Dear Mom-to-be, (7)

This is the last in a group of emails I wrote to a mom-to-be a few years ago to help her prepare for breastfeeding and caring for her new baby. This one is about using a breast pump. You can find a list of all the topics they cover on the first post.

Pumping milk seems pretty simple, but there are several tips and tricks I learned about that from my breastfeeding classes. These are tips that can make pumping easier and work better. This is important to know. In some situations, a pump can save the breastfeeding experience.

Making the Most of Pumping

Dear Mom-to-be,

Since you brought up pumping a few times, I thought this info could be helpful.

Kinds of Pumps and What they’re good for

• Small single-side pumps, hand pumps, electric pumps, and silicon pumps are good for occasional pumping. Examples are to have milk for Baby if you go out or to make up for a missed feeding now and then. They can also be helpful to increase a milk supply that is already pretty good.
• Double pumps are more expensive but are better quality and can get out quite a bit more milk. Many insurance companies will help new moms get this kind. They are good for constant supplementing for working moms or when baby can’t get enough on their own or things like that.
• Hospital grade pumps work the best and can help establish a milk supply when breastfeeding is interrupted, usually by medical problems. They’re too expensive for moms to buy, but many hospitals have them available for new moms to use.

Tips for Getting More Milk

• Oxytocin is the hormone that triggers let down. When you’re nursing your baby, holding, seeing, hearing, and smelling your baby, as well as their suckling at the breast, can all give you that surge of oxytocin. When you need to pump, you can try to mimic that by holding your baby’s clothes or blanket, looking at them or their picture, etc.
• Try to help yourself relax with a cool drink, some music, a comfortable private place to sit down, or whatever works best for you.
• Massaging the breast can encourage let down.
• Warming the flange of the pump (the part that fits over the breast) or your breast with a warm washcloth can help release more milk.
• Make sure there is about 2mm of space around your nipple in the flange tube. If it’s too tight, the pumping will make you rub against the tube and hurt you. If it’s too loose it won’t get a good suction.
• Using your hands to express before, during, or after pumping will help you get about twice as much milk.
• Pumping both breasts at once releases more than twice the oxytocin, which means it will help you get more milk out than doing one side at a time.

Human Milk Storage and Containers

• Cream tends to stick to the sides of containers, more on plastic bags or silicone than harder plastic or glass. Always swirl the milk before pouring or feeding to get that cream, cause Baby needs it.
• The best bottles are the ones with wide, soft, slow-flowing nipples. They cause less nipple confusion and they help the baby pace their feeding for less choking and less overfilling their tummies. (When feeding baby a bottle, help baby get into an almost sitting position in one arm. Don’t pressure baby to eat when they pause in sucking – this is very normal and they will drink more when they’re ready.)
• Human milk storage times:

That was kind of long, I hope it wasn’t overwhelming. I feel for ya, knowing you’re waiting for that baby. Can you think of something you’d like to do with your hands before they’re too busy for a while? A baking project, scrapbooking, a craft… Hang in there!

Your Friend, Anne