Hi, Carol.
       You want to know about fungus/mold in the tubing of pumps and how
often the tubing should be replaced.  Around here, most moms want the Pump In
Style, so although I have carried the Purely Yours, I am most familiar with the
Pump In Style (PNS).  When Medela first came out with their "skinny" tubes--they
brought them out in the rental pump collection kits before they ever
introduced the PNS--I dutifully told everyone the directions that came with the kit,
which was to wash the tubes and sterilize frequently (I forget just how
often--we are talking approximately 7 years ago).  Within a month, all the parents
were having to come back to buy new tubes because theirs had the ugliest green
and black mold growing in them, because the tubes are so thin they will not dry
easily once they get water in them.  Mold is not covered by the warranty, so
the parents had to pay for the new tubes.  After about 6 months of this, I
finally decided that you can sterilize a bottle, but there is still air in the
bottle.  So why were we worrying about the air in the airtubes?  We surely don't
want *moldy* air blowing over the milk, which is what was happening when
parents were trying so hard to *clean* the tubes!  But plain old air just
shouldn't be a problem.  (Assuming we were talking about one mother only, not a shared
pump.)
       So I began telling everyone to ignore the advice about washing and
sterilizing the tubing, unless they actually accidentally got milk in the tubing.
 (If milk got in there, I told them we had to get the tubes clean or buy new
ones if we couldn't get them clean or they started growing mold after washing
them.)  I figure if that advice was going to haunt me, it would have done it
long before now.  And about 5 years after I started telling the parents that, a
couple of hospitals in my area started telling parents the same thing.
       I tell parents not to *ever* wash the tubing unless they get milk in
it.  I also tell them that, to help avoid mold in the tubing, remove the
breastshields/bottles from the tubes when they are finished pumping, let the tubes
dangle and turn the pump back on for a minute or two while they button up and
put away their milk.  That extra couple of minutes of air moving through the
tubing can help to dry out any condensation ("sweat") that may have formed
during the pumping, and so cut the risk of mold developing.
       I have seen the tubing on some pumps of moms pumping for their third
child on the same pump, who have used this advice, and the tubes look as good
as new.  Usually, I find that when there is mold in the tubing when it is
removed from storage for a new baby, it is because mom didn't get her pump from me,
so didn't get the "don't wash it" information, and washed the tubing before
putting the pump into storage.  (There are lots of places to buy pumps here,
but I am one of just a very few places where they can buy replacement parts.)
       Hope that helps you decide what to tell parents.
       Dee

Dee Kassing, BS, MLS, IBCLC
Collinsville, Illinois, in central USA

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html