I am an expert breast pumper and pumped for my daughter for over a year and know the best products out there (if you have any questions about what works best, please contact to me to chat about it)
Home ›› Breast Pumping FAQ's
Sometimes if you push your breasts too hard when trying to express breast milk, you end up with sore nipples that may become cracked, painful and they may even bleed. Take heart - there are several remedies that should help you out.
- First of all, use nipple creams. (Get information about nipple creams). You probably received a tube of this with your breast pumping equipment. Lanolin is great for keeping your sore nipples from cracking and bleeding. Do not use soap, lotions, etc. on your nipples. Clear water is sufficient to clean your nipples, and soap can make the cracking much worse.
- Another thing that you can do is to slow down the suction on your breast pump. Because we sometimes get anxious and decide that we need to pump as much breast milk as fast as we can, there may be a tendency to use a higher setting than we should. Assuming your breast pump lets you change settings, you should begin at the highest suction that is comfortable. As you breast pump, you will increase the suction while slowing down the speed. This actually simulates the way a baby would suck. Rule of thumb - if it hurts, something is wrong and a change is in order.
- If you begin to have pink milk, it is because of blood in your breast milk. Can you still give it to your baby? Yes, the blood won’t hurt your baby, and the pumping can continue. You just need to be sure you get the cracked nipple problem under control as soon as possible for mom’s sake.
