BF - I am practising my pumping skills - should I sterilise the pump every time ?

[MamanFlo]

DD is only 2 weeks old, so I won't start giving her expressed breast milk, I started using the pump today and practised a bit. If I am not using this milk and not freezing it, is it really necessary to sterilise the pump each time I practise or can I leave it until I actually use the milk to feed my baby ?

I am as well a bit puzzled about the sterilisation of the pump, as long as I wash it thoroughly after use : after all, I don't sterilise my breast after each feed...so I don't see what other germs or bacteria could get to my baby while using a breat pump...what do you think ?

Thanks for your reply !

Flo

If you are practicing, you wouldn't have to sterilize anything, but if you are getting any milk, I would freeze it and use it later on when your baby IS using a bottle!
I used to sterilize mine ( baby is 18 weeks) now I just wash it, rinse with hot water and then pour just boiled water over all the parts in a large mixing bowl.

and congratulations!

thanks for your reply...at the moment my first pumping session just rewarded me with a tiny amount of milk...not enough to freeze. The instructions say that over time I should get more milk coming through and then I would freeze it and have a good supply ready... DH is dying to wake up in the night to feed his DS (true !)

I would sterilise the fiddly bits that you can't quite get to when you wash up!

MamanFlo, the reason you need to sterilise the pump (when you're planning to keep the milk) is because the milk you pump is stored for a period of time. Even if you're really careful and put it in the fridge or freezer immediately, there is still time for bacteria to grow. , (And again when the milk is thawed or reheated.) When the baby breastfeeds, the milk goes straight into their stomach, so it can't pick anything up or grow anything.

I feed my twins ebm, so have to pump milk 6-8 times in 24 hours. I sterilise the pump every other time and store it in thr fridge in between. Then I date the milk from the time the pump was sterilised, not the time it was expressed.

if you plan to use the expressed milk (whether immediately or freeze for later), then you need to sterilise, imo. if you're just going to practise and discard what you get, then imo you don't. hth and congratulations!

When I was expressing at work, I just used to store the pump at al in the fridge in between pumping sessions.

Even if you are only epxressing a wee bit, you could store it in the fridge and toip it up over the day still you have a few ounces to freeze. It lasts much longer than you think.

Also, are you alternating boobs while you epxress? it is not like feeding dd when you keep her on one boob until it is "finished". For optimim expressing, you keep swapping opver and do something like 5 minutes on on each side, then 3 then 2 then one.

Notquitecockney = thanks for the explanation : that makes sense to me !
I didn't think of keeping the pump in the fridge for later in the day...good idea.

In any case I have been told it is a little early and shall wait until next week to really express.

thanks !

flo

I reall struggled to breastfeed so gave my baby expressed BM for the first 6 weeks. Try pumping when you are in the bath and nice and warm, this really gets the milk flowing, or use a hot water bottle or warmed up wheat bag over your breast while pumping. At first I was pumping too quickly, i found i got much more milk out by depressing the trigger and holding it for 5 to 10 seconds before releasing.
Congratulations and good luck!!

vicb - thanks for the advice...I am trying again today and will follow your wisdom