The Hitchhiker's Guide to Pumping: what do you need?

My daughter was born 18 months ago. She wasn't an only child though. She shared her mother's time and boobs with her brother. We call him Nelson. He is my breast bump (the Medela pump, hence Nelson. Get it? Get it?). Once you knew you had a baby on the way I bet you started to picture yourself with said baby. Cuddling your baby, cooing to your baby, nursing your baby, bonding with your baby - every picture involving a glowing mother and a baby of unsurpassed cuteness. If you plan to breastfeed you're going to have to add to that picture gallery in your head. You're going to be spending a lot of quality with your breast pump. I suggest that you start by giving it a name.

Why pump?

1. You are nursing but you're having trouble of some description. Maybe your baby is still figuring out how to latch. Or any of a dozen other things aren't exactly going according to plan. The point is that you need to tell your boobs to keep going and your pump is what is going to do it.
2. You work and your place of work frowns on you showing up squalling infant in tow. You, however, are determined to keep your baby on a diet of breast milk. This was my reason for pumping.

Ok, so you need to pump. Pumping is hard work. You should take every advantage our modern age has to offer to make this as easy as possible. In this post I'm going to cover equipment. I pumped for a year and I'm going to tell you what worked for me.

1. A high quality double electric pump is worth it's weight in gold. In a previous post I mentioned that Nelson is a Medela Pump In Style Advanced pump. Check to see if your insurance will cover it. Some hospitals also let you rent - and that might be an option worth looking into if you need a pump temporarily. What did I love about Nelson? 

• You pump both boobs simultaneously. This saves time. 
• Excellent (and adjustable) suction
• 'Stimulation' mode that gets your boobs to 'let down' i.e. get the milk flowing. This really worked for me.

So, what does Nelson look like? This picture is from Medela's website:

 2. Nelson consists of various parts. You have the pump body (the motor, the controls etc.). Two tubes connect the body to the 'flanges'. Those are the funnel shaped things you see in the picture. They are also called 'breastshields'. They come in a few sizes, because you know, breasts do. You'll need to look at the website of the specific pump provider to figure out the size that works for you. To the bottom of the flange you attach a valve (also known as the yellow bitty) and a little white membrane (also known as where-the-fuck-has-that-bit-got-to-again) needs to be attached to the valve. Then the assembled flange is screwed on to the bottle - the receptacle for the milk. Now, all the parts that come into contact with the milk must be washed and sterilized - the flange, valve, membrane and bottle. So here is the deal. You can wash and sterilize after every pump. Trust me, with a new baby and the six minutes of sleep you are likely getting every night you really, really don't want to do this. Or you can buy plenty of breast pump accessories, spare pumping bottles and a ton of spare membranes. You will not believe how often one of those little suckers will slip through your fingers and go down the drain followed by a volley of inventive curses.

3. About that sterilization I mentioned a minute ago, you have two choices. You can bring water to a boil, put all the pieces in, wait for a few minutes, use tongs to fish them out again, curse when the fiddly bits refuse to be picked up by the tongs, or get picked up only to splash back in again and sprinkle you with boiling water or fall on the floor on the way to they drying rack and force you to start again. Or you can get these nifty microwave steam cleaning bags.

4. If you do build up a surplus of milk by pumping more than your baby consumes, you'll need a way to freeze your stash for future use. I used these breast milk storage bags.

5.  Now, if you've been paying close attention (and of course you are. Why wouldn't you be? This is riveting stuff) you'll be asking yourself - do I need to hold those flanges up to my boobs? Because that would get old fast. Yes, you're right it would. And it would be leaky. This is why you need a good pumping bra. The bra holds the flanges in place. And you get to do whatever you want with your hands - use a laptop, read a book, make shadow puppets. I used this Simple Wishes pumping bra. I tried the all-in-one bra from Simple Wishes too, but it didn't grip the flanges quite as securely and I also found that the bra looked lumpy under my tops. I even tried this supposedly clever 'hack' to use hair bands to accomplish hands free pumping. I was rewarded with milk running down my torso.

6. If you're going to be pumping away from home you'll also need a bag to lug your pump around. You can get one from your manufacturer. I used this nurse purse. There are also plenty of custom made options on Etsy. Just remember that you have to fit, at the very least, your pump, power adapter, all the bits and pieces I've mentioned above and a cooler bag for the milk. You probably also want room for your purse and keys. I even carried my laptop in the bag. And a water bottle. Pumping is thirsty work.

7. I also recommend getting a vehicle adaptor for your pump. That way you can go and about and not be constrained by your pumping schedule. I have pumped at vineyards, national parks, the parking lot of movie theaters and malls and even during a 30 mile drive to a fancy restaurant for dinner (while my husband drove). 

I'll end this post with a nugget of time saving advice. When I first went back to work I was pumping three times a day. I tried to save time at work by carrying 3 'sets' of pumping equipment - flanges, valves, membranes, bottles - so that I didn't need to deal with cleanup post-pumping. That is a lot of bulky, odd shaped stuff to lug around. Then another mama at work gave me this idea (thank heavens for other mamas): carry one set of flanges, valves, membranes, 6 bottles and a zip loc bag. After you pump put the flanges, valves and membranes into the zip loc bag and shove it in the fridge. Use and repeat. Do one wash and sterilization per day. Ta-da!