Breastmilk collectors

Breastfeeding is a big marketing opportunity these days. There’s something you can buy for just about everything, but is it really necessary?

Breastfeeding is the physiologically normal way to feed a human baby. It’s what the body is designed for, it’s what the baby is primed for at birth. We have everything we need pretty much built into us to make it work. If breastfeeding didn’t work, the human race would have died out years ago!

I’m not saying that families don’t need support for breastfeeding. Some do. But that’s not because our bodies aren’t “right”, it’s more because of the way society is these days. We don’t grow up seeing breastfeeding - so how would we know what it looks like or how it works? We don’t tend to have our babies while we are surrounded by close and extended family. So the support to look after the birthing parent, the mother, isn’t there, so she’s trying to get back to normal life within days of giving birth, rather than recovering and nurturing her baby, while those around her nurture her. Society does not support breastfeeding.

When a baby feeds, they trigger a letdown reflex that ejects the milk from the breast. When this happens, milk drips from both breasts. That’s the way it’s always worked. That’s normal and expected. It is not a problem, there is nothing wrong with it. Breast pads can be used to soak up the milk. A little pressure against the breast can also slow the milk. Often, it only drips for a short while and then stops. It’s possible to buy disposable and reusable breast pads, or you can make your own from any fabric you feel comfortable with.

But now there is a whole array of products you can buy instead, to collect the milk. The idea of collecting the milk is, in itself, not the worst idea I’ve heard, but the constant marketing and advertising of products to collect milk makes it seem as though this is something that has to be done, and that to not do so is somehow wasteful and wrong. It creates a level of anxiety and pressure. Milk must be collected. Milk must not be wasted. You MUST have milk in your freezer. YOU MUST!!!

But why?

Your milk will drip. It will stop dripping. Some mothers leak milk throughout their breastfeeding journey, no matter how long it is. Some mothers never leak at all… oh no! What should those mother’s do? They can’t collect milk for the freezer! Maybe something is wrong with those women… hmmm… is that creating some anxiety?

You see, dripping milk is normal for some women. Not dripping milk is normal for other women. It’s just what happens. It doesn’t have to be saved. But some people came up with the idea of creating a plastic “breast pad” that doesn’t soak up the milk, and called it a breastmilk collector. They’ve then added some clever marketing and emotive words around it, telling us that we MUST save this precious milk, otherwise who knows what might happen!

By all means, save the milk if you want to, but you don’t have to - and if you do decide to collect and save your milk, know that in doing so, you may create other problems for yourself and your supply (see next paragraph). It’s not bad or wrong to let your body drip milk into a breast pad, you are not a negligent mother if you don’t save that milk. You don’t have to buy a piece of silicone or plastic.

For some mothers these gadgets cause problems… over supply, blocked ducts, even mastitis. If the mother gets thrush on her breasts, then milk collectors (and anything else that is used on the breast) needs to be boil sterilised as other sterilising methods don’t work that well for thrush. Milk collectors are not always comfortable or discreet to use, so don’t make it so easy when feeding out of the house.

Don’t feel you need to collect your milk. You don’t. If you want to, go for it. But do it with knowledge of how the milk collector works, and any risks that might be associated with it. If you need to express milk because your supply is low, and it genuinely needs a boost, or you are going back to work or study, then you will probably do far better by using a decent breastpump. There’s more on that topic here: Expressing Information Sheet — Denise Ives and Going back to work or study - PDF download — Denise Ives.

If you want to talk about what might work best for you and your pēpē, get in touch for a chat. Milk collectors have their place. But that place is not with everyone who has a baby.