The woman (Elena Medo) who "invented" these pumps developed a somewhat
unusual attachment to the "funnel" which she--and some pretty good
research--said better simulated the motion of a baby's mouth at the breast.
From their web site:

http://www.whiteriver.com/aboutus/corp.htm

White River Concepts (WRC), located in San Clemente, California is a rapidly
growing women's health care company providing proprietary products focused on
the health care needs of women.

The core strength of the company centers in the perinatal arena. The identity
of the company as a perinatal provider started with the research and
development to create the White River Electric Breast Pump. WRC established
itself as an innovative, high quality manufacturer with strong patents to
protect what was soon medically proven to be the top producing, most
effective breast pump technology available.

The patented Soft-Cup Funnel has been incorporated in many different models
of the White River line of breast pumps. The publication of a key medical
study fueled the Company's growth and enhanced it's credibility. The White
River Electric Pump was proven to have the unique capability to trick the
mother's body into thinking it was actually the baby nursing. The maternal
response to effective breastfeeding by the baby is demonstrated by the
measurement of the milk-making hormone, prolactin. Of many pumps tested in
the study, the White River Electric Breast Pump was the only breast pump
which evoked a prolactin response equal to the response triggered by real
babies.

Some of the nations most prestigious hospitals now use only White River brand
breast pump products, especially when the need for mother's milk is critical
due to illness or prematurity. For the same reason, working mothers find that
milk supply is not a problem when using a White River Breast Pump.



Obviously, the above science is a little incomplete.

I consulted for Elena for a little while about ten years ago and her heart
was really in the right place.  I think that it is very difficult to develop
the financial resources to compete with the big guys on the block and WRC has
remained somewhat invisible to the general LC community.  I tried to develop
a program for putting these pumps (rentals) into pediatricians offices and
showing them how they could actually profit from promoting breastfeeding to
their mothers.  Didn't work.

I haven't seen White River's pumps for years but I'll bet they're worth a
look.
I just found Elena's phone number.  If you call her, please tell I said Hi.
Elena Medo 909 2960081

Jay Gordon

             ***********************************************
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html