Front page story

October 23, 2007 | Print

Pumping 101

We remember unpacking our breastpumps for the first time and thinking, uh oh what have we gotten ourselves into here.

It’s not as strange as it looks (though some husbands may disagree).

Once we figure out a routine for pumping and storing the milk, washing and air drying the equipment, we’re grateful for the pump and what it can do–or rather what we can do because of it.

A few thoughts about pumping:

Information. Before pumping or flipping through the pump manual, we read the Pump Station’s Pumping Guidelines.

These guidelines give us ideas and perspective, at the same time not all of their suggestions work for all moms.

When to start pumping. We check in with a lactation consultant about when to start pumping and introducing a bottle (a process which is either surprisingly easy or a more involved exercise in patience and faith).

If it’s not important that a baby take a bottle right away, meaning we have some flexibility to continue to nurse whenever needed, we tend to give ourselves four weeks before pumping.

Pumping. When we first pump, we may make very little milk, as in half an ounce on a good day.

This fact could be the most important detail wise moms passed onto us before we tried pumping ourselves. With the frequent newborn feedings it can take a little while to have the extra time and milk for the pump. The milk flow does increase.

We notice the milk flows better if we’re relaxed (as much as we can be) and positive, our emotions can stall the process. To keep our minds busy while pumping, we’ve been known to watch TV or stare at the same two pages of a magazine.

We set one or two pumping times a day–our first choice is in the morning, which is the time of day we have more milk. With a newborn we pump 15 minutes after a feed.

A second pump we might try early afternoon, though as the Pumping Guidelines suggest, pumping right before bed if the baby’s been asleep for awhile and unlikely to need a feed for an hour or more is also a good time.

We tend to pump in the kitchen (easy clean up/equipment access), some moms prefer the privacy of their bathrooms.

The whole thing is trial and error, and just gets easier as we go along. We take breaks if we feel overwhelmed.

Storing breastmilk. We print a copy of the Pump Station’s Breastmilk Collection and Storage information sheet to keep track of how to handle the milk.

In the beginning, we just add our milk pumped that day to a bottle in the fridge. We get into freezing once we move from introducing a bottle to storing for work/rainy day.

A lactation consultant can help us figure out how much stored milk we need to cover ourselves for our expected bottle feedings. When the baby has a bottle, we’re pumping that feeding, which replaces the stored milk used for the bottle. A big stockpile is usually not necessary.

Unpack the pump before the baby arrives. Sometimes with engorgement the first week, we need to pump earlier than planned. Pumping also helps relieve plugged ducts and manage nursing strikes by relieving engorgement/keeping up the milk production until the baby gets back into routine feedings.

Our favorite breastpump: The Medela Pump In Style, and if we’re planning on pumping fairly often, we buy at least one extra set of pump parts (like the breastshield kit with valve and membrane and pump bottles) so we always have a clean, dry set ready when we need it.

More breastfeeding information:
Essential Breastfeeding Products for Getting Started
Creating a Breastfeeding Approach
The Realities of Breastfeeding the First Month and Why It’s Not That Bad
Bottle Feeding Basics

•