Dear all:

Having opened up dozens if not hundreds of faceplates, I cannot imagine that the suction would work well if something were pressing against the membrane diaphragm underneath the faceplate such as a silicon gel pack.  It might even damage the plastic.  

There are far simpler ways of keeping water out -- such as NOT sterilizing the tubes since it is actually quite hard to get milk to go up and through the tubes, using a Q-tip to dry out the insertion hole for the tubes on the back of the elbow piece or the old fashioned style breast shields that screw straight onto the bottles.  It is very quick to whip the tubes around in a circle to get water out of one end and then flip and do the other.  All of these work to prevent mold growth than turning on the motor per Medela's instructions.  

Best regards, 

Susan Burger, MHS, PhD, IBCLC.

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