When you discuss expressing milk and whether it is best to pump or to hand
express please don't be dogmatic in your choices.
Pumps are a relatively new phenomenon.  When I commenced my midwifery
training some 24 years ago the neonatal intensive care nursery had one big,
noisy pump, which was so rarely used that I never did learn how to set it
up.  Our breastfeeding rates were very high though - >90% and those mothers
hand expressed, or used the old Kaneson hand pump for many weeks at a time
- successfully.

As far as 'hospital-grade' pumps go.... well, Australia doesn't have
hospital-grade pumps even today - the biggest we have is the Lactina and
yet, on the whole, the breastfeeding rates for Australia are particularly
good.  Whether it be expressing for a preterm infant, or expressing because
of damaged nipples, either hand expressing, or using a hand pump or Lactina
seems to work well for most mothers.

And the other point to remember is that the majority of the world's mothers
have never, ever seen either a manual pump or an electric pump - but
breastfeeding happens anyway.

Denise

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Denise Fisher MMP, BN, IBCLC
BreastEd Online Lactation Studies
http://www.health-e-learning.com

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