Great question! A variety of sources. As you can imagine, breast pumps are extremely expensive to have on hand. As a result some breast pumps come from gracious manufacturers who supply me with donated new breast pump because they believe that EPing needs more training, education & research. Other pumps I have purchased brand new from retailers like BuyBuyBaby, Amazon & Babies R Us. Other pumps (excluding the rentals in the shop), the Institute has purchased has come used from Facebook Groups, Kijiji & Ebay.  

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Why do you have used pumps?

• Due to the nature of the Institute's work, I do not need to have every pump in a brand new condition. I am not using them to pump my own milk, rather for my own personal use to learn more/research about each pump to help others as it relates specifically to exclusively pumping. This includes LCs, Health professionals & other/future EPers. 

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What is the condition of the used pumps you have on hand?

• For the most part, most used pumps are come in decent  condition! Unfortunately, some have come in less than sanitary conditions. This includes lots of milk residue build up, or milk crusts, in one case mold due to improper storage prior acquiring the pump. Thankfully, these pumps are not being used to provide milk to any child, and rather for the purposes of research. New tubing/flanges will be used on these pumps during research.  

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Why do you buy off Facebook Groups?

• As a Canadian, I cannot buy many EP pumps (i.e. Spectra) and accessories if I just go to a local Walmart. In Canada, we are limited to the following Health Canada approved brands: Medela, Ameda, Lansinoh, Evenflo, Ardo, Dr. Brown's and Philips. That's it! Not all of these brands' models are even available in Canada. Imagine an Institute on EPing that can't educate on items like handsfree pumps for EP education and training because they can't have direct access? Imagine no discreet Freemie, Willow or Elvie pumping? Many Canadian EPers are faced with this struggle during their EP journey. As you may know, handsfree can be what saves your EP journey, and keeps you going longer. As someone who wants to help Exclusive Pumping advancement, I have used these groups because

  • A) they have the best EP pumps available

  • B) the sense that everyone in the group is or has been an exclusive pumper

  • C) there is shipping typically offered, as EPers do not often live in the same areas (Facebook Marketplace does not always offer shipping)

  • D) going rates for used pumps

  • E) it is not necessary that I buy new pumps for the purposes of training/educating/research on exclusive pumping. Instead of paying full price for a new pump, I would rather purchase used to have more funds available to put towards EP research. Getting research approved costs thousands of dollars, it is not as easy as just doing a quick survey! I do not resell my FB group purchased pumps. 

• As aforementioned, some of these pumps have arrived to me in less than sanitary conditions, when truthfully I believed they would be in a decent condition. Receiving several pumps in this condition leads me to believe the Institute has an additional duty to provide more education on proper cleaning of pump parts and when it is time to replace parts. I understand we are learning as we go, but the safety of your infants is extremely important to me. Sometimes we are overwhelmed to do our best to clean these parts thoroughly, and not cleaning the collar for example gets forgotten nor done as efficiently as it can be. We are all human, but being a seller of breast pumps should mean clean stuff, or disclose its condition, including the flaws.

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What about Health Canada?

• As Canadians our pump selection is, in my opinion, not where it needs to be to help Exclusive Pumpers. Perhaps what the Institute is doing will change this for future EPers to continue to increase the ability to promote, protect and support breastfeeding in Canada. As per Health Canada, you are allowed to bring breast pumps into the country as long as they are for personal use, and ensure you pay your appropriate duties. EPI's rental pumps are all approved by Health Canada as multi-user pumps. None of the other pumps at EPI are for use outside of my personal use for the research & education of exclusive pumping purposes.