How to get the most out of your pumping session using Night Owl Wearable Breast Pumps!
Struggling to make sense of it all? No need to worry! Here's everything you need to know about your wearable breast pump to maximise your output during your pumping sessions.
Generally, the main 2 modes you'll be using are massage mode and expression.
Massage mode, also known as letdown mode (stimulation mode on Mumma Owl pumps), is a feature on all of our breast pumps.
Massage mode closely mimics the fast, fluttering suckling that a baby does to stimulate your milk flow (letdown). This means that your breast pump will suck and release at more cycles per minute than in expression mode. Many pumping mamas rely on this quicker speed to simulate letdown.
Once letdown is achieved in massage mode, many women switch to expression mode where they can get a slower, but more intense suction speed. This is based on the slow, steady suck-and-swallow pattern that your baby will do during a good milk flow. Once milk flow slows, you can switch back to massage mode to stimulate another letdown.
Expression mode, also known as pumping mode, is also a feature on all of our breast pumps.
In expression mode, the vacuum suction / pressure increases as the cycles per minute decrease. This means the sucks are much slower, and deeper. The higher the setting, the more intense and slower the pulls. This mode is focused on removing as much milk as possible after your milk lets down.
Lots of mums think that the higher they set the strength, the more milk they’ll get. However, if you put the suction at a level that is painful for you, this can actually reduce the amount of milk that you pump, because pain can inhibit letdowns and cause nipple damage.
On the other hand, having the strength set too low will make it harder for you to effectively empty your breasts. To get the right strength for you, we recommend increasing the strength up until you start to feel a bit of discomfort, and then decreasing it one notch so that it’s comfortable.
We also recommend starting in letdown mode, and then once you see your milk start flowing, switch to expression mode. After your letdown finishes, you'll be back to getting drops. You may want to try to get another letdown using massage mode to see if there is any more milk to get out.
Comment any other tips that have worked for you below!
Happy Pumping! xx