Breast pump

A breast pump is a mechanical device (powered manually or by electricicty) that extracts milk from the breasts of a woman who is lactating. The breast pump was invented and patented by Edward Lasker. Mechanically, a breast pump is directly analogous to a milking machine used in commercial dairy production.

The expressed breast milk (EBM) may be stored and later fed to a baby by bottle. Expressed milk may be kept at room temperature for up to ten hours (at 66-72 degrees Fahrenheit, around 20 degrees Celsius), refrigerated for up to 8 days, or frozen for six months in a deep freeze separate from a refrigerator maintained at a temperature of 0 degrees Fahrenheit, −18 degrees Celsius. Expressed milk may be donated to milk banks, which provide human breast milk to premature infants and other high-risk children whose mothers cannot provide for them.

Women use breast pumps for many reasons. Many women use breast pumps to continue breastfeeding after they return to work. They use the pump to express breast milk which is later bottle fed to their child by a caregiver. A breast pump may also be used to stimulate lactation for women with a low milk supply, or who have not just given birth. A breast pump may be used to relieve engorgement, a painful condition whereby the breasts are overfull, possibly preventing a proper latch by the infant. If an infant does not latch properly for direct breastfeeding, and the mother still desires the benefits of breast milk, she may choose to pump exclusively. If the mother needs to take medication that affects the breast milk and may be harmful to the infant, the mother may "pump and dump" the breast milk to keep up her milk supply during the time period that she is on the medication and may resume nursing after the course of medication is completed. Finally, pumping may be desirable to continue lactation and its associated hormones to aid in recovery from pregnancy even if the pumped milk is not used.

Styles of pumps

Manual Breast Pumps are operated by squeezing a handle in a repetitive fashion, allowing the user to directly control the pressure and frequency of pumps. Though manual pumps are small and inexpensive, they require significant effort and can be tiring because the user provides all the power. This style is recommended for infrequent usage such as when a woman is away from her baby for a single feeding. It is recommended that "bicycle horn" style manual pumps not be used. Though cheap, they can damage breast tissue and harbor bacteria in the rubber suction bulb, which is difficult to clean.Breastfeeding - womenshealth.gov

Electric Breast Pumps are powered by a small motor which supplies suction through plastic tubing to a horn that fits over the nipple. The portions of the pump that come into direct contact with the expressed milk must be sterilized to prevent contamination. This style provides a lot more suction, making pumping significantly faster, and allows pumping of both breasts at the same time. Electric breast pumps are ideal for when a mother will be pumping daily. Electric breast pumps are larger than manual ones, but portable models are available (e.g. in a backpack or shoulder bag) that allow the mother to transport the pump.

Some breast pumps are designed to be part of a "feeding system" so that the milk storage portion of the pump is the baby bottle used to feed the infant.

Breast pumps in popular media

In episode 7 of Fox Broadcasting Company's sitcom The Loop which aired on April 13, 2006, a corporate executive was seen using a breast pump during a meeting. The insensitive boss (Russ) orders, "Next time don't pump your jugs at the table." Later in the episode, the woman replies to a query about a brief absence from another meeting with, "I brought my milk down to my husband so my baby won't starve to death."

In the 1992 film The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Peyton Flanders, a nanny hired by the Bartel family, tries to sabotage the other mother's milk supply by feeding their infant at night so the infant is full and will not breastfeed from its mother. She uses a breast pump to increase her supply (Flanders had a miscarriage).

References

External links

General breast pumping information

Breastfeeding Essentials - Breast pumps 101
Breastfeeding Online - Information about the advisability of buying a used breast pump
BabyCenter - Choosing and using a breast pump
Cerean Breastfeeding - unbiased reviews of pumps, general information about insurance coverage, and many other articles on breast pumping

Milk storage guidelines

Medical pumps | Milk | Infant feeding | Breast

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