The breast pump: feeding babies, easing guilt

by Melissa Summers (Subscribe to Melissa Summers's posts) Mar 28th 2006 9:02AM

Categories: Pregnancy & Birth, Money & Work, Eating & Nutrition

Interesting piece at Slate about the breast pump and what they mean for modern mothers. Sarah Gilbert has talked about her pumping experience before and the satisfaction of juggling being a mother with being a working woman who is away from her kids some of the time.

Emily Bazelon, covers a brief history of breast pumps ending with the discreet Medela pumps first sold in 1996. She goes on to compare the pump to the Blackberry, giving mothers freedom. Breastpumps, she says, also "make mothers feel irreplaceable and virtuous."

She points out that by allowing mothers to pursue a life outside the house, but still provide breastmilk to their child, the breast pump relieves mothers of the guilt of doing something seemingly 'selfish' (wanting or needing time away from their child). Because, as she says, "How selfish can you be if you're willing to put your nipples through a juice squeezer every day?"

Hilarious.

But it gets even better, the very last paragraph is must-read for the moderate mothers among us.

Source

Comments (13)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Emily 3-28-2006 @ 9:55AM

I totally agree with the sentiment of that last paragraph, but one sentence hit a nerve. I know there are breastfeeding purists and nipple nazis out there, but I hate to hear La Leche League associated with them. I've been to a bunch of meetings and the leaders and members have never been anything but supportive. I've never heard anything negative about pumping, and while the official position is to encourage women to provide breastmilk for their infants, I've never seen a mom shamed for needing or choosing to supplement with formula. I'm sure there are wacky chapters out there like any big organization, but I live in a very crunchy city and my local chapter is fabulous.

Caitlin 3-28-2006 @ 9:55AM

I've always been a little surprised that some of the purists lump pumping in with formula feeding. My son was one of those babies who couldn't nurse and pumping for the first three months has got to be up there with the most miserable/frustrating experiences of my life. If you're pumping exclusively, you are still very much tied down the first few months if you have supply issues. I literally spent over half the day involved in pumping related activities.

Why should a mother feel guilty for making sure her baby is fed while she takes a little time to herself? I don't really understand why people want to make an issue about a mother taking care of herself. If your partner works, people would think you're a bad spouse if you get upset if they want half an hour to relax before jumping into household duties. Yet if you're a mom, saying you need a little time away from baby really upsets people. Taking care of a baby can burn just as much (if not more on bad days) of your energy as working does. And working moms definitely deserve a little time to destress before jumping into baby time. Everyone needs down time.

Helen Konrad 3-28-2006 @ 10:19AM

To the person who posted saying La Leche League is supportive, that's great you ahd a wonderful experience with them. I had the opposite, and so did many of my peers. My son was born premature with a plethora if health issues. I tried for 6 weeks to get him to latch on. when he finally did, he had what was known a laryngiospasm (throat closed, up, turned blue, had to be revived, very close call). I decided then to continue with pumping and out off trying to breastfeed. The La Leche lEague looked upon me as I had given up. They actually said I was not trying hard enough, if I was really committed I wouldn't give up so easily, etc. I ended up pumping for 5 months straight. My second child took 5 weeks to teach to breastfeed. I pumped during that time too. If it weren't for the breastpump, neither of my children would have gotten breastmilk. Breastfeeding the ideal La Leche League way is great for the 40 week healthy term Gerber baby. But, for those of us who have horrible pregnancies, scary labours where we almost loos our child, preterm babies in the NICU where we are not even allowed to hold them, pumping is one of the only ways you can make a connection with your child.

Motherhood is hard enough. We should not ostercize ourselves or others if our choice is breasteeding, pumping then bottling (which in my mind is still breastfeeding), or formula.

MelissaS 3-28-2006 @ 10:31AM

Emily I'm so glad you never experienced the 'purist' La Leche League-esque stance, but many mothers I know have experienced it first hand.

Allison 3-28-2006 @ 10:44AM

I think the La Leche League, like any large international organization, is going to have varying degrees of support in it's various members. I happened to have a positive experience. Everyone was encouraged to nurse/pump for as long as they liked, and I got tips on pumping as well. However, if the leaders or members were different, I would have had a different experience. At my first meeting, the topic was "weaning" and I was surprised they even addressed it. I had thought (before I went to a meeting) that they would only support child lead weaning. If you can't get what you need out of a particular group, try another one. Each group is different.

Emily 3-28-2006 @ 10:44AM

Helen, I'm so sorry you ahd such a nasty experience with LLL. No mom should be shamed for the choices she makes for her family; we all do the best with the circumstances we're in. And I agree with Caitlin - I really don't see the difference (to the baby) between pumping and bf'ing.

I wish all the chapters could be like mine and I just wanted to put my experience out there as a counterexample to all the negative things you hear about LLL. I've met some of those purist, judgmental women, but not at a LLL meeting.

B 3-28-2006 @ 11:40AM

I had a nightmarish experience with "Lactation Consultants". I had a very hard delivery where I was nearly into Coma and had lost a lot of blood so was given a blood transfusion and had added complications after that. I didnt have any milk for over 35-40 days. The lactation consultants would call me at home to guide me how to stimulate my body to produce more milk even though my body was recovering, and my child was loosing wieght becos I was trying to exclusively nurese him. I would nurse him and after nursing pump for 20 mins (10 mins each side). Take fenugreek tablets, and other teas just to get more milk. By the end of 2 mths my body had deteriorated to such an extent that I was not even able to provide my son with enough time where I wasnt running 104 temperature or wasnt at the hospital. With all this apart for the first 40 days I did manage to breastfeed him for 6 mths but I have done lots of damage to my system. Its been 18 mths and I am still recovering. All the while I was hounded by the consultants and even by my OB.
Give your self a break everyone, u are all doing great jobs and NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO JUDGE U, FORCE U on the choices you make.

ernmeg 3-28-2006 @ 12:37PM

I work at home, so I'm home with my little one most every day and I still needed to purchase a breast pump. I occasionally do have to be away from him -- not even just for "me" time. Tomorrow I have meetings in another city, so my hubby will have him all day. It's the first day I have to pump while at a business function...and they only have the women's bathroom for me to use (they offered to put a chair in there!). Wish me luck! :)

Missy 3-28-2006 @ 1:42PM

I have a couple of snarky points to make:

I considered buying stock in Medela.

Isn't it interesting how giving women the freedom to be away from their baby more than a couple of hours at a time, via the breastpump, was something that was inspired by a shortage of labor in the dairy industry?

Heather 3-28-2006 @ 2:46PM

It is an interesting topic, this breast pump... On the one hand, I feel like a total hippy mama trying to find places and plugs to express my milk. My son is 10 months old, shouldn't I have weaned him already, wonder my midwestern family... and on the other hand, I am a go-gettin' career woman letting the pump do what my son should be doing.

I, personally, found pumping to be a lot of performance pressure. When the milk goes straight from boob to baby, one may wonder how much there was, but with the pump, you have it right there in front of you. Taunting you. 2oz (booo), 4oz (ok), 8oz (yippee!).

AndreaInJapan 3-29-2006 @ 9:34AM

I am having a problem with this whole thing becasue of the line about using pumping to get a break from baby.
I agree that an hour or two away is wonderful, but I was not one of the women blessed with a great maternity leave: I had 6 weeks paid, and my cheque was needed to survive in this country. I didnt pump to have a break from my kid, I pumped cause I had no choice.
I could have switched to formula but it opened up another huge can of worms living in this country because I am lactose intolerant and have recently discovered that my daughter is too. Finding appropriate formula was not as easy as I would have liked.
We did it for a whole year, and it was not something I enjoyed doing. I hated pumping and it was exhasting to the core. I did for my daughter and would do it again, but there was no holiday involved.

LB 3-30-2006 @ 7:29PM

Yes there are some snippy LLL leaders out there-sounds like it's more true in less urban areas. I was a "group worker" for several years. I think a lot of women confuse the women who sometimes attend the meetings with the leaders,there's a difference.Also the biggest BF big mouths I have ever met don't go to LLL meetings anyway.

But this writer was way out of line to use the word "sniffs" when describing the LLL book and being so dismissive of the organization so generally. The "wait and see" comment she sites is not bad advice. We over bought a pump for out 1st baby and it was money wasted.

LLL International has really trail blazed pump availability. The catalog online selection is way better than our local BRU.

K Seymour 4-17-2006 @ 11:50PM

I agree that the breastpump is a lifesaver. I work from home and didn't have to buy a breastpump. But I'm glad I did. It really helped out when relatives came over and wanted to take put in feeding the baby.

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