Survival Guide: Pumping Breast Milk Outside The Home

15 November 2024

Once you start pumping breast milk around the clock, you’ll encounter the inevitability of needing to pump outside the home. During my first few weeks postpartum, I tried limiting most of my outings to just four hours so that I could be home in time to pump, but in the end, I decided that packing a bag full of gear was more sustainable than adhering to a four-hour curfew.

After almost six months of pumping, I can pack with my eyes closed. New to pumping and not sure what to prepare when you’re going out? My tips below:

Which breast pump should I bring?
IMAGE: 123RF

Which breast pump should I bring?

While hospital-grade pumps might be the most effective at expressing milk, some of the popular models, like the Spectra S1+, are the size of a small coconut. Other models don’t have an external battery, so you’ll need to pump in a room with a power outlet.

While I can’t recommend any specific brands, as breast pump preference varies among users, what I would recommend is investing in a small portable or wearable pump that you can use while pumping on the go.

What’s the difference between a portable and a wearable pump?

Portable pumps might still require you to use a pumping bra and traditional flanges, while wearable pumps can be discreetly inserted into your usual bra, giving you a truly hands-free, mobile experience – perfect if you foresee yourself pumping while driving or while sitting in meetings at work.

The downside is that wearable pumps can be a little finicky: you need to align them just right, otherwise the suction will pump nothing but air. Since wearable pumps can be worn with your usual flanges, they’re not as finicky, but they’re definitely more visible.

Of course, you can consider investing in both - most women I know own more than one pump - but this gets expensive, so evaluate your lifestyle needs before buying. Initially, I invested in a wearable pump, but ended up selling it after getting frustrated by how poorly my body responded to it (half the time I put it on, I’d have to adjust the alignment so that the milk would start flowing). At any rate, I don’t drive, and my office provides a nursing room, so it’s not like I need to pump at my desk or in the car.

What about milk storage? IMAGE: 123RF

What about breast milk storage?

You need to make sure your freshly-expressed breast milk stays, well, fresh, since it can last only three to four hours at room temperature (many experts often recommend four, but I’d keep it to three in Singapore’s weather).

Store it in the fridge. A viable solution if your office has one. Just make sure you remember to bring your milk home at the end of the day!

Prepare milk bags or bottles, a cooler bag, and ice packs. Whether you’re transporting milk on a long commute or toting it around during an outing at the mall, you’ll need something to keep it cool on the go. A small insulated bag and reusable ice packs can be purchased for cheap on e-commerce sites, but you can also consider using a freezable cooler bag - Packit produces them in various sizes - to save yourself the effort (and weight) of ice packs.

Alternatively, invest in a Ceres Chill. As someone who dislikes the bulkiness of cooler bags, I was thrilled to discover the Ceres Chill, which is a tumbler that keeps breast milk cool for over 20 hours. Chucking this into my bag is akin to packing an extra water bottle. Plus, I can pour my expressed breast milk into it directly - no need to store it in bottles and milk bags! The price of a Ceres Chill is a major con, and some people don’t like having yet another thing to wash along with bottles and pump parts, but the fact that I can easily slot my Ceres Chill into my usual weekend bag makes the investment worth it.

IMAGE: 123RF

How do I clean my breast pump parts between sessions?

Chances are, you’ll need to pump more than once on long outings or at work. While some people’s offices are fortuitously outfitted with hot water dispensers, clean sinks, and UV sterilisers, most of us are not so lucky. And anyway, all of us have to consider what to do when we’re out at non-office settings for more than six hours or so. Some options:

Use the “fridge hack”. If you’re comfortable, and if you have a healthy, full-term baby, you can consider storing your pump parts either in a sealed bag inside the fridge or inside your freezable lunch bag between uses. The cold temperature helps prevent the growth of bacteria, meaning you can reuse your pump parts without washing and sterilising them until you get home.
Use breast pump wipes. Not comfortable with the fridge hack? Use unscented, alcohol-free pump wipes to clean your parts between each use.
Invest in a portable UV steriliser bag. If you want to be extra hygienic, and you don’t mind packing yet another bag, you can use a UV steriliser bag to disinfect your parts within minutes on the go. These aren’t cheap, but they’re also a great solution for when you’re traveling abroad while pumping.

Do I need a special pumping bag?

Let me be honest: no. I spent a pretty penny on a bag that included a pocket large enough for a Spectra S1+, but joke’s on me because I ended up only using that pump at home. How to store breast pump parts between uses? The breast pump industry might tempt you with bags that come with a sleeve for your laptop, insulated pockets for milk, and special compartments to keep all your pump parts organised, but since equipment for pumping is expensive enough as it is, I’d encourage you to try using your existing bags first. They likely come with all the pockets, compartments, and space that you need, just without the designations for pump parts.

Other things you might need to pack for pumping breast milk outside the home. IMAGE: 123RF

Other things you might need to pack:

A pumping bra. Not using a wearable pump? Unless you plan to hold your flanges for the duration of your pumping session, remember to pack a pumping bra to keep your flanges in place.
A nursing cover. Nursing room not available? If you’re concerned about modesty, you can consider pumping under a nursing cover.
Tissue and wet wipes. Spills happen, especially when you’re using a wearable pump! I can’t tell you the number of times I ended up soaked after I removed the pump from my bra.

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