Hello, All.
       Any suggestions about the following situation would be appreciated.  A
mother came to me today with a Symphony pump that she had rented elsewhere,
because she could not get any suction from it.  I do not rent Symphonies,
though I do carry Lactinas and Classics, so am familiar with pumps in general.
This mom had previously seen me, so I knew that she had very wide nipples and had
suggested that when she rent a pump, she purchase the XL breastshields.  She
came back to me because she wasn't sure if she didn't have suction because the
XL breastshields were too wide or because the pump wasn't working correctly.
       It turned out the breastshields were indeed the perfect size for her.
And the pump does work correctly.  The person she had rented it from had no
idea how to set suction level and had given her wrong information.  When I
showed her how to adjust the suction level, she was able to pump out enough milk
for a full feeding for her baby.
       This mom has scabbed, very sore nipples as a result of both her baby's
incorrect suck and stuffing her wide nipples into a standard breastshield on
an older Mini-electric pump.  (She had hoped that pumping would give her sore
breasts a break.)  Now here's where the problem comes in.  I discovered while
helping this mom with the pump today that the Symphony suction level goes back
to zero every time it is turned off.  Unlike the Lactina or Classic, where
suction level can be set before pumping starts, you have to turn on the Symphony
and then adjust the suction.  This mom is not "built" in such a way that she
could hold one breastshield with the crook of her elbow and the other with her
hand, so that she would have the other hand free to adjust the pump controls.
 If she turns on the pump first and sets the suction, then if she wanted to
double-pump she would have to just aim the breastshields at her nipples and
hope she got perfectly centered while the pump was already sucking.  Of course
this didn't happen, so the shield rubbed the sore areas.  So she now has to pump
just one breast at a time, in order to have one hand to hold the breastshield
in place and the other hand to turn on the pump and adjust the suction.  (I
hope I've been able to explain this so you all get a clear picture.)  Even when
her 5-yr-old is home to turn on the pump for her, no way is she going to let
the 5-yr-old turn the suction knob!  I couldn't figure out a way to help her
double-pump without another adult to help her.  But since she is currently
pumping for every feeding, single-pumping is taking an enormous amount of time for
her.
       Any suggestions?
       Dee

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

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