Hello everyone,
I have a bit of a conflict of interest here so firstly-my disclaimer-I lived
overseas and ran a hospital grade pump hire service, and I sold personal use
pumps to mums choosing to buy them. I still only carry Medela because in
this particular country they are the only hospital grade pump company
available and their personal use pumps are better than anything else
available locally. I am appalled by their Code violations of late but until
a respected competitor enters that domestic market I have no options.
Can I just say from my experience that while there is clearly a design flaw
in the PiS that allows the possibility of mould growth internally, if the
pump is used correctly it just should not happen.
The tubing is for air only and the only way milk could back up into the
tubing, and hence then require cleaning and therefore the introduction of
water is if the mum reclines significantly during pumping or knocks the
containers while the tubing is still attached. If no milk enters the tubing
then they stay attached to the pump and never need cleaning-therefore I
would assume there is no possibility of mould growth?
Should this occur then yes the tubing can be ran through with mildly soapy
water to clean but under no circumstances was it to be used or attached to
the PiS until the tubing had completely dried. Swing it around, lie it
flat-yes it could take days. Options-return it to me for new tubing so I can
ensure it is dried before use, or feed the baby/hand express while you wait.
The biggest problem I believe here is that tired mums and zealous helpers
don't follow the instructions correctly. They either fail to clean anything,
melt the lot or throw all the equipment, tubing included in the water pot or
sterilizer. We can put sticky notes on pieces-clean this, don't clean this,
but at the end of the day, the biggest problem I believe is that pumps are a
complicated piece of equipment, definitely overused, can create more
problems, and should not be sold without a detailed personal consultation.
Is there a conflict of interest offering this service when IBCLC? In
essence, yes. But that's a whole other discussion point.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but if a mum used the pis for a previous
baby, and never needed to clean the tubing, or else paid special attention
to using it when dry if she did need to clean it, then I would think her
pump would be quite safe for a subsequent baby. I would not apply this
principle of course to pis pump sharing/selling because it is still a
personal use product.
Back to reading,
Meg Kingsley IBCLC
Now in Australia
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