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I’m going to start out by saying that pumping at work sucks. Pumping anywhere sucks.  I know I’d much rather be at home with my sweet baby and nursing him rather than have to hook myself up to a machine. But sometimes you just have to suck it up and pump. Between pumping at work for both of my kids, I have found a few things that make life so much easier. Here are my tips for pumping at work including why I think everyone should buy Freemie Collection Cups to make pumping so much easier.

Pack a Yummy Snack and A Bottle of Water

After I turn the pump on and make sure everything is all good, I do two things right away: chug a bunch of water and eat a snack. When you are breastfeeding, you need to make sure to stay hydrated. I figure chugging a bunch of water while I am pumping helps my milk production. I also like to eat a good, healthy snack. Sometimes I even pack a little square of chocolate or something to make it extra special.

Get Everything Ready Before You Turn On the Pump

Pumping at work is even easier if you have everything ready to go before hand. I assemble as much of the pump as possible before I even leave for work in the morning. Then when I go in the room to pump, I set everything out so that when I am done, I can easily clean up. Having everything in the right place makes pumping less stressful.

So what do I get ready? Well at home, I:

• Assemble the pump bottles. (or the Freemie collection cups that I use now. Keep reading to learn more about those.)
• Pack yummy snacks.
• Make sure to grab the ice pack for the milk.
• Plug in the tubing and plugin so they are ready.

At work before I pump, I:

• Plug in the pump.
• Set out my snacks and water.
• Get my insulated bag with the ice pack ready.
• Get the empty bottles ready to pour the milk in after pumping.
• Set out a towel to put my pump things on after I use them.

Having everything ready really helps keep the stress level down which, in turn, makes pumping a lot easier.

Bring Something to Do

This is a great time to get some reading or something done. While I pumped for my first child, I would listen to relaxing music on Spotify and now I listen to podcasts. I also bring along a book to read or sometimes I scroll through my phone. I have actually gotten some writing done, either in the Notes section of my phone or on actual paper.

Invest to Make Pumping at Work Easier

So hopefully everyone knows that you should be able to get a breastpump for free through your health insurance. I got the standard Medela Pump In Style On the Go Tote. I’m going to guess that most people will get something similar to this. It is a good pump, at least it has worked for me through two kids so far. But I was wanting a way to make pumping easier. So I took to the internet and found what I was looking for.

First, let me tell you what I was looking for and why I needed it. Right now, I work part-time, three hours a day. When I am there, it is go, go, go. I did manage to carve out 20 minutes of time to pump, but I needed to make sure I could do it as efficiently as possible. So I wanted something that was as hands-free as possible so that I could eat and do other work while I was pumping. Enter the Freemie Collection Cups.

As Close to Hands Free as You Can Get While on a Budget

Now, the Freemie Collection Cups aren’t truly hands-free. You have to hook them up to your pump bag, but the great thing is that you don’t have to undress to use it. When I pumped for the first kid, I’d basically have to undress to put on a “pumping tube top” I had fashioned to try to make it easier to pump. It served its purpose, but wasn’t fun to do. (And yes, I could’ve bought one of those pumping bras, but they were expensive and being on a budget, it just seemed like too much to spend on something I wasn’t going to use except for pumping at work.)

No More Having to Hunch Over and Hold Them

The other problem is that I was really, really tired of having to hunch over so that the milk flowed down into the bottles and holding them on so that they actually worked well. The Freemie Collection Cups solved those problems too. See, after you hook them up to the pump, you just slip them right into your regular shirt and bra. You don’t have to hold them on, your bra does that for you. (And my regular nursing bra is stretchy enough to hold them, but I’ve read that some ladies like to wear a sports bra to use them.) And you don’t have to hunch over. You just sit up straight and let the pump do its thing. That way, I have two hands free to read a book, eat a snack, or do whatever I’d like to do while I wait for the time to be over.

Please forgive the terrible lighting in the room where I pump, but as you can I tucked the tubes in and if I threw on a scarf or something, you would hardly be able to tell I was pumping. In fact, if I had a job where I had my own cubicle or office, I would probably pump right there at my desk.

Yeah, But Don’t They Leak?

Nope, they don’t. I have not had them leak yet. I will say that you do need to make sure to push the pieces together until they click so that they won’t leak.

Tips to Use Them

1. Make sure you position them so that the tubes are coming directly out of the top of the cups. If they are tilted, then milk may run up into the tubing.
2. Look through the instructions. There are several parts that you want to make sure you put together correctly. Don’t worry, after you do it once or twice, it is easy to remember how to do it.
3. Practice pouring the milk out of the spout. It can be a little tricky to pour it into a bottle or other container, but it just takes a little practice to perfect.

Click to see (and buy) the Freemie Collection Cups on Amazon.

So, did I miss anything? What do you do to make pumping at work easier?