Green Treehouse

Have you ever recognized a woman carrying the bag on her shoulder?  The tell-tale sign that she pumps breast milk.  Pumping milk is matter of necessity for women who choose to continue to breastfeed while away from their babies.  Although the pump is often associated with the 9-5 working mother, it’s a common gadget on a new mom’s checklist of baby-related gear. 

Just as the decision to breastfeed is deeply personal, so is the decision to pump.  These decisions can be riddled with anxiety.  Blogger Jennifer Lance explains that for some women, breastfeeding can create such a high degree of anxiety that they opt to feed their newborns exclusively pumped breast milk.  For some, the decision to pump has to do with support–or lack of support.  For others, the decision to exclusively pump resolves the tug-of-war between wanting to provide a newborn with milk and the psychological hurdles of breastfeeding.  Though exclusive pumping–and pumping in general–can have its own challenges, who would have thought that a pump lurking in the bag could be so empowering?

For breastfeeding support or to read more about breastfeeding, check out La Leche League and BreastFeeding.com.  

Has the pump empowered you?