I thought I'd update this post I made when I was in the trenches of pumping for Estelle. This routine helped me successfully breastfeed Estelle until 13 months when she self weaned, and I'm going 9 months strong with Loretta. The post was originally inspired by this post on my Instagram where I mentioned that traveling with an infant made me feel like superwoman. Having an easy pumping system totally contributes to this!
My pumping routine, on the 3 days I work, looks like this:
* My Freemie pump lives in my car, I pump on my commute to the office. Having an adapter like this one to plug the pump into is key!
* Pump twice at work with the freemie cups and the Medela 'Pump In Style' which lives in my office. This cuts down on carrying things back and forth for me. I have Medela tubing, I just cut the attachment piece off of so that it fits in the freemie cups and also attaches to the pump. I think any aftermarket tubing, like this, would probably work. I scored mine for $50 on my local buy, sell, trade Facebook group, so I'd definitely recommend trying Marketplace to find one, or it's linked here. Or you can always try to get one through your insurance.
For traveling, I bring the Medela PIS because it looks like a purse and is easier to transport than the freemie pump. The freemie cups are GOLD IMO. You don’t have to go into a private room, or undress or anything to pump.
This is how I was able to pump in an NYC champagne bar without getting up to go to the bathroom. The other best place I pumped with this system was in the middle of conceal carry class. It was on my bucket list...
I don’t have to pump at home. I really haven’t since I went back to work. I pumped a lot during Estelle's first 3 months because we didn't fully breastfeed right away because of her NICU stay. I used a nipple shield and we did both bottle and breastfeeding. With Loretta, to build up my freezer supply, I used a haaka hand pump. That thing is the bees knees. You just attach it to the other side when you are nursing and it will collect the let down from the side. It's a little tedious to do every time you're nursing in those early days, I did it maybe 3-4x/day, but it's way better IMO than being tied to your pump for 20-30 minutes outside of the time you're already spending feeding the baby.
It was my goal to breastfeed Estelle for a year which we did. I’ve heard stories about people who can not pump at work and still nurse at nights and on weekends. But I’ve also heard stories when stopping dries up a supply. I think milksharing is amazing too, I know a lot of moms who are able to donate milk and they definitely wouldn't be able to do that without a great pumping system. This routine has worked really well for me and my babies :)
