Has breastfeeding and breastpumping taken its toll on you? Are you so tired of hearing that “wha-ah wha-ah wha-ah” that you just want to throw your pump out the window? I never realized how incredibly taxing this whole breastfeeding / pumping business could be. I was completely prepared to fight latching issues and painful nipples, but it never occurred to me that breastfeeding / pumping could acutally be depressing.
I will soon share with you my personal breastfeeding depression story and how I have delt with it, but first I want to share with you this awesome, wonderful tip I just learned!
One of the smaller annoying parts of breastfeeding for me has been associated with my breastpump. I absolutely hate cleaning the parts! Luckily since I am a work from home mom I have a nanny who graciously helps by cleaning these parts and sterilizing all of the feeding/pumping pieces once a week. However, in an effort to save money she only comes and helps out when absolutely necessary and I generally have to pump at least a couple of times a day.
I was surfing around thebump.com messageboard and found a post that mentioned putting your “horns” in the fridge in between pumping sessions. How cool is that? This way the milk won’t spoil and you can use it again without contaminating the milk! I probably should have thought of this myself. I’m sure you guys have probably figured this out, but if you haven’t, ta da!! 🙂
****Edited to Add: By the way, Apparently I Need Some Sleep. I just had to add the above paragraph because I left it out of the original post. I’m thinking I shouldn’t be operating heavy machinery any time soon.
I am so happy I just figured this out because I am pretty sure I will be exclusively pumping soon and this make at least one part of it so much easier. 🙂 I’m always looking for that silver lining in the dark storm cloud that is breastfeeding.
Also, for those of you that have to pump at work, just bring a little lunch box cooler to store your milk and pumping parts in the fridge at work, that way no one will be the wiser!
- Photo by: nidhea
In case you were unaware. Medela does make wipes that are good for cleaning you pumping parts that don’t require water. I do keep these in the diaper bag incase I am out and about and will have to pump multiple times without access to a fridge. My little cooler bag that came with my pump only has enough room to keep the bottles of milk cool.
Hope this tip helps you out! It’s definitely going to make my life just a teeny bit easier.
-Tracy (Noah is 5 1/2 months old and getting ready to start solid foods next week!)
**Update** Since posting this about 4 hours ago I have used my refrigerated pump parts. Here is an extra tip. Allow a little extra time for the pumping parts to warm up. Yikes!!! That does not help your milk let down!!