Tips for Pumping Breast Milk

Pumping breast milk should not be a pain or a chore. It should be a lovely and pleasant experience. As it is the way to show your love to your little one. For me it’s a wonderful experience. Bringing back the breastmilk from office to my little one is the most wonderful experience I ever have. I bet all of the breastfeeding mother will be agree with me. I am proud to be a breastfeeding mother as I know I’m giving the best to him.

Here are some easy tips to increase the amount of milk, make pumping easier and generally help you in your pumping.

1. Selection of pump. Selection of the right pump is very important. Make sure that the pump that you have selected will meet your need. The mother who will need to pump only occasionally (i.e. stay at home mother) has very different needs than the mother who pumps several time a day (i.e. working mother). There are several types of pumps in the market such as manual pump, electric pump and battery operated pump.

2. Getting started. It’s advisable to start pumping a couple of weeks before returning to work. The best way is to pump on one side while your baby is nursing at the other side. This will create faster let down and allow you to create an emergency supply.

3. Increasing Supply. Pump more frequently rather than for longer periods. Instead of pumping twice during your day for long periods of time, try pumping three or four shorter periods. Pumping both breasts at the same time can help.

4. Don’t skip your pumping session. Skipping a pumping session can have a negative effect on your milk supply. Our body has a biological clock, if you skip a session your body will assume that you no longer needed the supply. Pumping even for a few minutes can still be beneficial if you don’t have the time.

5. Weekends & Holidays. Use this time for exclusive nursing. It will help to keep your milk supply abundant as well as promote bonding between you and you little. However, it’s advisable not to skip your pumping session. By skipping a session it will affect your milk supply.

6. Baby Love. We all know that it’s easier to feed the baby than pumping because it create faster let down. If the let down is a problem for you while pumping, try viewing photos of your baby while pumping. For i.e tape recorded the coos and gurgles of your baby and listen to it during your pumping session. This will create faster let down.

7. No pumps. Expressing breast milk does not require pump. Many moms do just fine with hand expression. Though very few will be able to use this technique for working, but it works quite nicely for an occasional need for expressed milk and costs very little if anything.

Hope the above information will help…