Meleda Swing Maxi second hand

[Karinoushka]

Hi, i have just bought a second hand Meleda Swing Maxi but saw afterward that you are not supposed to use a second hand one as the Meleda as an 'open' system and can't be properly sterilized. Anyone knows about this? I feel i have waisted my money...

It's quite crazy that we have to ask ourselves these questions in the first place. A pump should be something that can be sterilised and we shouldn't have any doubts in our mind that it is safe for a first or second child.

Very true!!

I've just looked up the instructions for the Medala Swing online, and it does clearly say on page 3 "This product is intended for use by a single user only and should not be shared between users." It doesn't say why, but it surely must be for the reason mentioned above.

There's no issue with a second or third child, it's the mother that counts, not the baby.

That makes sense! Obviously I've lent mine to my SIL. Do you think if you were in my shoes, you'd use it?x

To be honest, I'm not sure what I'd do in your situation. The chances are surely tiny, especially with someone you know like your SIL, but the warnings are there. There's some info about this issue on the La Leche League site, this link.

*"Does it matter if your baby receives another mother’s milk particles? Potentially, yes. Although your milk is without a doubt the best possible food for your baby, it is currently recommended that any donor milk a baby receives from a milk bank or from another mother be pasteurized to kill viruses. Your baby has already been safely exposed to the viruses in your system during pregnancy, so there is no risk. But if another mother carries a virus in her system that you do not, it can be passed to your baby via the other mother’s milk and your baby may become seriously ill.

A mother can have a virus in her milk without even knowing that she is a carrier. Some of the potentially dangerous viruses that can be transmitted through human milk include cytomegalovirus (CMV) and HIV (AIDS). Most mothers with CMV, for example, are unaware that they are a carrier."*

Those second two paragraphs are a quote from the La Leche League site.