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Originally Posted by Breastfeeding Insomniac  I contacted the writer of the petition, and have her petition to post. I will not share her name as she has not had an easy few days of being flamed.
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Breastfeeding Insomniac,
She won't get any flames from me. I'd give her a standing ovation if I could.
I try to reply every time I see a post about used pumps for the very reasons she is concerned about and I can't believe the resistance I get. It's very common to get responses like "show me the study", "I've never heard of it happening", blah, blah, blah. What's really scary is the number of LCs that are anecdotally reported as saying used pumps are fine as long as the collection kits and accessories are replaced.
Which is crazy, because those items can be sterilized, but the motor can't.
The depth and breadth of the wishful thinking and denial on this issue is scary.
To me it just seems like common sense that used pumps are potentially dangerous and yet the vast majority of nursing moms seem to see used pumps as a Lactivist issue ... because "used" means "affordable". And the pump manufacturers are scapegoated as corporate greed mongers. The Ebay petitioner and the mom whose cause she represents would seem to agree with me that safe pumps are the real Lactivist issue.
And the the pump manufacturers that make single user pumps that are a fraction of the cost of multi-user pumps are not the villains. I don't have any reason to believe that the pump manufacturers are price gouging. Anyone that can't pay --or doesn't want to pay-- $300.00 or so for a Medela PIS can get an Ameda PY under the Lansinoh name at Walmart for $150.00 or so, maybe less if they have the option of skipping the carry case. Medelas and Amedas can both be found for less online. If you put the Ameda on your charge card you could pay it off in about a year for about $12.50 a month or so, plus interest.
Perhaps the real villains are the original owners that try to defray their expense or perhaps it's everyone that blithely says used pumps are ok as long as you replace the collection kit and accessories.
I will repeat here what I have said numerous times elsewhere. The original pumping mom's milk --including any pathogens-- can get into the tubes and then travel into the motor. The motor becomes a moist environment to harbor any pathogens (deadly or otherwise, including Thrush); and the heat from the motor provides any warmth necessary for them to thrive. Any milk residue and pathogens can reverse direction and go back into the tubes and into the bottle (and therefore the milk of any subsequent pumping mom) &/or get on the hands of that mom and be transferred onto something that will then transfer the pathogens into her milk.
Completely lost in all of this is the very fundamental and pragmatic question of whether a used pump with a one year motor might undermine the supply of Exclusively Pumping and Working & Pumping moms. Even if the suction and speed are nearly at 100% when the subsequent mom starts using it how long do you think it will remain at 98% or 99%? Will it start to die just before a growth spurt? And how will the new mom know unless it is obvious?
It should be obvious that the real cost of an "affordable" used pump is potentially a compromised supply or --worse yet-- being infected with Thrush or a horrible virus.
If you are ever authorized to give more details I would be really interested in hearing them. Because until there are more concrete accounts of infected used pumps and moldy tubing (which gives a dramatic visual picture) then the information vacuum will reinforce the impression in the Lactivist community that used pumps are harmless.
Anywhoo ... JMO, for whatever that's worth.
~Cath
