What Is Exclusive Pumping?
Exclusive pumping is a situation whereby the mother opts to feed her baby with pumped breast milk through a bottle. In this case, the baby is fed on pumped milk exclusively without direct breastfeeding.
Why Is Exclusive Pumping Necessary (3 Main Benefits of Exclusive Pumping for Working Moms)
While it is recommended that moms should directly breastfeed their babies exclusively for six months, it may not be possible or practical in some situations. This is especially so when the mom spends some significant amount of time away from the baby. Moms particularly working full-time face this challenge and have no option other than pump milk for their baby.
1. Exclusive Pumping Allows Feeding from Bottle
For working moms whose babies have problems latching , it becomes necessary to do exclusive pumping to enable them feed on breast milk from the bottle. Also, other people around the mom can participate in feeding the baby. This includes your partner, your primary caregiver, family members, and even your friends.
2.Exclusive Pumping Offers all the Health Benefits of Breast Milk
Exclusive pumping allows the baby to enjoy all the benefits of breast milk while the mother can continue working.
3. Exclusive Pumping allows Mother to Track Feeding
Exclusive pumping allows working moms to easily track how much the baby is feeding as compared to when you are breastfeeding as tracking the feeding volume is hard.
“Exclusively pump helps working moms give their babies the benefits of breast milk, allow others to participate and help in tracking feeding”
Simple Tested Tips on How to Make Exclusive Pumping Fast , Comfortable & Easy
1. Experiment and Establish a Convenient Pumping Schedule
If you are going to exclusively pump milk for your baby, you need an adequate stock of pumped milk. To achieve this, you need to keep up a good supply of pumped milk every day. The most effective way to achieve this is pumping on a schedule, as it will make your exclusive pumping easier and effortless.
To develop a schedule, you need to consider your work shift, break times, and your baby feeding needs. Create different schedules and experiment on each to find the most practical, efficient and productive in terms of pumped milk volume.
Your schedule should include the time you are pumping, intervals between each session, time for each session, number of sessions per day, and expected volume per pumping session. The goal is to make the schedule most practical and efficient for you as a working mom and also meet the feeding needs of your baby at the same time. By doing so you exclusive pumping will be made easier.
On average working, moms need to pump from 8-10 times in a day (24 hour period). This frequency is important for particularly working moms as the baby is not getting any direct nursing from the breasts.
Read: How to Increase your Pumping Volume while Pumping from Work
2. Focus on Optimal Breast Care while Exclusively Pumping
The breast can become sore and become painful from exclusive pumping. This is especially so during the first few weeks/month when you start pumping. As a result, pumping can become too painful and uncomfortable to continue exclusive pumping. This is the reason why you should aim to make your exclusive pumping as comfortable as possible.
A painful/uncomfortable pumping can affect your output. You will find that your milk letdown starts reducing affecting your volume output per session. Further painful pumping without accompanying proper breast care can cause more breast problems leading to infections.
Therefore breast care is important for working moms on exclusive pumping. It is one of the ways of making exclusive pumping easy, comfortable and fast. One way to care for the breast is using a lubricant to reduce friction on the breast and eliminate pain.
There are many different brands and types of lubricants in the market. Different working moms on exclusive pumping will choose different lubricants depending on preferences such as ease of spread, kind of smell, and cost among others. By doing you, you will realise you become more comfortable doing exclusive pumping.
Also, choose the right flange size for your breast pump. In addition, pump while you are in the right posture. Some workplaces offer lactation rooms where moms can pump in comfort and right posture. Massaging your breast during pumping also helps reduce pain. Further massaging/hand pressing while pumping is known for making pumping per session more effective.
3. Choose the Right Tools, Storage, and Cleaning
Having the right tools for pumping makes a huge difference for working moms on exclusive pumping. Not all tools are effective and efficient for pumping, especially exclusively. For this reason, it is important to go for items that are helping you become more effective and comfortable in exclusive pumping.
Not all recommended items work well for all moms so it is very important to find one that works well for you. Therefore getting the right items is crucial to have an easy and comfortable exclusive pumping.
4. Find the Right Breast Pump to Make Exclusive Pumping Easy
For exclusive pumping, find a breast pump that is both comfortable on you and effective for exclusive pumping so that you can get the most out of every pumping session. There are both manual and electric pumps with varying effectiveness.
Go for a battery-powered pump that you can use in places without a power outlet. A battery-powered pump makes exclusive pumping easier especially for working moms on the move or those who drive a lot.
5. Get Adequate Storage for Convenient Exclusive Pumping
As working mom on exclusive pumping, you are going to do a lot of pumping, to/from the office and at the office. You, therefore, need a cold storage option for your pumped milk to avoid the milk from spoiling.
Some workplaces have refrigerators/freezers in their lactation rooms where you can store your milk until it is ready for transfer to your home freezer. Alternatively, you can buy a portable cold storage box for keeping your pumped milk at the workplace.
You will find that having a convenient and adequate storage will make your exclusive pumping journey easy. A portable cold storage box makes exclusive pumping for working moms very easy and handy as they are not restricted on when and where to pump. It also allows pumping out of office.
6. Get Cleaning Supplies to Keeping Exclusive Pumping Healthy
Your pumping items will need to be kept clean and free of germs. Typically it is recommended to wash your pumping items after every use. You can achieve this while working from the office. Therefore include all your washing supplies in your pumping bag.
Alternatively, you can go for other cleaning/sterilizing options that works with your workplace, working schedule, and place of work.
- First, you can keep your items in cold storage to keep them sterilized for the next pumping sessions.
- Secondly you can use sterilizing wipes that are designed specifically for pumping tools.
- Third, you can buy multiple sets of each item you need so that you have a clean setup for every session without washing.
All these are important for working moms on exclusive pumping as they save time and are hence more convenient to continue with exclusive pumping. You will however need to thoroughly wash all your items in the evening back at home for use the next day.
“To make exclusive pumping easy for working moms, work on a convenient pumping schedule, focus on optimal breast care, and use the right tools”
Pro Guaranteed Tips increasing Milk Volume on Exclusive Pumping
- To pump more on exclusive pumping, don’t dwell too much on the time you spend on every session but rather on the volume. More time doesn’t necessarily mean more milk. Typically an average of 15-20 minutes per pumping session is ideal because it is effective and practical for full-time working moms.
- Always be relaxed as you pump exclusively to help your milk flow so that you can pump more. A stress-free mental state is important in maintaining a steady volume through the exclusive pumping journey.
- Identify your milk trigger to boost your exclusive pumping volume. As a mom working full time, you spend less and less time with your baby. However, thoughts and memories of your baby can help you in your pumping. If allowed keep a photo of your baby on your lactation desk. Other moms have found that a recording of their baby’s hunger cry helps them in having a heavy letdown. For others, it helps to have baby items such as a piece of clothing to smell on at the office.
- Eliminate all pain points to make exclusive pumping painless so that you can produce more. Start suction at a lighter setting and increase as needed. Balance your sanity and quality of life with your baby’s physical needs. Remember pumping is a lot of work, and a big commitment but worth it.
- Start storing milk as soon as possible during your maternity leave to build up a milk supply. Doing so will help you have a big stack of pumped milk by the time you are returning to work and make exclusively pumping for you easier and more manageable.Ensure you marke the date of the pumped milk on the storage bag/bottle. This will help you identify the milk you pumped earlier and use it first.
- Pump while driving to increase your exclusive pumping frequency and the volume. As a working mom, make your exclusive pumping journey easier by pumping whenever possible. Use the time you drive from home to work/work to home and from client to client to pump. Get the right pump, bottle, and hands-free bra and maximize this opportunity to save time. This is especially important for working moms who spend a lot of time on the move/driving.
- Be organized to enhance your comfort while pumping to increase your exclusive pumping milk volume. Have everything you need in your pumping bag. Forgetting or misplacing parts can compromise the effectiveness of your exclusive pumping as a working mom. Keep a pumping station set up at your workplace/car if you travel a lot that includes everything you need from the pump, hands-free bra, drink, bags, etc.
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