Three Things They Don’t Tell You About Using A Breast Pump For Breastfeeding

There is no doubt that breast pumps are miraculous contraptions for any mom who wants to breastfeed. They help stimulate the initial buildup of the milk supply, they work wonders if you must nurse...

There is no doubt that breast pumps are miraculous contraptions for any mom who wants to breastfeed. They help stimulate the initial buildup of the milk supply, they work wonders if you must nurse twins, they are great if your baby does not fully empty one breast, and they are a godsend for any mom who is going back to work. Nor surprisingly, in the hospital, nurses encourage new moms to invest in breast pumps for at home use. At the same time, they also refer them to rental agencies, if it turns out that the expense of a breast pump is simply too much for the mom to handle. Unfortunately, there are three things they don’t tell you about using a breast pump for breastfeeding.

First and foremost, sometimes using a breast pump hurts. This should not discourage any mom from using one of these machines, but knowing ahead of time that this is a very real possibility will actually lessen the likelihood of her quitting for fear of doing something wrong. It is not always a comfortable feeling and depending on the actual breastfeeding you may have done at the time prior to pumping, the pain and discomfort may be amplified. Soreness of the breasts should be expected, after all, you are most likely pumping three to five times daily for an ongoing period of time. Unfortunately, this point is not fully explained and thus makes women uncomfortable with the breast pump or the entire breastfeeding experience, when it is really simply something that might happen and should be treated as such.

Secondly, failure to disclose that pumping breast milk is a lot of work and requires planning as well as time spent cleaning, sanitizing, and drying the equipment discourages women from using it in the first place. Moreover, the management of the expressed milk also requires a bit of planning. After all, breastfeeding moms need to calculate how much the baby might use in the next few hours, how much can be refrigerated for a later time, and how much should be frozen for the times away from home some time in the future. This should not discourage moms from breastfeeding, but instead encourage them to early on enlist their husbands and other support persons to help out. Moreover, it is a good idea to know what the time requirements are, so that the baby’s needs can be met consistently.

Third and last, the consistent use of a breast pump causes breast milk to remain available for a prolonged period of time. Even after moms decide to wean their little ones from the breast and on to cows’ milk or formula, the breasts will continue to produce milk. This might be painful, somewhat embarrassing, and it may take a few months for the milk to finally dry up. Once again, women who are not made aware of this side effect of consistent pumping may fear that there is something wrong with their bodies, and they may continue pumping on to later on discard their breast milk.

This is not necessary and with the proper naturopathic means the milk production can be stopped. It is simply a sad state of affairs when women are kept in the dark about some of the less than pleasant aspects of breast pump use for fear that they will not breastfeed at all.

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