Breast pump insert

In a breast pump of the type comprising a milk reservoir, an essentially rigid suction bell having a flared open end, and a suction means for temporarily reducing an ambient pressure within said pump, the improvement consisting essentially of an insert:

• having a funnel shape with a conical mouth portion for sealing contact with a nipple encompassing area of a mother's breast when ambient pressure is reduced within said pump and an apex section for directing milk into the milk reservoir;
• said conical mouth portion comprising a deformable conical wall portion capable of deflecting for pressing against the mother's breast in the encompassed area around the encompassed nipple when ambient pressure is reduced within said pump;
• said apex section being thimble shaped with an essentially tubular side wall and an apertured end face wall, both of which are non-deformable when ambient pressure is reduced within said pump;
• said funnel shape insert thereby defining an enclosure around said nipple-encompassing areas when ambient pressure is reduced within said pump, said enclosure being subjected to the pressure changes whereby mother's milk becomes drawn from the nipple into said insert and flows out therefrom through said apertured end face wall;
• and
• means on said funnel shape insert for positioning said insert sealed and secured in said suction bell such that the outside surface of said conical wall portion thereof but not of said thimble portion thereof faces the non-varying ambient pressure outside of said suction bell, whereby operation of said suction means reduces ambient pressure inside said insert causing only said deformable conical wall portion thereof to deflect as aforesaid.