Breast Milk Pumping Basics


The process might daunt you in the beginning but you will feel that it isn’t that complicated once you get the gist of it. 

What are the benefits of pumping?

There are many reasons why a mother should pump her breast milk from relieving engorgement and boosting milk supply to collect milk for feeding when you are away from the baby.

If you pump and store milk in breast milk storage cups you can continue to provide benefits to your baby long after you have stopped nursing them. Those moms who want to nurse their babies but cannot due to any reason such as poor latch or low supply can use a breast pump to overcome the problem and can still offer their babies their milk.

Breast pumping has various benefits for moms:

  • You can easily go back to work or anywhere out and still breastfeed your baby.
  • Your partner or caregiver can also feed the breast milk to your baby once you have pumped and stored.
  • Pumping produces more milk and supply and fulfill your baby needs for more milk and allowing you to store the access milk.

Best Time to Pump

It all depends on you. The sooner you figure out the pumping schedule the more you comfortable you’ll be!

For starters, try to pump in the morning an hour after you have nursed your baby. The breasts become naturally fuller in the morning and that is the best to pump the milk. Some mothers breastfeed their babies with one breast while pumping the other one, in this way they use both breasts to be pumped and emptied during the feed. For this exercise, moms find it easier to use an electric breast pump instead of the manual one because they can keep their hands busy to breastfeed their baby at the same time.

If your baby has increased the feeds, you may want to pump every two hours between the feeding times. This will increase the milk supply and also allow you to store milk for later use.

How to begin pumping?

These few pumping techniques might help you produce the milk easily:

1. Stay relaxed:

Find a comfortable and quiet spot and be relaxed as much as possible. Meditate for five minutes, take deep breaths, do some stretches or yoga before beginning.

2. Letdown:

Breast massage helps you let down your breasts and make them pump ready.

3. Prime the pump:

Usually, electric pumps begin the letdown phase- the shorter and faster bursts of suction mimic the baby suckling and would stimulate let down. This will take a few minutes until the letdown happens and few drops of milk will trickle. After a few minutes, the pump will be switched toward the regular mode. 

4. Don’t set the highest level of suction:

Start pump with low suction as it increases the milk flow. The highest level of pumping might hurt and doesn’t even produce much milk. So always remember to keep it nice and slow!

ALSO READ: NEW MOM STRESSES



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