Urgent - pump malfunction

[Haahoooo]

Sorry, another expressing post from me.

My medela swing, which has been causing me trouble for some weeks (milk being sucked into the motor) has now completely malfunctioned and lost all suction.

This leaves me without ability to pump during the night, and tomorrow first thing I will go out and buy another pump.

But should I get:

• another medela swing on the basis I know how it works (but are they prone to malfunctioning and therefore a bad purchase?)

• a medela double pump as I express a lot so it could save lots of time

• another brand - do people have lots of issues with medela?

TIA

Should add cost not that important right now as expressing is do important to me - really just want something that works well.

If you know you get a good telos from pumping and want to do it regularly (ie every day for more than just a few KIT days or something), I'd invest in a medela double pump. Everything I've read says they are the bees knees (I was happy with my Swing) but a double would save you a lot of time of you pump regularly.

Have you had your Swing long? Could you complain and get a discount?

I bought the swing in 2012, used it for a few months with DD, stored it for 1.5 years and have now been using it intensively for three weeks with DS. A bit unhappy it's broken given it's had max. 4-5 months use in total!

Will definitely consider the double - with DD I expressed a few times a week but with DS I'm now expressing 3-4 times a day.

I've got the double and have seen a definite increase in my supply and what I'm able to express since I've had it (just used the swing on its own before that)

I kind of wish id hired a symphony instead but I wasn't convinced on how good it would be after hiring another double that wasn't great. If I hadn't already spunked loads of money on pumps I'd hire that I reckon

There was a point when Ai was exclusively pumping for my DD, so I upgraded to a double pump, the Medela Freestyle. Saved so much time and I got more. They do a double version of the Swing too.

Thank you very much. Think I'll buy a double. Any views on the best / most reliable double pump on the market?

I'm exclusively expressing for DS2 (10 weeks). I started with the Medela Swing, but found it noisy and slow. Am now renting a Medela Symphony (hospital grade) direct from Medela. It's brilliant - quiet and much faster. You can order online from Medela. If you do it by 3 pm they will courier to you by tomorrow. £45 for first 2 weeks and then £45 per month. It's a double pump as well.

Depends how long you have to go with pumping - I bought an Ameda Lactaline right in the beginning (also an exclusive pumper) and loved it. It's closed system which means milk doesn't get sucked into the motor like with the Swing. If it's more cost effective to hire a pump though you should do that.

That sounds great. Looking online and at mn reviews it seems the symphony and the freestyle both come highly recommended. Does anyone know the difference?

Lost all suction? Have you checked that the little white membrane hasn't either come off or got a hole in it?

I used the spectra 3 from anawiz. It's a hospital grade single pump that can be used as a double with the purchase of the doubles kit. It was very well priced and worked well for me. I've since recommended it to various people and had good feedback.

Yes that's a good call PseudoBadger, I had forgotten about that. The membranes are inexpensive and there are places that can ship pump parts to you next day. I went through a couple of membranes in the course of my six months pumping.

They also sell them in John Lewis. I hope that's what it is!

Unfortunately not pseudo. I replaced the membrane a couple of days agoto try and fix the problems I have been having. Then last night the pump broke down to such an extent that it did not even have suction when I was trying to clean it by holding the little hose in a container with soapy water as suggested in the trouble shooting guide. I think there may be milk inside the actual internal mechanism now, rather than running through the motor which I know can be cleaned / fixed...

Update: just spoken to medela who have been great actually. Apparently the issue arises with really fast letdown which I do have, and the thing to do is to break the vacuum when letdown happens and just let the milk run.

Anyway, they're sending a replacement motor due to arrive tomorrow which is brilliant.

Still tempted by double pumps though...

Glad you're sorted, and good to hear Medela have been helpful! There's nothing like the panic of a broken pump if you rely on it heavily to feed your DC!

I am on my third membrane - the white flappy bit! John Lewis sell them & this made my pump work again.

Exactly Teladi! I was so upset last night as we are in such a good feeding / expressing rhythm now and I'm a bit obsessed by it. Never thought I'd consider panic-buying breast pumps..

Sorry just read that you've tried that already

Great news. Glad medela we're helpful.

Glad everything's working again!

Would recommend the Ardo Calypso if you ever need a new one - it's also a closed system and you can get a very inexpensive adapter to convert to a double. Love mine, very efficient and quiet.