Expressing/sterilising in hospital with 11mo

[CheesyCheshireCat]

Happy Christmas everyone,

My 11mo was taken into intensive care yesterday. She's being sedated and fed intravenously and I'm having to pump to keep supply and stop myself exploding. Do I need to sterilise the pump equipment before each use?? I've never pumped before and we're stuck in this emergency situation. Thanks for your help

I was told you didn’t need to with breast milk because it didn’t have bacteria to kill in the same way formula did BUT you are in a unique scenario here so i would ask to speak to their feeding specialist (they should have one) and see what they advise.

I hope your DD improves soon

Thank you for your reply. I'll find someone to ask this morning.

Sorry to hear your LO is unwell. You don't normally need to, I store the parts in a ziplock bag in the fridge in between uses and then wash and sterilise at the end of the day. You can also buy special wipes if you wanted to give the parts a clean in between each use. Are you storing your milk at the hospital? As above, I would suggest speaking to feeding midwife in case the advice is different. A good website to check out for expressing resources is kelly mom and there is also a Facebook group called "exclusively pumping uk mums" if you need some more support with expressing although not sure if admin will be around today. I hope you get some support soon and best wishes to you and your baby

How is she this evening, OP?

I've pumped in hospital for dc quite a few times.
No need to sterilise, only for formula.
As pp said you can get wipes or rinse them between uses. You could ask for multiple packs and rinse and dry alternately.
Sorry dc is sick.
I hope you're okay

If you've not pumped before maybe try hand expressing first. I found i produced more and you don't need to buy any expensive equipment and only have to worry that that the container is clean rather than lots of things. Sorry to hear about your situation ❤️

I am so sorry your child is in hospital.

pregnantchicken.com/cleaning-breast-pump/

Don't know about the UK, but the CDC is now recommending that pump parts are washed in hot soapy water, rinsed and air dried between each use (not just popped back in the fridge), and that they are sterilized once a way---but no need to sterilize every time they are used.

Depending on your child's state of health and what they are in IC for, though, you might have to err on the side of strictness. Can you talk to your healthcare providers about what you should do?

Since your child is already 11mo, I am guessing that you are probably only pumping a few times a day--I think we were breastfeeding about 3-4x every 24 hours at that point, and I was working all day without the need to pump as long as I fed morning and evening.

Hope you and little one are bearing up as well as possible in horrible circumstances. I expressed a lot for my first who struggled to feed. Definitely speak with the hospital but if it helps, when expressing for her (full term, healthy) I was told there was no need to sterilise but when I pumped to donate to my local hospital’s milk bank (I had oversupply and wanted to do something useful) where the milk was used to feed SCBU babies through feeding tubes I was asked to sterilise. To be on the safe side and so I could safely donate all surplus milk I just sterilised every time (microwave steam sterilisation mostly).

I hope your DD gets better very soon