Pro-Tips from Anne (4x gestational carrier) on Pumping Milk

Experienced gestational carrier shares tips on pumping milk.

As a four-time gestational carrier, I have to admit – carrying the babies is not the tough part for me… it’s the exclusive pumping (EP) process afterwards. Yet every time I’ve chosen to EP because I love the benefits for my health/recovery AND for the baby. So, here I am, pumping again for my fourth time and am SO excited that I finally seem to have it figured out – almost 3 months postpartum and I haven’t had mastitis at ALL on this journey – and less clogs than my past experiences!

So, what’s the secret? Well, linked here are my tips from a few years ago, and included below are some gems I’d like to add (but I should mention, my tips may apply most to women like me who do not leak… like no matter how full I am, I don’t ever need pads or to worry about using a haakaa – I just don’t leak for some reason, but I don’t know how that might impact my experiences compared to those who do!)

NEW tips for “clogs” (based on updated research) as stated by the LLL (La Leche League) :

• You may also hear people refer to clogged, blocked, or plugged ducts. Since there isn’t really a clog, blockage, or plug, all of these terms can be misleading
• “what once was thought of as a “plugged” duct is actually a series of tiny ducts that have become inflamed and narrowed, hindering milk flow”

So, what should you do if you feel a “lump” or a sore area that is inflamed and blocking flow? This is what I found to be the most helpful process:

1. Took 800mg of Ibuprofen (anti-inflammatory medication) every six hours, trying to time it 30 minutes before a pumping session whenever possible.
2. Asked my partner to help with gentle, therapeutic massage (NOT aggressive, like I used to do) which seemed most effective right before I pumped, allowing me to be super relaxed and let the meds kick in before the session.
3. Applying a skin-safe ice pack to the area during a pumping session, sometimes using the pack to apply a bit of pressure, but helping to stop me from “mashing” it like I would have in the past.
4. And after 20-25 minutes of pumping both sides, I’d switch to only pumping on the inflamed side (sometimes dangle pumping to help), which by then usually was spraying impressively and clearing out – but if it wasn’t releasing by that point, I’d stop at 30 minutes, 45 minutes MAX.
5. “Breast rest” is the final tip… oftentime mastitis occurs with EP due to hyperlactation… so pumping MORE to try to work through an inflammation made it worse.

So even though it throbbed a bit, I’d make sure to avoid adding extra pumping sessions or attempting to burst through it like I did with massagers and pressure in the past… It only made the ductal narrowing worse. So I’d stay on top of the anti-inflammatory meds and just attempt the process again with the next scheduled pump!!! Speaking of scheduled pumps…

Schedules for Pumping

As a breastfeeding mom, I fed on demand and pumped every few hours when I was away from the baby – basically never needed to worry about maintaining a supply, because I could just rely on my natural daily routines.

As an exclusive pumper, though, it is very important to maintain a schedule early on when establishing supply especially (those first few weeks/months). So while I know some women skip middle of the night pumps, I didn’t to make sure I was able to get to 60-70 oz a day quickly (while avoiding mastitis!) so these are the schedules that have worked the best for me:

• 7ppd (pumps per day) 7am/10am/1pm/4pm/7pm/10-11pm/2-3am
  • Started every 3 hours once I had recovered from the birth to get my milk to come in (using Medela Symphony at the hospital for the first 24-48 hours) but resting when that was more important than pumping!!!
  • By day 3, drops (or nothing pumps!) led to the engorgement phase as my milk came in and I could use the 7ppd schedule above, staying up until 10 or 11pm, setting an alarm at 2 or 3am, then sleeping until the next pump at 7am (which my boobs usually woke me up for naturally 🙂 Used the Spectra 2 for these pumps
  • Would make sure to pump for 30 minutes every time, longer if the spray was going strong on one side or both
• 6ppd – 7am/11am/3pm/7pm/10-11pm/3am
  • Switched to this about a month in, allowing me to better match my family’s schedule with school pickup/drop off, pumping in the car using my Baby Buddha with Legendairy/Youha/Zomee cups which is hands-free, but still has tubing
  • Mobility was great with the Buddha/cups, no longer relying solely on the Spectra 2, but making sure to still use it with the night, middle of the night, and morning pumps for more consistent emptying and doing “hands on” pumping with those sessions to be sure to check for any concerning areas
• 5ppd – 6am/10am/2pm/6pm/10-11pm
  • Dropped the middle of the night pump about 2 months in and have barely seen a reduction in supply, but I have to use 8 oz bottles instead of 5 oz bottles for my 6am pump session
  • (and sometimes do an extra 5-10min to better empty during certain sessions)
• 4ppd – 6am/12pm/5pm/11pm
  • Preferred work pumping schedule – allows me to pump when I wake up (or at 7am while I’m driving in), once at work, then while i drive home at 5pm (or 6pm after I’m home) then right before bed
  • After my supply was established using the above methods, I was able to drop to 4ppd and still maintain about 40opd (ounces per day) with this schedule for a few months 🙂

Favorite Products – “These are a few of my favorite things”

• Bra that holds cups well – Kindred Bravely (Sublime Hands-Free pumping bra)
• Beaugen Cushions to help with sizing of flanges/cups (inserts linked here)
• Babymotion flanges that empty me better than the plastic ones, so I only use the beaugen cushions for the cups (babymotion flange)
• Freeze flats for traveling – although I had my husband 3D print mine (Freeze Flats)
• Favorite bags – best for freezing flat to ship or store tightly in gallon bags (Lansinoh bags)
• Lubrication spray – coconut oil works great normally, but this is my favorite to keep in my pumping bag for “on the go” needs (CoBoo pumping spray)
• Hand-free pumping cups – I use these with the Baby Buddha pump for strong suction with the 7-8oz capacity (Zomee silicone collection cups)
• Sterilizer/Dryer – even though I use multiple sets throughout the day, I still like to run my parts through a sterilizer/dryer once a day after I wash them to get them good and dry before the next day’s use, especially the cups I use for mobile pumping (Papablic steam sterilizer/dryer)