Ten Misunderstandings of Breast Pump

1. A must-have breast pump in the delivery bag

Many mothers prepare a breast pump early in pregnancy. In fact, a breast pump is not a necessary item in the delivery bag.

Generally, breast pumps are used in the following situations:
Separation of mother and baby after childbirth
Chasing milk
Back to work

If the mother has to return to the workplace after childbirth, you can prepare one in advance if you have to use it sooner or later.

If the mother is already at home full-time, it is not necessary to prepare a breast pump during pregnancy, because if breastfeeding is successfully turned on, it is not necessary to use a breast pump.

The most important thing during pregnancy is to learn more and master the correct knowledge and skills of breastfeeding.

2. The greater the suction power when pumping, the better

Many people think that the principle of breast pumping is to suck milk out with negative pressure, just like adults drink water with a straw. If you think this way, you would be wrong.

Breast pumping is actually a way of simulating breastfeeding, which stimulates the areola to produce milk bursts and then removes a large amount of milk. For the principle of milk array, you can read this article: What? No milk array = hungry baby!

Therefore, the suction power of the breast pump is not as large as possible. Too much negative pressure causes the mother to feel uncomfortable, but it will affect the production of the milk array. Just find the maximum comfortable negative pressure when pumping.

How to find the maximum comfortable negative pressure?

When the mother is pumping, adjust it upward from the lowest pressure level, and when the mother feels uncomfortable, adjust it to the next downward level, which is the maximum comfortable negative pressure.

Generally, the maximum comfortable negative pressure of one breast is the same most of the time, so if it is adjusted once, the mother can feel it directly in this pressure position next time, and make fine adjustments if it feels uncomfortable.

3. the longer you suck the milk, the better

Many mothers are pumping for an hour at a time in the pursuit of a large amount of milk, causing their areola edema and exhaustion.

Using a breast pump is not as long as possible. It is not easy to stimulate the milk burst after a long time, and it is also easy to cause breast damage.

In most cases, one breast should not be sucked for more than 15-20 minutes, and the time limit for bilateral breastfeeding should not exceed 15-20 minutes.

If you haven't sucked a drop of milk after a few minutes, you can stop pumping at this time, use massage, hand milking, etc. to stimulate the milk burst and then pump again.

4. the horn cover is only the size of the manufacturer

Some mothers have experienced nipple pain, injury, and areola edema after using a breast pump. It is very likely that the size of the horn cover of the breast pump is not appropriate, because most breast pump manufacturers are equipped with standard horn covers at the time of purchase. The size is 24mm, so mothers don’t know that there are other sizes to choose from.

In fact, the relationship between the nipples and the horn cover is like the relationship between our feet and shoes. It must be matched in size to go far.

5. Use someone else's second-hand breast pump

Except for hospital-level rental breast pumps that can be used by multiple mothers, second-hand household breast pumps are not recommended. You can read this article for specific reasons: Can second-hand breast pumps work?

6. the breast pump cannot suck the rear milk

I often hear mothers saying that breast pumps can’t suck back milk. This is another misunderstanding of breast pumps.

The difference between the so-called foremilk and aftermilk is mainly the fat content in the milk. The "aftermilk" contains more fat, but the amount of fat in the milk is not determined by the length of the breast milk, but by the fullness of the breast. related.

The more empty the breast is, the more fat content in the milk. Although the effect of breast pumping on breast emptying is not as good as that of breast feeding, it is not as good as the so-called foremilk. When a part of the milk is pumped out, the breast milk already contains enough fat. Up.

7. Clean and disinfect the breast pump every time you use it

In order to ensure that the breast pump is clean and hygienic, many mothers will clean and disinfect the breast pump every time after pumping. This is not difficult for mothers who do not usually pump much, but if they are mainly relying on the breast pump to chase the milk Her mother sucks milk many times a day. It would be too troublesome to clean and disinfect every time. Some mothers will have to give up chasing milk because of lack of skills.

In fact, breast pumps do not necessarily need to be cleaned and disinfected every time.
The most recommended practice: clean after each use and disinfect once a day.

If the breast pumping is too frequent (sucking every 2 hours), and the baby is a healthy full-term baby, the mother can also steal a little lazy: Put the breast pump and the bottle together in the refrigerator after the last breast pumping. Suck it once and then, wash it after 2 sucks, and disinfect once a day. Or you can buy more than 1-2 sets of accessories and clean them after use.

8. I don’t know how much milk I have, so I can suck it out with a breast pump.

Some mothers do not know how much milk the baby ate during the parent-feeding, and whether it meets the recommended amount of milk in the book, they will use a breast pump to see how much milk can be pumped represents how much milk the baby can eat.

If you can only suck out 80ml, you will think that your milk is definitely not enough for your baby, and you will add milk powder to your baby.

This approach is not correct.
The amount of milk sucked by the breast pump ≠ the amount of milk that the baby can feed.

Breast pumping is only a way of simulating breastfeeding, but can the simulation achieve 100% results?
Obviously not!

Facing the cold breast pump, the love hormone oxytocin produced by the mother's body and the milk burst caused by it are both limited, and the love flowing between the mother and the baby during the breastfeeding will allow the mother to have more milk. When the burst occurs, the baby eats more milk.

9. Frequent use of a breast pump will harm the breast

There is also a saying among mothers that breast pumps can harm the breasts. In fact, as long as you choose the right breast pump horn cover, use the right negative pressure and pumping time, regular breast pumps will not harm your breasts.

However, the effect of breast pumping to remove milk is indeed not as good as that of parent feeding, so it is more prone to problems such as milk stasis and milk reduction.

10. Worrying that the pro-feeding will not be full, it is safer to suck out the bottle and feed it

This is really a big misunderstanding.
Because the baby takes too long to feed at a time, or worry that the baby will not have enough to eat, many mothers choose to suck out the bottle to feed their breast milk.

However, it was later found that it was too troublesome to suck out the bottle to feed, and I wanted to switch to full-feeding. But the baby has become accustomed to bottle feeding. Even if the mother has a lot of milk, there are still many difficulties in breastfeeding.