Exclusively Pumping: using a pump to extract breast milk, replacing actual breast-to-baby breastfeeding (what it means to me).
When I was asked if I gave my baby "breast or bottle", I would get frustrated. "Both! I give her breast milk in a bottle," is what I wanted to say. But because I had to choose one, I would check breast, because I was not giving her formula at all.
• Pumps
There are several options when it comes to breast pumps, which is great. Someone once told me that when they had a baby, the only pump available was a hand-held pump. Nowadays, there are manual, battery, and electric pumps and one breast and double breast pumps.
The pump I used was an electric double breast pump from Medela. I loved this pump. It had different speed and suction strength options.
I also had a manual (handheld) one breast pump from Medela that I would take with me when I went out in public in case I needed to have a pumping session (and I did several times-this pump was also great and came in handy so much).
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| Medela Harmony Manual Breast Pump |
The Medela Harmony Manual Breast Pump is available at a low cost and at many places. You can click the links below and a new window will open up.
Where to purchase the Medela Harmony Manual Breast Pump:
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| Medela Lactina Select Breast Pump |
When exclusively pumping, owning/renting just a manual (one breast) pump will not be adequate to provide enough breast milk. Breast pumps can get pricey, but there are places that offer renting a breast pump (a deposit may be required). I would recommend checking out your local WIC office for breast pump rental options.
Where to purchase the Medela Select Breast Pump:
And, as I mentioned, try your local WIC office. Click below:
And, here are some more links on where to buy breast pumps:
• When to Pump
Basically, each pumping session will be replacing a breast-feeding session. Pump when your baby eats.
If there is not a certain pattern to your babies eating, here are some tips that I received from my local WIC office. When to pump may be different for each mother, so ask your local WIC office or doctor for more information.
This advice was given to me while using the Medela Lactina Select Breast Pump. They recommended that I pump for 15 minutes each session (each breast being pumped for 15 minutes) and that one session should be held every 2-3 hours. So, let us say that I pumped at 8 a.m. I would pump until 8:15 a.m. Then, I would pump again at 10:00 a.m. because, as recommended to me, I would start my two hour wait from the beginning of the pumping session. Let us say that I pumped at 10:00 a.m. From 10:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m., I would be pumping both breasts. At 10:15 a.m., I would stop pumping and then put away my breast milk in the fridge in a proper storage container. I would then pump again at 12:00 p.m. This is on a 2 hour schedule.
Of coarse, it may be different for every mother, so definitely ask a professional.
• Storing Expressed Milk
When pumping, handling, and storing expressed breast milk, you need to be safe and sterile.
With expressed breast milk, there was a "5 rule" I learned from WIC:
After expressed, the breast milk can be stored for
With expressed breast milk, there was a "5 rule" I learned from WIC:
After expressed, the breast milk can be stored for
5 hours at room temperature
5 days in the refrigerator
5 months in the freezer
This was just a quick, helpful tip that allowed me to remember off the top of my head when I should discard breast milk, but the storage life of breast milk does get more technical. For this reason, I have included some links with helpful guidelines given.
*I am not a professional, therefore my advice is not professional. My advice is just that: advice. Anything and/or everything I wrote for this post should be approved by a true professional before trying/doing.
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