medela swing b/pump-wont switch on

Hi there,

I don't know if anyone can help - has anyone had a problem with the Medela Swing breast pump? - mine worked fine with my DD but now I am using it with my DS and there are times it won't switch on - I have to fiddle with it pressing the "on" button several times - if I move it while it's pumping sometimes it stops. I noticed the small sponge on the inside cover where near where the batteries go was soaked with breast milk - so I'm asuming there was/is a milk overflow - how can I fix this? - the trouble shooting instructions in the manual are really confusing. Does anyone know where I can take it to be repaired?

I deseprately need the pump to work coz I have nipple thrush at the moment and putting DS directly onto my breasts is absolute agony! Help!!!!

Have you tried readjusting the tubey bits? Sometimes when mine wouldn't suck, I just pulled them out and put them back together. That seemed to fix it?

yep - tried fiddling with tubing, switching off from power point and switching back on. I think it needs to be aired out somehow since milk somehow got in - I ran it without pumping n that cleared the condensation in the tubing, it turned on and I pumped 150mls but I had to try a few times still to get it to start initially. I'm hoping it'll dry out on its own but I think it'll need a "service" or something - it sends me into a panic each time I can't get it started!

When did you buy it? Apparently last year there was a bad (for want of a better phrase) batch of ac (power) adapters with some medela swings. I've had a similar problem; originally I thought it might have been milk getting into the motor but have since worked out that that hasn't had an effect - tested this by using batteries in the swing and it works fine.

Try using it with batteries (the lithium batteries are good but expensive) first.

If that works, ring the place where you bought it from and they should be able to replace the power pack sometime soonish. I know that Mothersdirect are waiting on replacement power packs to send out to a number of people because of this problem (I'm one of them). Currently I'm just using my swing on batteries and it's going well, no stop, start stuff happening.