I’ve always wondered why the FDA says you can’t reuse breast pumps. Those devices are pretty expensive, especially when you factor inother costs associated swith having a baby. This is what the FDA website says, “You should never buy a used breast pump or share a breast pump… The money you may save by buying a used pump is not worth the health risks to you or your baby. Breast pumps that are reused by different mothers can carry infectious diseases, such as HIV or hepatitis.” WOW, this would scare any would be mother…. but it is true?
Can you reuse a breast pump safely?
It turns out breast pumps can be reused safely if you change out certain parts as the company instructs — but so can any other pumps that have detachable milk collection kits and breast covers, “If a breast pump has a separate breast cover and tubing (Medela does with it’s medela tubing & other parts), then it can be reused once cleaned,” the FDA said, “but the pumps are not labeled as such.” The FDA website does say that you can reuse a pump if it’s “hospital-grade.” But it turns out that the FDA doesn’t define “hospital grade.” When the FDA clears a breast pump for sale, it doesn’t consider reuse. We have allowed breast pumps that clearly separate (no possible contact of breast milk with the pump mechanism) to be marketed as reusable with appropriate instructions for cleaning and disinfection.”
Is this just a marketing ploy from breast pump manufacturers tp make mopre money? Many vendors sell breast pumps with replacement milk collection kits and nipple shields, such as industry leaders Medela and Ameda, but those companies market their consumer pumps as single-user products and warn against sharing them, saying it could void the warranty and pose a health risk. Those companies don’t provide instructions for disinfecting the pumps.
What reason do they have to teach you how to make reusable for someone else. What business sense is that. Do you think nursing companies are doing the wrong thing?
