If you find yourself constantly at the sink washing your breast pump parts? You aren’t alone, many mom’s who use a breast pump several times a day find themselves at the kitchen sink on a regular basis. In fact, they often times find themselves washing the flanges and valves several times a day. If you constantly have your hands in hot and soapy water several times a day can leave your hands feeling rough, dry, and cracked. Use these suggestions and tips to help reduce the number of times a day that you have your hands in the kitchen sink. It is important that your parts are clean and have a chance to air dry before you use them.
Disclosure: This post is for information purposes only. The opinions reflected in this post are based upon my own experiences.
Storing Breast Pump Parts and Accessories While You Are At Work
When you return to work, you may not have access to a clean sink, which leaves you unable to wash the flanges and valves off between pumping sessions. If you are in this situation, you can store your parts in the refrigerator. The refrigerator will keep the parts from growing bacteria until you are ready to use them again. The parts can be placed inside a ziplock bag or in an air tight container, so that other people don’t touch them while they are not in use or for other’s to get their germs, bacteria, or stuff on them. This is also a great way to store the parts if you aren’t comfortable just rinsing them off between pumping sessions.
Rinsing Breast Pump Parts and Accessories
If you are comfortable just rinsing off your breast pump parts and accessories using hot water while you are at work. This will wash all of the milk off of the valves and flanges. Milk sometimes collects inside the valves and milk could end up spoiling. If there is a clean sink that you can safely rinse off your parts in, besides a bathroom, this would be sufficient to clean the your breast pump parts. Always, dry them off with paper towels to the best of your ability. If possible shake the flanges into the sink to help remove any water stuck in the valves. Then place them into your pump bag or on a clean surface near your breast pump. Once you get home from work, wash your parts in soapy water so that your stuff can be sanitized and cleaned for the next day.