The Ordinary Doula Podcast

E84: Pump Talk: Wearable vs Plug-In

• Angie Rosier • Episode 84

Share episode

Send us a text

Breast pumps have evolved dramatically from ancient ceramic vessels to modern wearable technology, with significant changes in accessibility since the 2008 Affordable Care Act required insurance coverage for one pump per pregnancy. This episode explores the history, types, and considerations for choosing the right breast pump for your unique situation.

• Breast pumps date back to the Roman Empire when ceramic vessels with straws were used to express milk
• Electric pumps entered medical use in the 1920s, but portable models weren't available until the 1960s-80s
• The 1990s marked a breakthrough with battery-powered pumps for home use
• Insurance must cover one breast pump per pregnancy under the 2008 Affordable Care Act
• Wearable/hands-free pumps offer mobility but have gentler suction and smaller capacity
• Traditional electric pumps provide stronger suction, better supply maintenance, and cost less
• Consider your lifestyle, milk supply needs, and mobility requirements when choosing
• Some people benefit from having both types of pumps for different situations
• Not everyone needs a pump - consider your specific situation before purchasing
• Consult with an IBCLC for personalized recommendations

Reach out to someone today, someone you know or someone you don't, but make a human connection in person, by touch, by eye contact or digitally or electronically. Reach out to someone today and make a difference in their life.


Visit our website, here: https://birthlearning.com/
Follow us on Facebook at Birth Learning
Follow us on Instagram at @birthlearning

Show Credits

Host: Angie Rosier
Music: Michael Hicks
Photographer: Toni Walker
Episode Artwork: Nick Greenwood
Producer: Gillian Rosier Frampton
Voiceover: Ryan Parker

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with Angie Rozier, hosted by Birth Learning, where we help prepare folks for labor and birth with expertise coming from 20 years of experience in a busy doula practice Helping thousands of people prepare for labor, providing essential knowledge and tools for positive and empowering birth experiences.

Speaker 2:

Hello and welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast. My name is Angie Rozier. I'm your host. I am a longtime birth doula, postpartum doula and kind of newer to my career. Life is IBCLC, which is a lactation consultant, and I do private practice work in hospital and enjoy that work a lot. It's a nice segue from having a baby to feeding a baby. It's kind of fun to follow my clients through that whole entire process.

Speaker 2:

So today I want to talk a little bit about breast pumps. So I want to give a little history about breast pumps and then talk about maybe a good breast pump if you're considering using one, one that you could consider. So breast pumps, it's kind of interesting. Their history goes way back to the Roman Empire when their ceramic vessels were used with a gentle vacuum and straws to get milk out. And if you think about long ago times, right like way before our modern time, breast milk was essential. Way before our modern time breast milk was essential, like if we couldn't get milk out of a mom, or you know, we think of all the challenges people face today with breastfeeding. You know, 200 years ago, 2000 years ago, these were life threatening challenges. There wasn't very good alternatives. I mean, there was, you know, wet nurses and things. But we have a lot of things at our disposal today that we didn't at that time, so long ago.

Speaker 2:

These devices were, um, they were striving to save people's lives. So in the 16th century, um, there were tools used to correct inverted nipples, um, which is kind of interesting, and um, and then later in the 1800s, like the mid-1800s, the first US patent was developed or was issued, which developed a hand-operated bellows breast pump. A lot of different versions came out between the 1850 and 1900s and then in the 1910, 1920, there was a mechanical breast pump that was designed that was trying to mimic baby sucking patterns and a lot of hospitals started adopting this. Electric breast pumps kind of entered medical use more regularly in the 1920s. But it wasn't until the 1960s to 1980s so much more recent time that there were portable models emerged. So it used to be like a breast pump was, you know, plugged into the wall or something you had to go to it, but more ergonomic options with disposable parts were made available in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.

Speaker 2:

1990s was kind of a big breaking point for the breast pump world when Medela introduced the first battery-powered, vacuum-oper operated electric pump which could be used by individuals, um, and leave them kind of for home use, um. So in the 1990s pumps got a little bit, quite a bit more available, um, and kind of more access to them with insurance and things. So then there was some pretty cool innovations, as happens right um in in our, in our capitalistic society, private things were. You know, private corporations were, um, kind of shifting and and doing some things. The symphony, uh, medela symphony pump and smart pumps became a lot more available and more effective, more powerful, and pumps back then were it was a big, clunky machine with metal parts and you could see, you know, gears moving and stuff. You could hear it a lot. And then we had in the 19, well, sorry, in the 2010s a lot of startup companies, like a lot. If you've heard of Willow FreeMe, lv, there's a lot of startup companies that created wearable pumps that were more discreet and more portable and much more quiet.

Speaker 2:

So pumps became available by law, by insurance, in 2008 with the Affordable Care Act. So before then, pumps were not very available to the general public and they were only used in cases of kind of extreme need. Maybe that was a NICU stay with preemies or maybe multiples or something, and it was very much like a hospital equipment. And then after 2008, when it became available to all people, at that time everyone could get a pump every per pregnancy. So and that's that law remains enforced today that by law, every insurance company has to provide a pump for each pregnancy. So if you have three kids, you have three pumps available to you. Every insurance does that. So pumps kind of came blasting onto the market not that long ago you know we're talking 2008 and which created a lot of stir, if you will, in the pumping world as things became available. So you may be considering what kind of a pump to get. And because they're so widely available, what I run into as I work with people in hospital and out of hospital, even before birth, my doula clients, like everybody, thinks they need a pump right Cause they can get one, and that may or may not be the case. Not long ago, um, they were not really an option, or not a very common option. So we've imposed this piece of equipment in our lives, but we might not need it. So, kind of consider your life, your lifestyle and your goals and plans. You may or may not need a pump to be incorporated in this adventure of parenting.

Speaker 2:

In this journey, I want to talk about the difference between wearable pumps, which we call hands-free pumps, and electric breast pumps. So hands-free sounds and I you know, as I ask people in the hospital what pump they have, so many of them are excited to say they have a hands-free pump. And while that sounds incredibly convenient and awesome, I kind of like I'm like, oh, dang it, maybe that wasn't the best pump for you or your situation. So make sure you kind of research what's available to you and different people have, depending on your insurance. Kind of find out through your insurance what's available. Some insurance companies will give an allotment of whatever amount of money $200, $300 for a pump. Others will say you know what? Here's a list of pumps we approve. You can get one of these three or four pumps. Um. Some will say, yeah, go get whatever you want. Um. So kind of find out what's available to you through your insurance. Some of them go through medical supply companies, some you just order off amazon. There's lots of different ways to do it. So find out what's available to you first of all and realize that ma that the hands-free stuff might not be the very best pump.

Speaker 2:

For your situation, maybe a traditional plug-in electric pump might be better. Now, right off the top of my head, if people are saying what's your favorite pump, what's the best pump to get Most lactation consultants are going to say a Spectra. So, as far as what consumers can get, a Spectra pump is your best motor. So it's your strongest motor, most reliable pump. But maybe, depending on your life, you don't need a crazy strong motor or super reliable pump if you're not going to be pumping very much. So we'll kind of get into that and talk about the difference there. There's some really great brands that have been around a long time, like Spectra, medela, amita, evenflo, lansano. Those are some companies that have been doing this for a long time. And then we have a lot of newer companies, like Willow, momcozy, lv, freemee, that have come up more recently to provide a different type of pump and a different way of pumping.

Speaker 2:

Okay, so differences between hands-free. Hands-free are powered by batteries, of course, and a plug-in pump. Plug-in pump is powered by electricity, obviously it plugs in, and their plug-in pump is going to be your best motor and can do the most work. So, depending on your situation, if you are an exclusive pumper, you're going to need a pretty awesome motor because you're going to be pumping 8 to 12 times a day for a period of time, however long it is. You want to provide milk for your baby. If you have a baby who's in the NICU, you're going to be pumping quite a bit, especially in the beginning. We need a good, strong pump to bring the milk in if there's not a baby available to do that. But if your lifestyle is such that you, you know, are you're not going to work for quite a while or you're only going to breastfeed for a couple of months, some people, you know, depending on what your goals are, might be able to get away with a hands-free pump.

Speaker 2:

Hands-free pumps are good. I call them sometimes pumps. If you just need a pump, sometimes hands-free might be a good pump for you. But if you're pumping, if you're going to need to do a lot of pumping, that might depend, you know. That might kind of determine that you need to get an electric plug-in pump. Also, your supply Some people's supply is what I call kind of shy and it needs to be coaxed out quite a bit. Other people's supply is incredibly extroverted, if you will, and we have tons of milk easy to get. We don't have to coax that supply. So some pumps are not going to help with supply where others will help. And again, some people don't need help. Some people do with supply.

Speaker 2:

So let's talk about some of the benefits of a hands-free pump. Okay, so hands-free pump is pretty mobile, right, you can move freely, it goes in the bra, you can multitask to other things. Easy to travel with. You can drive while using it, you can work while using it. They're pretty quiet. They kind of go in your bra.

Speaker 2:

Depending on what shirt you're wearing, people may not even know you have a pump in their suction efficiency. It's a gentler suction, um, so it might help maintain supply, but it might not get a whole ton of milk, um, some. It is very compact. It's wireless, right, people like that, we're in a wireless world these days um. The cost, however, is pretty high. These pumps are kind of expensive and a lot time, a lot of times less efficient. So they're anywhere from $400 to $800 for your Elvys, your Willows, mom Cozy's, a little bit less. They have small catchers, like small containers to catch milk. There's fewer parts to them, you know, there's not tubing and flanges kind of go right with the pumps setting. All that's a lot. A lot of that is closer together and compact, um, but they don't hold as much either. Their capacity to hold is not as much.

Speaker 2:

So let's go through through these same features for plug-in electric pumps. So, as far as mobility goes, you do have to stay pretty close to your electric, your source of electricity. So if it's a plug-in pump, you got got to stay. You're kind of tied down to wherever you can plug it in. So, and that can be fine, maybe that's a certain chair, certain spot, little corner. If you pump at work, hopefully they have a place for you to pump. And, by the way, by law, companies are required to provide a place, time and a place for lactating women to pump during their workday. And some companies are great at that, others are not, some have no idea they need to do that. Especially companies of a certain size are required to do that. So kind of check with your employer about that.

Speaker 2:

So these pumps are bulkier, like you obviously see it, you can hear it, um, there are handheld units, there's some larger units, but you, you know we're getting smaller and smaller as technology develops. Um, they can be noisier sometimes. There's a little like uh, rhythm to them a pumping sound to them. Their suction, however, is very strong, right, they have adjustable settings. You can do both sides, so this builds supply faster. So and maintain supply is these stronger pumps that are plug-in.

Speaker 2:

You do need battery. Sorry, excuse me, you do need electricity. Some of them are battery powered. I think a great pump is the spectra s1 and it you can have a plugged in and it the battery also charges, so you have a pretty good battery life. You want to keep it as charged as possible, however, so you can carry it around and pump in different places.

Speaker 2:

The cost is is much lower, so you can get a really strong, efficient pump for under $200. So they're anywhere between like $100 to $300. Insurance is more likely to cover this kind of pump, depending on what your insurance plan is, but oftentimes it's a better pump for less money. There are more parts, kind of to wash. Oftentimes there's different valves and things that you work with the components of that, but I would generally lean towards people getting an electric pump over a hands-free pump. So because hands-free pump can affect your output Battery life, you know, can make the pump less efficient, but maybe you're on the go all the time or you have a couple toddlers at home or you know another small child and you don't need to get a whole lot of supply.

Speaker 2:

Maybe you know a battery-powered hands-free pump will be great for you. All right. So one thing to consider again. We have these contraptions now that we think we have to use, but for some people you may want to consider two pumps. Maybe you have one of each. You have a wearable pump for when you're on the go or you're commuting or something, and then you have another pump for when you can't have the time to sit down and have an electric pump. But they use at your office or at work or while you're at home or just to help you build a stash.

Speaker 2:

If you have a baby in the NICU, definitely want to use a really good pump. Sometimes at work I see moms who don't have a very good pump and when they're doing all the pumping for that baby's milk supply, that can be kind of challenging. So kind of want to set up routines around your pump. Set up a nice place for you to pump. Kind of reflect on where you want to spend some time. This becomes task oriented incredibly quickly when you're doing a lot of pumping. So make just a lovely space for yourself. Make everything about your pump session something look forward to so that that it makes it as pleasant as possible and you actually get the most milk supply from that as well. So kind of like consider your lifestyle, how much, how frequent you think you'll need to be pumping, how mobile you'll need to be when you're pumping.

Speaker 2:

Think about your supply goals. I, you know some people want to build up a stash so they can kind of stop lactating and still have a couple months of milk. That's great too. But what pumps can help you meet your goals? There are pumps you can rent. Sometimes you can rent hospital grade pumps at some places. You can rent a really great pump if you only need it for a short period of time.

Speaker 2:

Maybe you want to borrow a pump from a friend. I like people to be pretty cautious about this, because most pumps are one. They're kind of designed for one user. Some of your really good pumps like Spectra's, their motor's good enough to do, you know, multiple users or multiple more than one baby. That makes sure you get all new supplies and parts for that. And your tubing for pumps that have tubing your tubing, by the way. You never want to get that wet. So don't wash it, don't sterilize it. Milk doesn't go into it and getting it wet can actually impact the suction. But if you are borrowing a pump from someone, make sure you get all new parts for that and consider that most insurances will cover plug in pumps. So yeah, some people are overwhelmed by the variety of pumps available to them.

Speaker 2:

Do some good research, talk to other people, but then you consider your situation will be different than anyone else's. You may not know at this point what your milk supply is going to be like. You may not know at this point how you're going to like pumping or how you'll respond to a pump. Oftentimes people produce more milk in the same amount of time when their baby's latched and sucking than they do at the pump. Not always, but usually it's the case because your body hormonally responds more favorably to a cute little baby that it loves than it does to a pump. Some people that I've worked with absolutely love pumping because it's a break. They can sit down and just focus on that. Other people learn to load that because they have to sit down and focus on that and it becomes a task they don't like. So before you can, you know kind of commit to all pumping or no pumping. Make sure you kind of feel things out for your situation and what's going to work best for you and be able to be flexible in that Maybe you do get one of each, maybe you don't even need a pump.

Speaker 2:

Just because they're available doesn't mean we need to use them. I see a lot of people running into that as well. So do your research. Yeah, do your research. Look at some reviews and see what pump would be the best for you. If you do get a non-hands-free pump like a double electric, there are bras. You can get a pumping bra that will kind of help hold that pump on so it can be quote-unquote hands-free. But you may not be able to walk around very much with it, but you will have your hands available to do other things.

Speaker 2:

So lots of options with pumps. Talk to an IBCLC in your area, meet with them and a lot of people come to the. You know they get a pump before the baby's born. Other people get a pump after the baby's born. Both have benefits.

Speaker 2:

Do a little research ahead of time and see what it is you need. See first of all what your insurance covers and then kind of go from there. So hopefully this has been helpful for you as you consider what kind of pump would be best for your situation and maybe you don't know your whole situation yet, but know that there's options out there and different pumps fit different situations. So kind of find out what it is that you need. I wish you the very best in pumping, whether you do it a little bit or a lot bit. Hopefully it goes well and you find a product that will work for you.

Speaker 2:

This is Angie Rozier signing off at the Ordinary Doula podcast and, as always, you. This is Angie Rozier signing off at the Ordinary Doula podcast and, as always, we encourage you to reach out to someone today, someone you know or someone you don't, but make a human connection in person, by touch, by eye contact or digitally or electronically. Reach out to someone today and make a difference in their life. Hope you have a good one and we'll see you tomorrow.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with Angie Rozier, hosted by Birth Learning. Episode credits will be in the show notes Tune in next time as we continue to explore the many aspects of giving birth.