Before Your Baby Is Born
- Setting Up for Success: Ten Tips to Prepare for Breastfeeding
- Breastfeeding: 15 Ways New Dads can Help
- What to Bring with you to the Hospital
- What is Colostrum?
- Breastfeeding: The First Few Hours
- Breastfeeding: The First Three Days
- How your breasts will change during pregnancy and nursing
- Breastfeeding: What is a Latch?
- Breastfeeding: How to Position your Baby
- Breastfeeding: How to Hold your Breast
- Breastfeeding: How to Position Yourself
- Breastfeeding Holds: Cross-Cradle, Football Hold, Cradle, Side-Lying
- Breastfeeding: How to Know When Baby is Hungry (Rooting Reflex)
The First Six Weeks
- Breastfeeding: The First Six Weeks
- Breastfeeding and Nutrition: What should I eat while breastfeeding?
- Breastfeeding: Where to Find Support
- Breastfeeding: How to Latch
- Breastfeeding: What a Good Latch Feels Like
- Breastfeeding: How to Know if you Have a Good Deep Latch
- Care Plan: What to do if Your Baby Won’t Latch
- Care Plan: How to Use a Nipple Shield
- Breastfeeding: How Your Baby Gets the Milk Out of Your Breast
- Breastfeeding: How Often do I Breastfeed?
- Breastfeeding: How to Learn Baby's Feeding Cues
- Breastfeeding: How Long Should a Feeding Take?
- Care Plan: What if Early Breastfeeding is Not Going Perfectly?
- Breastfeeding: How do I Know Baby is Getting Enough at Each Feeding?
- Breastfeeding: How to Breastfeed a Sleepy Baby
- Care Plan: What to Do if Your Baby is Not Getting Enough at Each Feeding
- Breastfeeding: Waking Your Baby to Eat: When do I Stop?
- Breastfeeding: How to Know Baby is Getting Enough Overall - Diapers
- Breastfeeding: How to Know Baby is Getting Enough Overall - Weight Gain
- Breastfeeding: How to Know Baby is Getting Enough Overall - Infant Behavior
- Care Plan: What to Do if Your Baby is Not Getting Enough Overall
- Care Plan: Engorgement
- Care Plan: Sore Nipples
Finding Your Breastfeeding Rhythm
- Care Plan: How to Increase Your Milk Supply
- Increasing Your Milk Supply: What to Expect When Following the Care Plan
- Effective Feeding: What is it?
- Increasing Your Milk Supply: Why the Care Plan Will Work
- Effective Feeding: How to Identify Effective Feeding
- Effective Feeding: The Difference Between a Suck and a Swallow
- Effective Feeding: How to Ensure Effective Feeding
- Breastfeeding: Milk Flow - The Difference Between Breast and Bottle
- Breastfeeding: How Milk Supply Affects Your Flow Rate
- Care Plan: How to Fix Your Milk Flow and Increase Your Milk Supply
- Breastfeeding: Why Your Baby May Not Be Getting Enough
- Breastfeeding: What Am I Supplementing With?
- Plugged Ducts
- Mastitis
- Demystifying Cluster Feeding: What’s Normal...What’s Not
Common Challenges
- Getting Breastfeeding Support from Mom
- Care Plan: How to Increase Your Milk Supply
- Care Plan: What to do if Your Baby Won’t Latch
- Care Plan: Engorgement
- Care Plan: Sore Nipples
- Care Plan: How to Use a Nipple Shield
- What to Expect When Following the Care Plan to Increase Supply
- Care Plan: What to Do if Your Baby is Not Getting Enough at Each Feeding
- Care Plan: What to Do if Your Baby is Not Getting Enough Overall
- Why Your Baby May Not Be Getting Enough at the Breast
- Care Plan: Plugged Ducts
- Care Plan: Mastitis
- Care Plan: Yeast
- Care Plan: What if Early Breastfeeding is Not Going Perfectly?
Breastfeeding and the Working Mom
The Man Behind The Milk
Resource Library
Our Experts
Pumping: How Do I Use a Breast Pump?
While there are many different pumps and brands on the market, they all work much the same way, except for a little more muscle power with the manual version.
In fact, the hardest part about the process might be putting the pump together the first time. After you've figured that out, however, the rest should be straightforward.
Here are some tips for getting started:
- Try to be in a situation or place where you don't feel rushed or self-conscious.
- Get into a comfortable sitting position. Much like nursing, pumping takes some time, so you should be comfortable.
- Sit upright and place the pump breast shield over your breast, centering your nipple on the shield.
- If your pump is electric turn it on the lowest setting to start, then slowly increase the strength. Most women feel comfortable enough to move the pump strength higher quite quickly, but it's important that you don't feel pain while you're pumping. Always use the strength that's most comfortable for you.
- After you've reached a comfortable setting, continue pumping for 12 to 15 minutes (that's for double electric pumps).
- For manual pumps, 20 to 25 minutes should be enough. Remember to switch breasts to get the best yield.
Tips for success:
- Most importantly, relax and try not to focus on how many ounces you're yielding or how long it's taking.
- Sometimes it helps to distract yourself by talking on the phone or watching a movie— anything but staring at the bottles watching for the milk.
This information is courtesy of Bravado Designs, the brand synonymous with women's breastfeeding success for 18 years.
Source: Heather Kelly is an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) who also sits on the Bravado Breastfeeding Information Council Heather has been practicing in New York City since 2001.
Our Experts
