Most of our clients who breastfeed need to pump at some point. 

 

They’re going back to work after maternity leave, exclusively pumping from the beginning, or they just know that at some point they’ll want to be away from their infant, and they want their baby to have breast milk. 

 

As postpartum doulas and infant feeding specialists, we’re totally down with pumping. We find out which pumps their health insurance covers, or if they have an idea about pumps based on something they’ve heard. The pumps they choose are almost always electric. The Spectra S2 and Medela Pump in Style are common favorites, and recently the Lansinoh Smart Pump and the Willow Pump have been hits. 

 

Almost no new mother asks us about manual pumps. 

 

And we get it. Motherhood involves enough manual labor. And we’re about ending the struggle of motherhood. 

 

Our clients don’t hand churn butter when they know that they can buy it organic from the store. You all are busy folks, with partners and jobs and shit to get done. You’re all about efficiency! So you put on your hands-free pumping bra and hook yourself up to the electric pumps and go on with your lives. 

Sometimes though, it pays to slow down and do things the “old fashioned way.”

 

Recently, a mom of four with an oversupply of breastmilk was having issues with engorgement. These breastfeeding concerns have been ongoing for her: she had oversupply with her first two children, and now with twins it has continued. Mostly, she dealt with this by just feeding the babies and ensuring that their latch was good. 

 

But now she and her babies were ready to drop a night feeding. 

 

Her boobs, however, were not on board with the new breastfeeding schedule. And no one likes to be woken up with sore breasts, night after night. 

 

“Have you considered hand expressing?” I said. 

 

She wrinkled her nose at me. Not her thing. “I’m not one of your crunchy clients,” she said, and I totally got it. Plus, hand expressing in the shower often feels like a waste, and with two growing babies, we do NOT waste milk. 

 

“Fair enough. What about a manual pump? A few clients have liked Medela’s manual pump- the Harmony.”

Our client looked at me skeptically, but she also pulled out her phone and checked her Amazon app. At under 30 bucks, it seemed worth a try. 

 

The pump came later that week, and as I washed and sterilized the bottles for the day, I made sure that her new breast pump was clean as well.  

 

She didn’t use it at first. And since I’m just a doula, here to provide options, I didn’t worry about it. 

 

But then one night she needed to pump, and it seemed like way too much hassle to go downstairs and set up her Spectra. So I put the Medela on the hallway table outside of her door. 

 

Shortly after, she emerged from her room with 6 ounces of breast milk in half the time it normally took her. She was hooked on the ease of this manual breast pump! 

 

Turns out that she’d pumped those six ounces in the time that she used the restroom. 

 

There was “so much less contraption”, as she put it. With manual pumps, there’s less to set up, no need to charge and fewer things to clean. It travels easier, whether around the house or on vacation. 

 

Surprisingly, for this mom at least, the manual breast pump was actually more efficient. 

 

In the week and a half since, she’s used her manual pump almost exclusively (though she’s decided to try the Haakaa). It was so helpful that she said “Sam, you have to blog about this!” 

 

So yes, seriously, consider a manual breast pump. 

 

Some caveats:

Manual pumps are usually not ideal if you’re needing to pump several times a day or have to have a hands free option (i.e. you’ve gone back to work). Manual pumps can also only express milk from one breast at a time, so you’ll have to either buy two, or pump one at a time. 

 

But if you’re needing to take the edge off of full breasts at night, or aren’t away from your baby very often, it just might fit the bill.

I know, it sounds old fashioned and maybe a little crunchy granola hippy dippy, but try it. You might like it! 

 

Have you tried a manual pump? What did you think? Let us know in the comments.

Learn more about postpartum support here!