Engorgement can be a very painful thing to go through.  As you are going through the process of drying up your breast milk, you feel like the pain of the engorgement will never go away.  I was lucky enough to breast pump for my baby girl for over a year; however, before that I attempted to breastfeed my son for well over a couple of week with no luck.

Because of the severe pain of the engorged breasts that I experienced as I tried to stop breastfeeding, a lactation consultant suggested that I rent a hospital-grade breast pump to both alleviate the pain and get some breast milk for the baby.  My first exposure to this rental breast pump was very good.   It helped tremendously with the pain of my engorged breast, yet being well over a decade ago, how to breast pump exclusively was still almost a mystery.  Therefore, I really only used the breast pump to keep the engorgement pain to a minimum.

Today, we are much luckier with the excessive amount of information, supplies AND variety of breast pumps that though we may have trouble bringing baby to breast this does not mean that we cannot provide our babies with our breast milk.

Every mom, whether they are breast pumping or bringing baby to breast should come home from the hospital with at a manual pump.  Every mom will go through engorged breasts when your breast milk finally comes in and you and baby get on a good schedule.  Having the breast pump around to help during those times of engorgement will help. Even if you are bringing baby to breast, manual pumping a little extra milk in the first days will help to keep the pain down.

(Yes, 56% of New Moms Go Back to Work in 3 Months or Less)

1. The more time you spend with your baby, before your return to work, the better.  This may sound like a no brainer, but life for moms in the 21st century is incredibly demanding, especially during the recession. Also, moms are returning to work earlier, since the recession began.  80% of the job losses in the last 12 months are attributed to men, forcing some new moms to cut their maternity leave even shorter than usual, to make ends meet in the family budget.
It takes 6 to 8 weeks to get a good milk supply going. Unfortunately, that is also the typical maternity leave.
So, let’s talk about how to get that good milk supply set, so you can return to work with confidence.
2. Your breast pump choice is important.  If you have healthcare insurance, your breast pump purchase or/and breast pump rental may be covered.  This saves a nice chunk of change if your insurance does pay for a pump and they may even cover the cost of a rental to get started.
Here are some questions you can ask your insurance company, before you have your baby.

• 1. Find out if your insurance coverage will cover the cost of a breast pump.
  2. Does medical necessity need to be determined for the coverage to apply? (Is your baby sick/preemie?)
  3. Is prior authorization required? If so, what are the steps in the process?
  4. Does the coverage cover a purchase or/and a rental? Is there only a specific brand that is covered?
  5. What is the maximum benefit? Does a deductible have to be met first? Will there be a co-pay?
  6. Is a time or dollar limit set?

If allowed by your insurer, a rental breast pump is a great way to start.  But, if not, many pumps on the market today do a fantastic job, too.  Do some research before you buy, though. Price is not the best indicator of quality with breast pumps. And a cheap breast pump could be very frustrating.  Check our website for product comparisons and review other sites as well.  This is an important purchase for a mom going back to work.

Tomorrow, let’s continue the “10 Tips for Making Pumping Work – At Work”