Disgusting stuff in my Medela pump parts

[lkmiscnet]

I have a Medala pump in style pump.

A few days ago, I happened to look inside the plastic part (the connector?) that the yellowish/tan plastic end of the tubing plugs into and there were black specs inside. Also, the yellow thing with the membrane attached also had black residue inside. I don't boil the parts after using them.

I have been using soap and water to rinse through my pump parts and let them air dry, but have never thought to use a tiny brush INSIDE those particular pump parts.

I hope it's not mold! What could it have been? I have several months worth of frozen milk, and I hope it is not all contaminated because I need it all.

Anyone else have this experience? Look inside your pump parts!

In another disgusting story (since I'm on a roll) I thought I would share since it's so incredulous--I was having a suction problem with one side while pumping and couldn't figure out what the problem was. I checked the connnections and all seemed well. Then I noticed that milk was collecting in the tubing of all places. I thought "What in the heck?".

I unplugged the tubing from the motor and from the plastic connector at the other end and I was shocked to look into the end that goes into the connector piece. It had the tail end of one of those pincher bugs with his pincher hanging out. I was so grossed out. He must have crawled in all the way through the plastic end of the tubing so I couldn't see anything (I keep my pump on the floor by my sofa with the tubes connected) and when the milk started flowing, tried to back out because I would have noticed him otherwise when I connected it. He drowned.

How absolutely disgusting! How in the world did that happen? What a fluke. I poured out all the milk, of course, and promptly boiled all the parts and the tubing and started over.

Linda

[BakerALM]

The Yellow part needs to be disassembled; the little white soft plastic membrane gets pulled off the yellow part (if you break it or loose it you can by them at babies R Us or online). Wash both with either a little brush or a cotton swab then air dry and reassemble. Many mom's don't know those parts also need to be scrubbed and dissembled.

As for the tubing you don't need to wash it since no milk actually goes though them but what is happening is that the left over water that is in your horns is getting into the tubing and over time mold is growing. It happened to me as well. So periodically I would wash them and then spin them though the air to get the water out and then air dry. Just keep an eye on them so you know if they are getting dirty. Also you can buy new ones for about $10 online.

I would not worry about the milk you already pumped with them just up your cleaning routine for the future.