Lisa Enger wrote:
>I think that we as the professionals have to be very savvy when it comes to
>equipment and reps, even if they are from companies that support
>breastfeeding.

First of all, I want to say that I thoroughly agree with what you
said about pump companies, Lisa. They are commercial concerns, just
like formula companies, pharmaceutical companies, etc.

I just wanted to add a snippet from one of the Peter Hartmann
research team - the one who was left at home to hold the fort at the
moment while the rest of the team tour the world to lecture on their
fascinating findings (that many of you have attended).

He explained about the Medela funding and what they are doing with it
- partly to allay fears of some people that this was on the unethical
side, that some people here on Lactnet have alluded to.

He said that Medela is the *only* pump/lactation aid company to
invest money in original, rigorous scientific research to develop new
products. All the others only respond to anecdotal, clinical
requests, etc for improvements. Medela (Switzerland - ie parent
comapany, not the US arm) have funded not only the research directly
related to the development of the new pump (Symphony) but also
provided funds for research studies that they could not possibly gain
from directly. That was part of the deal originally, I believe.
Without their financial support in this symbiotic arrangement, very
little of the current research (such as the ultrasound studies) would
be possible. This is the sad truth in the Western world. The funding
bodies, such as the National Health and Medical Research Council
(NHMRC) who have traditionally funded Peter's department's studies in
the past (and still do, I think), have a definite limit on their
capacity to provide the necessary funds for these studies - for
equipment and researchers' wages.

Sure, Medela is not a company whose income is derived solely from
babies being 'breastfed', as I don't think there could be such a
company (as you only need *people* and not products to breastfeed),
however, they may be considered the closest in that they rely
entirely on mothers wishing their babies to receive their own
breastmilk.

I didn't intend this to sound like I wholehartedly support Medela
over any other company. I like to assess them all on the merits of
their products like the next person. I just thought that this was an
interesting piece of information.

To be honest, when I attended the presentation on the new Symphony
and the research on its development, when it was first presented here
at the home of this research, I was rather disappointed that it
didn't seem to be all that superior to the Lactina in actual results
of milk obtained - but with a potentially much higher price tag. It
will be interesting to see if more widespread use as it comes into
commission in many places where expressing milk is critical to the
mothers and babies, demonstrates its superiority. The studies I saw
were done with volunteer mothers who had efficiently-feeding, healthy
babies. There is also the potential to keep the development going,
with investigation into different suction/release patterns which can
be easily inserted on their computer-chip cards into existing pumps.
The ultimate would probably be taylor-made patterns for individual
mothers.

In the meantime, I for one, am not ready *yet* to throw out the
current pumps we (and mothers) rely on - of several brands - in
favour of Medela's latest! However, I am grateful that *someone* is
providing the money for high-quality research - and this someone has
reasonably clean motives, if not squeaky-clean in breastfeeding
advocates' eyes. This unfortunately is the *real* world.
******************************************************************
Joy Anderson B.Sc. Dip.Ed. Grad.Dip.Med.Tech. IBCLC
Australian Breastfeeding Association counsellor
Perth, Western Australia.   mailto:[log in to unmask]
******************************************************************

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

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