Breast Pump Broken?

[PartialToACupOfMilo]

I'm back to work in 10 days and have finally got my baby to accept a bottle - horray!!
Now that she will do this I want to express and give her a bottle every day so that she will take one OK when I'm back at work and that's her only option.

So, I have a medela swing pump and have had it for a while, using it about once a day for the past month or so. Just went to express for tomorrow and there's no suck on it . I have it plugged into the mains and usually have it on quite strong. I pressed the + button to increase the suction and the light just flashes on and off really quickly, but nothing happens to the suction level - I can't get anything out and I really really need it to work now. I was planning on using it three times daily back at work...

What should I do? Is it likely to be the motor? Would it really wear out so easily? Has anyone managed to contact medela? Are they likely to replace it? I bought it from John Lewis, but don't think I kept the receipt so I don't think they'll help - and it's bank holiday weekend now too

firstly, try john lewis - they have good customer services, so if you still have the box, you may be surprised by their response - plus they are open over the weekend, so give them a try! best to go in to a shop and take the thing in in person.

secondly, how old is your baby? I am expressing once a day for my DS (now 8 months) for the past month, and he is now refusing the bottle of EBM, and just topping up when with me. I'm only away from him from 8-3, but he used to feed at least twice in that time before i came back to work! I only get max of 3 oz a day EBM, but that seems to be adequate for his needs

She'll be six months next week when I go back and still has quite a lot of milk each day. I'll be away from her between 7.30am and around 5pm, so will be only doing a maximum of 3 daytime feeds from me.

I don't have the box anymore and what's worse is that I only threw it out when the recycling went out a couple of weeks ago (grrr)

When my Medela Swing lost suction I found that the membrane that attaches to the valve had got a slight kink in it somehow, so I replaced it with a new one stocked in Mothercare - www.mothercare.com/Medela-replacement-valves-and-membranes/dp/B002HT3HLG/sr=1-7/qid=1275088533/ref=s r17/278-3903372-3915559?_encoding=UTF8&m=A2LBKNDJ2KZUGQ&n=44563031&mcb=core. That did the trick. Mine has had quite heavy usage and the motor is still going strong, so hopefully your problem is an easy one to sort too.

I had this problem, and i just checked connections were tight for the plastic tube which plugs into motor and pump. That worked.

I had this problem and found that one of the valves had cracked. When the motor did go, it sounded weaker. I bought the other medela pump after that, and found it much better.

Having said that, when I went back to work last time around my DS just refused all milk and waited for me to come home. He still fed lots, just not during the day.

I agree with llareggub, when the motor went on mine it sounded weaker. Mine was less than a year old so I contacted Medela with proof of purchase and had it repaired, they also said there was a crack in one of the valves so fixed that too. You can send pump to them freepost and they charge £5 to post back when repaired.

HTH

Thank you all. I tried it again yesterday morning and it seemed OK again . DH seemed to think it might be the little white flappy valve too, so I'll get another set of those as ohfuschia recommends and see how it goes.

I went back to my trusty little Avent Isis, and it didn't let me down - so at least I have a fallback option.