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VI-D. Fish tank pumps Nurture III




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This article is from the Breast Pumps FAQ, by bweiss@cs.arizona.edu (Beth Weiss) with numerous contributions by others.

VI-D. Fish tank pumps Nurture III

Excerpt from Motherwear catalog: Pump both breasts at once, or pump
one side while nursing on the other. The Nurture III Electric Pump is
easy to use and simple to clean. It combines the portability of a
small pump with the performance of a large rental pump. A fast cycle
time means breasts are exposed to less suction and milk is expressed
quickly. Suction is controlled by rolling your finger on and off the
top of the bottle. Ideal for moms who pump oftne. (Mar 95: $99)
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I loved my Nurture III. I used it through nursing two babies before
handing it down to one of my little sisters. It was quiet, small, and
worked great. It has a couple of different suction settings. I was
always able to collect at least 8 ounces in about 10 minutes. With my
son, I collect 16 ounces in 20 minutes twice a day which was more than
he could drink. I think that part of this is due to the pump and the
rest to the great let down that I got while reading misc.kids. The
Nurture III was highly recommended by the lacation consultants
affilated with my hospital and my medical group. In fact, they told
me that if I were going to buy a pump that I should buy this one
first; otherwise, I'd end up buying the Nurture III AFTER having
bought and disposed of other models.
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The Nurture III pumps and the ones like it are called Fish Tank Pumps,
because that is what they are. They have two hand held bottles with
breast attachments, connected by tubes to a fish tank moter (you know,
those little brown moters that run the fish tank pump). They have a
finger-release pressure regulator, so you control the cycling (unlike
the Medela pumps which do its own cycling).
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The pump I purchased and am now using at work, at least twice
a day (for my second son, Ben - 4/9/94), is a Nurture III. I
purchased it from a local La Leche League member who is also a nurse
and lactation consultant. I got her name from the La Leche "area
coordinator" in my neighborhood. I like it pretty well. It takes me
7 minutes total to do both sides. It is sometimes a little particular
about being put together just right - the rubber rings that fit inside
the bottles have to be just so - in order to get suction, and it is
not exceptionally quiet - it sounds like a fish tank motor. But it
does the trick fairly quickly, and I can get on with my work. It is
nice and small and weighs only about 2 pounds. (Could I do an
advertisement?) It is not as quiet or simple as the huge Medela I
rented, but it is portable and less expensive. Good luck!
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I bought a Nurture III pump, and have rented an Ameda Egnell Lite
machine. I get a better letdown with the Ameda (I was starting to
have problems with letdown using the Nurture III). The Ameda is
somewhere in between the Nurture III and the Medela in terms of size
and weight; it's fairly portable and can be carried back and forth to
work easily. One advantage to the Ameda over the Nurture III is that
you don't have to use your thumbs to turn the suction on and off; the
machine does it for you.
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I used the Nurture III with my first baby and it worked great although
it took about 20 -25 minutes to pump. With the 2nd, I used the
Nurture III again for a few months, then a friend let me borrow her
Medula Lactina and it is WONDERFUL. Pumping took less than 10 minutes
plus I got MORE milk than with the Nurture III. I tried to go back to
the Nurture III after that, but I'd gotten used to the stronger
suction and I wasn't getting much milk out, so I ended up continuing
with the Lactina.

(IMO) If you need it for work, I'd rent to Lactina even though it
costs more. It's less time consuming (and therefore less stressful
!!!). Good luck!
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I sell these as well, (Nurture III) and they are popular with many
mothers, retailing for about $110.00 vs a cost of about $200+ for
kit/rental for 5 mos of the auto cycle pumps.

The big difference is that the Nurture III does not have autocycle,
but relies on the user to manually cycle by covering an air hole. Now,
for those of you who groan and say that you have already tried those
kinds of pumps, this one is DIFFERENT! All the other pumps on the
market are truly inferior, but Bailey Medical Supply Co. did it right
and used the right size of pump motor. I have found that some mothers
don't want to do anything at all and prefer the autocycle of the
double set-up rental pumps, but many other mothers don't mind at all,
and they, too, can complete a pump session in 10-15 minutes.
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Most work days I use a small electric pump, the Nurture III, which I
find works really well. A big bonus for me is that it's also small
enough to pack in my insulated carrier so I can take it home for the
weekends if I want to express at home. It's also nice and quiet
(which is great for work). It adapts for double-pumping (though I
found I don't really use that feature -- I like to have one hand
free). It's not available in standard stores that I've seen; I got it
from an RN nearby. However, I recently saw it listed in the La Leche
League catalogue.
------------------------------------------------------------ I have a
Nurture III electric pump and highly recommend it. I purchased it
through my HMO (Kaiser), so I don't know how non-HMO members would go
about getting one. Is is very compact, weighs about 3-4 lbs. and
allows you to pump either breast or BOTH breasts at once. I have been
using mine since I returned to work seven weeks ago (and prior to that
so that I could build up reserves. I usually pump 3 times a day and
it only takes about 10 min. per time (I pump both sides at once). The
"funnel" portion of the container screws off, so you can store milk in
the container (use regular bottle tops).

The lactation consultant at Kaiser said over 90% of the people who
have purchased a Nurture III from her have been satisfied. One person
got a defective pump (which the company replaced) and another person
just didn't like the pump.

 

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