I too have known people who used and loved the Lloyd-B pump--or, as I think
it may have been spelled, the Loyd-B.
In the days when the typical breast pump was a rubber suction bulb attached
to a little plastic horn, the L-B was a great improvement. My understanding
was that it was built out of parts from a chemical supply catalogue, and the
stoppers were chosen to fit baby food jars because those were easily
accessible to most women.
It did not work like today's automatic cycling pumps. Those build suction
quickly and release without the mother's having to trigger the release. It
did not work like today's small electric pumps. Those continue building
suction higher and higher until the mother hits the release trigger. Instead
it worked by letting the mother pump up to whatever level of suction she was
comfortable with and stop at that level. The suction level stayed the same
until she hit the release switch--which was indeed located in an awkward
spot, so that pumping usually took two hands and required the mom to move one
of her hands each time she needed to release the suction.
But it worked. And the level of suction was entirely under the mother's
control. And so was the timing of the pump-up and release phases. When the
mother's milk ejection had become conditioned to the stimulus of the pump,
all she had to do was pump it up, relax while her milk let down, release
suction when the flow of milk ceased, rest a little (if she liked), and pump
it up again.
If you read the package instructions on the manual Avent pump, the
recommendation there is somewhat similar. The mom can use quick, light
strokes of the handle until her milk lets down, then hold the handle all the
way depressed until the flow ceases, then release and "pump up" again. I am
not sure of the physics of the Avent--whether it's possible to build the
level of suction applied to the breast by these light rapid strokes, but
again, I hear from mothers that's it's an easy effective pump.
Part of the mystery of pump technology may be that the milk ejection reflex
can become conditioned to various stimuli.
I just had a conversation with a Russian physician who lives in the USA. She
asked me whether a hot cup of tea with milk, drunk 30 minutes before
breastfeeding, would increase the milk supply. She told me that's what *she*
did when she was breastfeeding, and she could feel her breasts fill up with
milk every time she did it, so that's what she tells her patients to do.
I went through what might be happening physiologically--the mother's MER
becomes conditioned to the stimulus of the hot drink; the MER moves her milk
from alveoli in the back of the breast closer to the front, where she
interprets the breast as being "full of milk." Sounds like a recipe for
success...but I cautioned her that if a mother doesn't have access to the hot
drink every time she nurses, you wouldn't want her to be so dependent on this
stimulus that she felt she couldn't nurse without it. And besides, how do
you know when it's 30 minutes before a feed if you a feeding on cue?
My standard line with parents when I talk about pumping is, "Half of pumping
happens in your head," by which I mean that technology is not the most
important factor.
Chris Mulford, RN, IBCLC
working for WIC in New Jersey
Co-coordinator, WABA Women & Work Task Force
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