Cover the Breast Pump Bottle With Baby Sock
Expressing breast milk can be frustrating, especially if you are not producing large quantities of it. I sat there, attached to my Williams-Sonoma (trademarked Tina Fey ) tit juicer, watching, waiting, wanting and hoping the liquid gold would pour out. Um, at any moment.
But as we have learned, the watched pot never boils, or in this case, the watched breast pump bottle never refills. In general, it’s a good idea to stop looking at milk, or lack thereof. Looking at the slow, sad trickle only makes you more nervous, and stress has been shown to negatively affect food supplies .
An easy way to fight off the urge to follow your progress: Slip a baby sock over your pump bottle.
Breastfeeding Consultant Joanna Sarjeant shares this hack on Facebook:
Baby socks feel perfect because 1) they fit snugly around the bottle, 2) they can smell like your baby (some say holding something that reminds you of your baby is good for you while pumping), and 3) if your the house is a bit like I have these tiny things all over the place. Slip it over the bottle, start pumping, and relax as best you can. (Maybe watch this adorable “baby talk” a few times – it’s great.) As Sargent writes, some women report that they have “two to three times more milk when they mentally exclude themselves from the results of a pumping session.”
Know that there are many reasons why you might be low on milk – or just believe so – and solutions you can try. A bottle sock won’t work for everyone, but if it calms you down a bit, it won’t hurt.