Washing your Pump
At Work
You may have trouble finding a good place to wash your pump
while you are at work - or you may find that washing takes too
much time. But the best part about washing your pump at work is
that you don't have to! Breastmilk has wonderful antibacterial
properties, and shows no significant bacterial growth after
almost a full day at room temperature. I'm not saying to just
leave your pump parts sitting out, but you'll be fine if you
just wipe the drops of milk off with a paper towel or tissue,
then stick the horns, bottles and tubing in a bag in the fridge,
or place the whole works in a cooler pack. This is just about
the biggest time saver for a W&P mom.
Disclaimer: There are
no known studies stating that the flanges of a breastpump do not
show bacterial grown after being refrigerated all day. However,
it is my non-professional opinion that it is OK to do this. Just
my opinion - you decide. Laurie - whenever you're ready, I'll
write a proposal to LLL and we can start the study!
At Home
At home, you should wash the flanges, valves and collection
bottles thoroughly each night. Again, because of breastmilk's
antibacterial properties, sterilization is not necessary. If
your water temperature is at least 140 F, you can wash the parts
in the dishwasher (or if your dishwasher has a heated cycle,
just use that). In fact, many moms run the dishwasher every
night, even if all it has in it is pump parts, just to save
time.
If you're not washing them in the dishwasher, hot soapy water
does the trick. I used to sterilize the whole kit in boiling
water once a week on the weekend, just to make sure it was
totally clean.
Tubing
If you have milk back up into the tubing and need to wash the
tubes, wash them in hot soapy water, rinse well, then boil to
sterilize (since you wash them so rarely, they should be
sterilized). To get rid of condensation in the tubes or to dry
after washing them, drip some rubbing alcohol in one end, then
go outside and whirl the tubes around over your head until the
alcohol comes out the other end. Once the alcohol evaporates,
the tubes will stay dry inside.
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