Ahhhh…… winter! We get Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. Tis the Season to be jolly and for unsolicited breastfeeding advice. Well-meaning family and friends will offer to hold or watch the baby so you can “rest”, complain about how your baby eats all the time, and ask you to cover or get annoyed when you leave the room to nurse or pump.
While there’s plenty of information as it relates to nursing, here are seven tips for surviving holiday gatherings for Pumping Moms:
Pack light. One would think that since you’re doing so much traveling you would want to big your big guns. Opt to leave your double electric in the car and go with a manual. There are tons of YouTube videos on the manuals on the market. You can pump discreetly (or indiscreetly, depending on your comfort level) with a nursing cover or receiving blanket and will still have one hand free.
Opt for collection bottles over bags. Unless you’re using bags with screw on tops (Kiinde & Tommee Tippee), opt for bottles to store your milk while at events and bag once home or back at the hotel. No one wants a spilled bag of milk in the diaper bag or to have to step away to bag and tag.
Bring minimal frozen milk with you. So much potential for waste here that you really only want to bring the bare minimum. This will also deter you from skipping pump breaks as you’ll need that milk to feed.
Change your valves and membranes before you go and bring a spare. Changing your parts before you go allows you to ensure optimal pump effectiveness and check the flanges, tubing, backflow protectors, etc. for cracks and tears. Keeping a spare prepares you for the worse. It may also be wise to check and see if any local stores sell replacement parts for your pump.
Maintain firm boundaries. If your baby hasn’t started solids (6 months and ALL signs of readiness), it’s perfectly ok to politely, but firmly decline. Make it firm enough that they don’t ask again.
Demonstrate and practice paced bottle feeding. It’s inevitable that SOMEONE, or many someones, will offer to feed the baby while you eat, rest, or just because. Ensure you demonstrate how to hold baby and bottle while feeding. And as always, you can just decline. You are not obligated to let others feed your baby.
And last, but definitely not least, TAKE YOUR SCHEDULED PUMP BREAKS! I knowwwwww…. Everyone’s having fun and you have to step away to pump or set up your manual pump. But, I promise you, it’s worth it. In addition to your baby needing that milk to eat, mastitis, engorgement, and clogged ducts are NOT FUN. The last thing you want is the stress of low supply.
No matter how you spend your holidays, maintaining milk supply will always a concern for breastfeeding mothers. Hopefully, our tips help out.
Have any tips or tricks that worked for you during the holiday season? Share them below!