Guest guest Posted March 23, 2010 Report Share Posted March 23, 2010 That is definitely very interesting . I wonder if it has to do with the locations/different social groups we serve or if it may be our own personal bias' as Lactation Consultants who are (most of us anyway) also breastfeeding moms with personal preferences. I still haven't tried the symphony (shame on me) but would like to try the Lactina select to see if it is any better than the lactina plus I have tried. If so I may do some re-considering. Despite what Medela would like to have me believe I do feel that I could only recommend a pump to a mom that I have tried myself and find it easy and effective. I still love my pump-in-style, but I'm also still getting around to trying all the pumps out there. There are lots of them. Since I'm just testing the pump, the way I do it is I buy them on Craigslist, usually from a mom who bought the pump new and either never used/opened the box or tried once and decided to do/use something different. I can usually get them for 1/6 of the normal price. I think they are WIC moms who had a pump given to them and didn't end up using it. Just to make extra sure I sterilize everything. I know that many pumps claim to be " one-user-products " creating health and safety hazards if used by more than 1 mom, but I think that's baloney and just a way for the company to make more money. I strip everything down to the pump, use a sterilizing spray and clean every piece no matter how small. I use my own pre-purchased " personal kit " and discard the previous mother's tubing and personal kit unless the pump was sealed in the box. The display area on some models pops right off so you can in fact thoroughly clean the pump and the display area for re-use with another mom (me). I wash the carrying bag in the washing machine on high heat. I usually buy 2 of the same company's pump to do a fair test. I just recently decided to start renting out pumps. After doing more of my research and also going on the different companies websites and of course getting 2nd, 3rd etc opinions from you all I've decided to try the BPA free Ameda Elite as my main rental pump. Purchased for $799. I'm also purchasing the Hygeia Enjoye (complete with personal kit) new for the very reasonable price of $259. It also happens to be a green pump meaning the FDA has approved it for multiple users (with their own personal kits), and it can be sent back to Hygeia for recycling if/when it is no longer functioning. The Hygeia Enjoye is not claiming to be " hospital grade " but I'd love to see how it does in comparison with other personal pumps as well as even the Ameda Elite. More on that in time : ) Many thanks to you all for your input! R > > > What is so interesting to me is we all really are not sharing consistent experiences with our client feedback regarding the pumps. And our professional experience with the pumps is apparently very varied as well! > > The feedback I get from my clients is overwhelmingly in support of the Symphony, and the PIS. On occasion I get feedback from a mother who has used both the Symphony and the Lactina that she prefers the Lactina, and I tell her this is not always an exact science and I want you to do what works best for you! > > But we are not going to carry the Lactina for much longer, all of our rental and in hospital pumps are being converted to Symphony. > > There are clear variations between the models listed in the specs. The cycle frequency of the Symphony is almost twice that of the Lactina at its maximum, the suction strength max for both is identical from what I can tell. > > It's difficult to know what will work best for every mother and probably impractical to expect places to carry both so she can figure it out. There will be variations in efficacy amongst users of different models, but in my experience I would say the feedback I get from mothers is overwhelmingly in favor of the Symphony and PIS. I wonder how we can all have this variety of feedback? > > And I'm still with Jaye on the whole thing and am peeved at Medela's lack of integrity! > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 , I'd be very concerned about re-using or re-selling used pumpinstyles. they are single user items and it's not the kit you need to be worried about--it's the motor. Unless you can sterilize the motor, I wouldn't re-use it. That's what makes Hygeia special, (no I don't work for them!) =--there is a filter between the tubes/milk and motor to prevent any possibility of cross-contamination. I currently use an Enjoye and an EnDear as rentals and moms have been pleased! Beebe, M.Ed., IBCLC Lactation Consultant/Postpartum Doula www.second9months.comBreastfeeding Between the Lines: http://second9months.wordpress.com/--- Subject: Re: PumpsTo: Date: Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 3:29 PM That is definitely very interesting . I wonder if it has to do with the locations/different social groups we serve or if it may be our own personal bias' as Lactation Consultants who are (most of us anyway) also breastfeeding moms with personal preferences. I still haven't tried the symphony (shame on me) but would like to try the Lactina select to see if it is any better than the lactina plus I have tried. If so I may do some re-considering. Despite what Medela would like to have me believe I do feel that I could only recommend a pump to a mom that I have tried myself and find it easy and effective. I still love my pump-in-style, but I'm also still getting around to trying all the pumps out there. There are lots of them. Since I'm just testing the pump, the way I do it is I buy them on Craigslist, usually from a mom who bought the pump new and either never used/opened the box or tried once and decided to do/use something different. I can usually get them for 1/6 of the normal price. I think they are WIC moms who had a pump given to them and didn't end up using it. Just to make extra sure I sterilize everything. I know that many pumps claim to be "one-user-products" creating health and safety hazards if used by more than 1 mom, but I think that's baloney and just a way for the company to make more money. I strip everything down to the pump, use a sterilizing spray and clean every piece no matter how small. I use my own pre-purchased "personal kit" and discard the previous mother's tubing and personal kit unless the pump was sealed in the box. The display area on some models pops right off so you can in fact thoroughly clean the pump and the display area for re-use with another mom (me). I wash the carrying bag in the washing machine on high heat. I usually buy 2 of the same company's pump to do a fair test. I just recently decided to start renting out pumps. After doing more of my research and also going on the different companies websites and of course getting 2nd, 3rd etc opinions from you all I've decided to try the BPA free Ameda Elite as my main rental pump. Purchased for $799. I'm also purchasing the Hygeia Enjoye (complete with personal kit) new for the very reasonable price of $259. It also happens to be a green pump meaning the FDA has approved it for multiple users (with their own personal kits), and it can be sent back to Hygeia for recycling if/when it is no longer functioning. The Hygeia Enjoye is not claiming to be "hospital grade" but I'd love to see how it does in comparison with other personal pumps as well as even the Ameda Elite. More on that in time : ) Many thanks to you all for your input! R > > > What is so interesting to me is we all really are not sharing consistent experiences with our client feedback regarding the pumps. And our professional experience with the pumps is apparently very varied as well! > > The feedback I get from my clients is overwhelmingly in support of the Symphony, and the PIS. On occasion I get feedback from a mother who has used both the Symphony and the Lactina that she prefers the Lactina, and I tell her this is not always an exact science and I want you to do what works best for you! > > But we are not going to carry the Lactina for much longer, all of our rental and in hospital pumps are being converted to Symphony. > > There are clear variations between the models listed in the specs. The cycle frequency of the Symphony is almost twice that of the Lactina at its maximum, the suction strength max for both is identical from what I can tell. > > It's difficult to know what will work best for every mother and probably impractical to expect places to carry both so she can figure it out. There will be variations in efficacy amongst users of different models, but in my experience I would say the feedback I get from mothers is overwhelmingly in favor of the Symphony and PIS. I wonder how we can all have this variety of feedback? > > And I'm still with Jaye on the whole thing and am peeved at Medela's lack of integrity! > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 24, 2010 Report Share Posted March 24, 2010 Speaking for myself I can say I have no personal bias related to any particular pump because although I breastfed my 3 children, 1 for 2 years and 2 of them for a year, I never used or owned a pump! I hand expressed into a bowl in the sink! And my kids are older, so it's been quite sometime since I was a breastfeeding mother... But...I would say that I serve a fairly diverse population, a large percentage of Medicaid clients, but affluent persons as well and overwhelmingly the mothers I serve prefer the PIS and the Symphony. I work with clients of healthy term infants, and fragile premature infants, so I work with hundreds of mothers a year who are exclusively pumping for at least a period of time. And then mothers who are pumping due to some disruption in the breastfeeding. I feel like I support a large enough volume/variety of patients that I can somewhat reliably consider their feedback a reflection of what the general consensus of mothers in our area may be in regards to pumps. Honestly though, Ameda has a very minimal presence in my area, and Medela and Ameda are the 2 brands I feel like have the most reliable products. If you had to name 2 pump manufacturers to recommend to a mother with a fragile supply or who was exclusively pumping what would they be? And why? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 This is a yahoogroup and I was being casual, speaking to colleagues. My apologies. Hard to relay exactly what I'm thinking via email without being very careful to type twice the amount I have time for. Please don't read more into my words than I wrote. Choice is a funny thing. I was trying to say just that I am indeed being more realistic that in reality moms leave their babies with other people. It is a CHOICE to do it and sometimes it is the BEST choice taking into account that not doing it may mean losing a job/home/reliable source of food etc. Using the word choice doesn't mean I'm saying that these moms are wanting to leave their babies at home, it just means that they are leaving their babies at home. But again, it is a choice, and often the best choice, especially in our economically collapsing society. Things are what they are, no more, no less. > > > > In a message dated 3/25/2010 4:41:26 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, > blueflamingahava@... writes: > > I still don't quite buy the idea that pumping is completely normal and for > most moms to try. I still think that it is something that should be used > carefully and only when necessary. I still think it's important to inform > moms that " go back to work " that their breastfeeding experience may be > affected by that decision and that pumping is not a perfect substitute, yet I am > opening to the fact that the world we live in is what it is and some women > will choose to leave their new babies with someone else and still want to > breastfeed partially. > I know for a lot of moms it's not a matter of " choosing to leave their > new babies with someone else " , in a lot of cases they don't have a choice > and feel bad about it, so I would be careful about how to phrase it. > Thank you > > > > Melitta Hoder melittahoder@... > Postpartum Doula, PCD ( Dona) > Lactation Consultant, IBCLC > Massage Therapist , CMT > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 26, 2010 Report Share Posted March 26, 2010 Hm, having handled the diaphram and knowing a little bit about motors/physics, I would have a really tough time believing that a virus can pass through that diaphram... but of course if that's what Medela says it must be..... what Medela says. > > > > Re: sterilizing the PNS. My understanding was that the diaphragm is not impermeable and that milk residue was found INSIDE the pump itself once it was cracked open. I was also told that viruses could easily pass through this diaphragm so sterilizing it is not really helpful. Heard this years ago from medela salesperson soon after the PNS came out. Anyone else also get this information? > > > > Becky , IBCLC > > Milky Way > > La Plata, MD > > www.milkywaybreastfeeding.com > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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