Re: New Affinity pump by Lansinoh

[Guest guest]

I've been meaning to write to all of you about this pump. I have had the opportunity to actually handle and test this pump.

Although it says the suction level goes up to 250, I could not get it to go beyond 180. Now, I didn't bother to test it as a single pump, because most employed mothers need to pump both breasts at the same time in order to get back to work on time. But this might be a reason why the mother who tried it and contacted you, , ended up doing better with hand expression.

Also, the tubing comes out the back of the pump motor! You lose about 6 inches of usable "moving around" room that way. And if you try to turn the pump around so the tube comes out facing you, so you have longer tubing to allow you to move around a little more and sit a bit more comfortably, you can't read the settings at all. They are those dark-gray digital numbers and words on a light-gray screen, the kind that you can only read if you are facing them straight on. So if you turn the pump around to give yourself more flexibility with tube length, you can't see at all what you are doing when trying to adjust the suction level, etc.

Yes, the Pumpin' Pal flanges fit in the pump. I find the original flanges that come with the pump to be oddly round and I wonder if they would fit anyone comfortably--at the breast, not at the nipple. At the nipples, they've got the same 24mm opening as Medela. It's easy to see why they wouldn't want to tell anyone that Medela flanges would fit in their pump: don't help the competition and all the Medela/WHO Code nonsense. However, I figure that if the Pumpin' Pal flanges fit in the Medela connector and also in the Affinity pump, then logically the Medela flanges should fit in the Affinity pump. Well, to my surprise, the 27 and 30mm flanges fit interchangeably. But the 36mm Medela flanges are a bit too thick at the bottom and *won't* fit into the Affinity central connector.

It's been a while since I played with this pump, and that's all I can remember about it right now.

Dee Kassing