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 [log in to unmask]