Breast Pump Reviews

Breast Pumps: Basics of Effective Pumping

Many people think that effective pumping is dependent on strong suction. Surprisingly, research has found that strength of suction has little to do with a breast pump’s effectiveness at expressing milk. If suction is not the main factor, what is?

Understanding Milk Release

Expressing milk with a breast pump is not like sucking liquid through a straw. With a straw, the stronger you suck, the more liquid you get. With the breast, the key to expressing milk is triggering the let-down, or milk release. Without a milk release, most of the milk stays in the breast. What happens during a milk release? Hormones cause muscles within the breast to squeeze and the ducts to widen, pushing the milk from all parts of the breast toward the nipple. Some mothers feel a tingling sensation; others feel nothing. A milk release can be triggered by a certain touch at the breast, hearing a baby cry, or even by thinking about your baby. Familiar cues, the soft feel and warmth of your baby, can help cause the release. Feelings of tension, anger, or frustration can block it. 

A Breast Pump Is Different

When breast feeding goes normally, most mothers have several milk releases per feeding without even knowing it. Ideally, when you pump, you should also have several milk releases. You may need some help to trigger multiple milk releases at first until the feel of the pump becomes familiar and your body responds automatically.

• Mind/Feelings: Close your eyes, relax, and imagine your baby breastfeeding. Think about how much you love your baby.
• Sight: Look at your baby or your baby’s photo.
• Hearing: Listen to a recording of your baby cooing or crying. If you’re away, call the caregiver and check on your baby. Or call someone you love to relax and distract you. 
• Smell: Smell an item of your baby’s clothing. 
• Touch: Apply warm compresses or gently massage your breasts. Adjust your pump “Cycles” knob to the fastest setting at first. When your milk releases, turn this knob down to a slower setting. Repeat, using fast cycles to trigger milk releases and slow cycles to drain them faster. 
• Taste: Sip a favorite, warm non-alcoholic drink to relax you.

Changing Breast Pumps and Your Body’s Response 

Keep these ideas in mind if you change breast pumps. Some mothers begin pumping in the hospital and switch to another pump at home. Some mothers who change pumps don’t get as much milk in the beginning, even when the new breast pump is of top quality. Why? The new feel of the pump may make it more difficult to trigger the same number of milk releases as quickly. “...Milk [release] is, at least in part, a conditioned response.” [Lactation researcher Jacqueline Kent, PhD1] This sometimes happens in reverse when a mother transitions from pumping to breast feeding. At first, after weeks or months of pumping, when the baby is finally strong enough to breast feed, some mothers find that their milk does not release as well to the new feel of the baby. These mothers benefit from these same strategies.

More Milk Releases = More Milk Expressed 

©2005 Hollister Incorporated. 907279-405 1. Kent, J. et al. “Response of Breasts to Different Stimulation Patterns of an Electric Breast Pump,” Journal Of Human Lactation 2003: 19(2) 179-186  Basics of Effective Breast Pumping at the Ameda/Hollister website