While there are SOME mothers who do better or as well with a personal 
grade pump, hundreds of my clients a year get more milk when they switch 
to a hospital grade pump, especially the piston driven ones. We have 
very little clinical research on pumps at all, and much of it is 
manufacturer financed or conducted and one needs to carefully read the 
entire study, because the articles don't always highlight the most 
important points in the discussions. Marsha Walker does a lovely 
critical review in her book on Using the Evidence, if I remember correctly.

The other issue with small pumps is the expected life. For the PIS, it's 
300 hours of use. That is about three times a day for a year's worth of 
work days. The PY has a one year warranty as well. Using these machines 
many times a day can wear out the motor.

And don't count out manual expression either. It is research proven to 
make a huge difference for pump dependent moms.

Catherine Watson Genna BS, IBCLC  NYC  cwgenna.com


On 8/11/2011 7:40 PM, Susan Smallwood wrote:
>     Is there clinical documentation that a PIS is not working as well?  From one who has personally used PIS, PY, the older Medella hospital grade, the Ameda hospital grade and the Symphony, I have to say, my best results came from a PIS.  Secondly, this is what was recomended for the years I was intensly involved in relactation and adoptive breastfeeding.  If it was not a pump that could do the job, then the hundreds of women we worked with would not have gained a significant supply. I realize that PJ Limerick is what is recommended mostly now, however, for years these pumps were sufficient and suddenly we are pushing that they are not good enough?  As one who has plenty of anectdotal evidence that they are indeed fine, when used properly, I can not get behind this thought process until I see bonified clinical evidence pointing the other way.
>   
> Susan Smallwood current nursing student former lactation educator for pregnancy.org and one of the originals to use the protocols as outlined by Lenore Goldfarb (who, gave me that push to take all those lactation classes way back when)
>
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