While you can hand express or pump one breast at a time (even while the baby is feeding on the other breast) you might want to consider double pumping. Double pumping can be the most efficient way to pump milk from both breasts at the same time, with extra milk produced being frozen and stored for future use.
Double breast pumps can reduce pumping time by 50%, and while saving time is a great benefit of double pumping, new research shows that there are additional benefits. Studies[1] suggest that double pumping boosts the prolactin hormone, which stimulates milk production. This results in 18% more milk volume than pumping one breast after the other. This means that double pumping helps to maintain the mother’s milk supply, and may help moms with low milk supply boost their milk production.
Choosing a strong, electric breast pump
The choice makes all the difference in what is a challenging commitment. If you are trying to choose between a double pump and a single pump, keep in mind these two important benefits of double pumping. It offers significant time saving and helps you remove a bigger quantity of breast milk. Here’s a quick overview of these two benefits.
Double Pumping Increases the Amount of High Energy Milk
Double pumping stimulates an additional milk ejection or ‘let down’, and this means that moms express up to 18% more breast milk compared to single pumping one breast after the other. As milk is removed from the breast, the fat content steadily increases. Since more milk is removed during double pumping, the expressed milk has more of this fat and therefore has a higher energy content. This is especially beneficial for preterm infants. Also, high energy content indicates increased breast drainage. By removing more milk from the breasts, the body is told to make more milk, and this can then help to boost milk production.
Double Pumping Saves Time
For moms, every minute of their day is in-demand from her baby, her home, partner, and other responsibilities and interests. Leaving them with limited time to pump! With a bustier, double pumping allows you to multitask while pumping. With your hands finally free for a few minutes, you can read a book, check e-mails, relax... In a way, double pumping might just give you permission to slow down and take a break!
Double pumping might sound a little extreme at first – but once you get accustomed to using the double breast pump, you will hopefully find that your sessions are faster, more comfortable and more efficient than ever before – leaving you with more free time and more milk. Those are two big benefits of breast pumping that moms and babies can agree upon! Just think of what you will be able to do with a few extra minutes in a day – the possibilities are endless!
Happy breastfeeding!
Sources and references:
[1] These studies were conducted with Medela brand breast pumps only. No other breast pump brands have been tested on this, therefore, the results might not be the same.
