Pumping Like A Pro: Tips and Tricks

After two babies, months of pumping and gallons of milk produced, here are some tips and tricks I learned to make pumping easier for any mom:

1. Go hands free! A MUST-DO! Hands-free meant I could grab my laptop and work, read a book, or surf online, or play with my baby (often in the bouncer!) while I pumped. It kept me from looking down into my bottles wondering how much I’m getting, or being bored out of my mind, and makes time FLY by (or at least go by a little faster)! Medela makes a good hands-free harness - $30 or so. There are also some good ones with shoulder straps on Amazon.

2. Perfect your position: Make sure to keep your nipples centered in the horns. If you start to rub on any side, reposition immediately. This helps avoid sore spots, blisters, and PAIN. Also, if hands free, you can prop your bottles up on your knees (or support them with your arm if standing) to keep your nipples always pointed forward. Drooping bottles are uncomfortable and pull down on your nipples causing you to shift out of ideal position – making them extra sore.

3. Prep your bottles ahead of time: I used to prep all my nighttime bottles in a little basket that I would take upstairs to the baby's room. One set of horns (see fridge trick below), a bunch of empty pumping bottles/caps, and the baby's feeding bottles. Prepping ahead meant I didn’t have to think or assemble parts at 2am and again at 5am, or be running up and down stairs washing parts. I would pour my fresh milk right into the baby's feeding bottle (to be consumed within 4-6 hours), and store any extra milk along with my pump horns in a mini fridge we kept in the baby's room upstairs. Which leads us to….

4. ….The refrigerator trick – BEST HACK EVER (especially at night)! We put a little fridge in the baby's room to avoid having to walk the stairs at night, but this trick works just as well in a regular kitchen fridge. After each pump session, separate your baby's feeding milk (good for 4-6 hours) from your excess milk. Consolidate the excess milk into bottles or bags for storage in the fridge. Then, wipe down the used horns and put them, along with any used empty bottles (capped) in a Ziploc bag or bin, and place in a fridge. Since breast milk is good in the fridge for 5-8 days, any little residue left on the bottles or horns won’t matter. You can reuse these horns/bottles during the night! This avoids needing lots of extra horns/bottles at night time or having to wash/assemble pump kits in the middle of the night. And, you'll have fewer parts and pieces to wash in the morning.

5. Lube Up! It is perfectly safe to put Lansinoh (or similar) on before pumping and still use the milk. Putting it on before and after pumping really helps to keep you from getting too sore. You can also rub Olive Oil on the horns and inside the nipple chamber to reduce friction. Olive Oil is antibacterial, so that's an added benefit, and it's to pump milk with. I’ve done both of these and hadn’t had a problem. Lansinoh also keeps your nipples from cracking, bleeding and blistering - it's the best of the nipple creams in my opinion.

6. MASSAGE, MASSAGE, MASSAGE: It may feel (and look) weird, but massage all around your breasts before, and while you pump, especially from the armpit diagonally down towards the nipples. Good massaging will help prevent clogged ducts, which are really painful precursors to mastitis and other infections. I did this EVERY time I pumped and had only had 3 clogged ducts in 18 months. DO IT. YOU WON’T REGRET IT.

7. Take Care of Baby When Pumping: When I had to do those early morning feedings by myself, I would sit on the floor and put baby on the Boppy or bouncer. I would get all hooked up and pump while I bottle fed her. Usually, about the time she was done eating, I was done pumping, and we could either both go back to sleep, or get on with our day. Multi-tasking cuts down on time, so it helps to do this if your pumping time happens to correspond to your baby’s feeding time during the day (and they are still not "mobile"). It made time fly by and she was content. The good vibes you get from seeing your baby happy also helps your supply. :-)