Exclusively Pumping Breast Milk:
Why Women Do It
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By Stephanie Casemore
Exclusively pumping breast milk is best thought of as an alternative to formula feeding. While there are some women who decide to exclusively pump even before their babies are born, they are by far the minority. Instead, most women who exclusively pump fully intended to breast feed and believe strongly in the benefit and value of breast milk. When confronted with difficulties or situations that make breast feeding difficult or impossible, these women turn to the use of a breast pump to ensure their babies receive breast milk.
Reasons women use their breast pumps only
The reasons women exclusively pump are extremely varied: the premature birth of a baby; the illness of the baby or the mother; problems with breast feeding including such things as a poor latch, thrush, cleft palate, poor weight gain, a lack of milk (either real or perceived), and the early introduction of a bottle leading to nipple preference; and the separation of mother and baby including women who must return to work soon after the birth of their babies. It is difficult to briefly discuss the many reasons women exclusively pump, but there do tend to be some similarities in most women's experiences.
Self-preservation is an often mentioned factor in the decision to exclusively pump. New mothers are overwhelmed with emotions. Hearing your baby scream every time you try to nurse, enduring extreme pain when nursing, or having a baby who is unable to get enough milk to satisfy her can add to an already tumultuous period. Also, for women who are breast feeding, bottle feeding to top up the baby's intake, and then pumping to maintain or increase supply while the baby learns to breast feed or the mother is able to resolve difficulties she is experiencing, the cycle becomes overwhelming and, even with a strong support network, can make it extremely difficult to continue for very long.
Often a mother is not able to truly focus on mothering and enjoying her new baby, and instead, is solely focused on providing nourishment. Life becomes consumed with feeding the baby, which can, in and of itself, add additional stress to the situation making breast feeding all that more challenging. The decision to exclusively pump can, for some women, bring back a balance in their lives and in their household and enable them to refocus on their babies while continuing to feed their babies breast milk.
The decision to exclusively pump is not made lightly. The vast majority of women who decide to exclusively pump do work with lactation consultants before making their decision. And although pumping and bottle feeding becomes the primary method of feeding, many women also continue to work on breast feeding and solving problems that were making it difficult to breastfeed.
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Copyright Stephanie Casemore, 2004
Stephanie Casemore is the author of Exclusively Pumping Breast Milk: A Guide to Providing Expressed Breast Milk for Your Baby. She exclusively pumped for one year for her son who was born nine weeks premature. Casemore also maintains her website,
ExclusivelyPumping.com which is a resource site dedicated solely to the needs of women who are exclusively pumping breast milk. She is currently working to share with women the option of exclusively pumping as an alternative to formula feeding when breastfeeding has not been possible or has not worked out as expected.
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