I clean each pump when it comes back from the user. We use a hospital
quality disinfectant. There is often spilled milk in the crevices, under the
piston (Ameda Elites) and on the bag.

When I worked at a hospital, I tried to get everyone to clean the pump
BEFORE taking it to a mom, using the disinfectant wipes we used for other
things. Hospitals wipe down everything in the patient's room as soon as they
leave (during cleaning), so why should the breast pump be any different? If
the telephone and drug pump in the patient's room is wiped down between
patients, why not the breast pump?

The NICU  had the dirtiest breast pump with milk and dust all over it, and I
could not get the supervisor to make arrangements to have it cleaned, or at
least put the disinfectant wipes on the pump stand so the moms could do it
when finished.

Here's another analogy about washing pump equiptment -- would you eat off of
a plate a second time without washing it between meals, or maybe just
rinsing it off, then eating off it again?? Would you drink a glass of milk,
not clean it, and drink from it again later?

I tell moms to wash the flange, bottle, and valves every time they use it
with warm soapy water, and rinsing it twice. And, wash their hands first!

Kathy Eng, BSW, IBCLC

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