Dear Lactnetters,
I have a query regarding the operation of the Medela Lactina pump. I don't
know if it is actually a problem or not, so I thought I'd ask you all if
you have had the same experience. A mum brought back a rental pump because
she said it seemed to be under-powered. She was trying to pump with a
double kit on maximum setting, and the arm didn't have enough power to do
this. It would work on medium but struggled a bit. I tried her kit on the
one other pump I had here at the time and it did the same thing. We also
tried a different piston, but nothing made any difference. On single
pumping (yes, we removed the blue ring from the piston) it would pump fine
on minimum, OK on medium but struggled a bit (hesitating during the stroke)
on maximum. She tells me that she had pumped fine with a single kit, on
maximum, on the hospital's Lactinas, without this hesitation of the piston.

Is this normal in your experience? With the maximum setting (so both the
holes on the piston are closed) and both breast cups sealed well on the
breasts, I am not surprised that the poor motor has trouble creating enough
suction to move the piston, but is this right? I do not have access to a
suction gauge to test what the pump is doing, but it seemed strange that
this happened on two different pumps. The two are not even from the same
'batch' of pumps - one is a straight Lactina Electric and the other a
Lactina Plus (enables alteration of voltage, I think), the latter much
newer (only about a year old).

Is this just normally what happens with Lactinas or could there be
something wrong?

Joy Anderson IBCLC, NMAA Breastfeeding Counsellor
Perth, Western Australia
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