Below is a compilation of replies that I received to my question about milk
in the tubing of the Pump In Style. These suggestions are good to keep on file.
The mother did call Medela and got a service rep who was not at all
helpful. The suggestion was to boil the tubing each day.
Some people got good ideas from Medela.
Pat Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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Several people recommended turning the valve so that the white membrane is
facing the breast instead of the pump.
Try turning the valve head so the white membrane faces toward the breast ...
Sometimes a rapid MER will cause milk to back up in the tubing so if you turn
the valve head and membrane toward the breast ,the milk will run down the
bottle better !
I used my Pump-In-Style at work (12-hour night shifts)
and would sometimes get milk backflow into the tubing
when I would fall asleep during those "oh-dark-thirty"
pumping sessions! The cones would drop forward into
my lap, and because of the angle at which they would
tilt, some milk would get into the tubing. I still
remember the soothing sound of the PIS motor...zzzzz!
This was 1997 to 1999; did someone mentione Medela had
changed the design to prevent this since then? Milk
would also get into the tubing if my collection
bottles got over-full (a common occurrence when
pumping for my eldest). I found it helpful to set the
pump up on a counter top or table, higher than my
chest level, to prevent, or at least decrease, any
siphoning.
___________________-
Do you know how old the Pump In Style is? The older ones have flanges
that have the hole (into which the tube goes) straight back near the top
of the flange back... this allows a forceful letdown to shoot milk almost
directly at the opening of the tube. The newer shields that Medela has
have the hole moved more towards the bottow, and have a piece of plastic
placed strategically in front of the hole to help prevent that from
happening. Milk can still get into the tubes if the bottle tips, etc.,
but shouldn't get in just from milk spray. Even with an older pump, she
can still purchase the newer flanges and may find that that ends the
problem.
_________________________
A friend of mine would get milk in her PIS tubing if she pumped and
got too much milk in her bottles, sort of like over flow, or if you really
tip the bottles and get the milk to run up the tubing. You can just rinse
the milk out of the tubing and then hook them back up to the PIS and run it
for a while without the bottles/flanges to dry the inside of the tubing.
If that doesn't work call medela and ask their customer service dept. They
are really helpful.
__________________________-
The most common cause of moisture in the tubing is when a mother washes the
tubes and they never really dry out. The directions will tell you to wash
them but in my experience, they stay wet. Weather also plays a part. If an
area is particularly humid the condensation can form or if her pump is
stored and used in an area where the temperature changes drastically this
will also cause it. There should be absolutely no milk going into the
tubes! The next place it will be is in the machine and it will ruin. Make
sure she isn't filling the bottles to the top and have her check the yellow
valve for any cracks and check the white membrane for any tears.
_____________________________________
And, of course, there's Winnie's lariat suggestion for resolving miosture
in the tubing:
Barb suggests running the pump briefly without the bottles to "dry"
the tubing. I have found a way that's quite effective. (We need to
do this from time to time when mom \is using a classic pump,
mistakenly washed the tubing, then gets water from the tubing on the
filter rendering it useless.)
First of all, blotting with a tissue seems to be enough to dry the
filter.
To dry the tubing, hold the tubes about in the middle, stand in the
middle of a hall or room with noone near and whip the tubing around
several times like a lariat (the circle the tubing makes is
vertical, not horizontal). Then switch ends of tubing and repeat.
I find this gets the tubing dry enough in just a few seconds.
Winnie
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