time, it's a little bit different than the time I had my first kid. Because I am wearing the willow. The willow is a wireless breast pump. You just slide it in your bra and you can pump while on the go. It came out in CES 2017, it made a big splash, and here we are three years later. And I'm actually using this technology. I'm gonna take you to the booth to learn about what's happening new with the machine. And you know what? Let's go on this journey together. [MUSIC] The first time around when I was at CES, my daughter who's now three, but when she was a baby, I had to be in private Take my shirt off, be tethered to an outlet. That wasn't easy to do. And I didn't get to do it that often and I felt bad. But now the Willow is out, and I'm using it. And here they are at the show three years later with a third generation model. And so I want to show it to you. You see a lot of stuff at CES Fun and crazy. This is the stuff that's really changing lives.. [BLANK_AUDIO] At first you think you'd be shy wearing something like this because it makes me look a little bigger than I normally would be. But no one knows, no one knows, no one's looking at me. All these people, they don't care. Okay, a little educational pit stop before we get to the willow booth. This is a mama Bob pod. This is something that would provide privacy if you had a more traditional pump. Let me show you how it works. Normally you'd walk up. [BLANK_AUDIO] Its a little messy in there. It's really nice to have these spaces for privacy and more traditional pump. We need you to plug in and sit there for a while without your shirt on. Unfortunately, this part is a little messy. But that said, I still need a little privacy when putting on my new technology Willow because, well I have to put it on and alignment just right You don't wanna do that in front of your co-workers I just went into the bathroom stall, [UNKNOWN] them in and walked right out. [MUSIC] This is it. It looks a lot like the last version and here's how it works. This is the motor. Yeah. You centre this on the breast, you put a bag inside Snap it on, hit the play button, and then it is pumping the milk into a bag. When you're done, just pop the bag off into a cooler. So here's what's new with version three. It is able to get on average per pumping session 20% more milk. That is a really big deal. This new model has smart suction technology that means it's automatically adjusted Based on a mom's comfort level, and because of that it is more comfortable. They have slower softer company rhythm. All that combined gets you more milk out of a conference session. And I like what Willow has said that they've done with the app. So you're tracking it as you go. This is kind of what you can do right now, but what's a little bit new? Is that a little bit more advice to maximize your. Your sessions, you're doing well so you're doing how to check your profit is all very helpful, especially when you're in this strange world of pumping. Since will obtain the CDs there are others out there on this floor There's a company called LV they do this to that's really cool to see the tech changing for moms giving them more freedom. I like the way Willow has these bags where once you're done you just take it out and put it in a cooler. It's really simple. It is a bit of a cost because you have to buy their special bags and if you run out with You're going to have to rush shift more, but they do have an accessory. Now if you don't want to go the bag route, or you just want a backup solution, they have these containers. So you have come directly in the container. And when you're done with pour it out into a bottle or bag, but you know what, speaking of that, I'm done now. So let me take care of this. It's really simple. It starts to actually glow a little bit with a flashing light when you're done. All right, so hit the play button to make sure everything goes into the bag. It has a little bit of a suction ending, it's all very silly. Here when it's done, just pop this off. This is what we mamas called liquid gold. So if I go to the willow app right now is able to just tell me. How each side did, I can see a history if I want that. I'm at a stage right now where I don't really use this that much but this is where you would monitor it. While is in your bra. Will has kept this one at the same price point as the other models. It's $500 It is a big investment for moms. Some people use a flexible spending account to help with that investment but right now, insurance doesn't cover it. So yeah, sometimes it's a little awkward talking about something so personal but I wanted to take you on this journey and have real talk about tech that is changing my life, it's changing lives. This is the good stuff that CES is all about. So now it's time for me to go on to the next thing. Thanks for watching for more CES 2020 coverage, be sure to subscribe [MUSIC]