- I'm a mom of four, and I exclusively breastfed all of them when they were babies.
- I don't like being hooked to a pump to empty my breasts after a feed.
As a mom of four who's exclusively breastfed all my babies, I must admit that I struggled to breastfeed every single one of them. It felt like I was learning for the first time with each one. It wasn't until the third baby that I learned about a device that made breastfeeding more manageable.
While my breastfeeding journey was unique for each baby, the engorgement that came with it was not. In those first few weeks, your breast supplies more milk than your baby needs. As time goes on, your milk regulates based on how often you pump or feed your baby at the breast.
Those first few weeks can be painful because your breasts contain more milk than your baby eats. I remember feeding my baby on one breast while the other rapidly filled up.
I remember feeling frustrated as my baby would fall asleep on one breast, knowing they wouldn't be interested in the other throbbing, engorged breast that desperately needed to be emptied. Whenever that happen, I'd have to put my baby down in their crib and stay up for another 15 to 20 minutes to get set up with my electric pump to relieve the pain.
When running on little sleep, losing any minutes of rest is a big deal. But all this changed once I learned about the Haakaa.
It's a pump that doesn't require electricity or batteries
The Haakaa is a manual silicon pump that expresses your breast milk using the power of vacuum suction. It's lightweight, and the best thing about it is that you can pump one breast while the baby eats from the other, without being attached to any chords. It's affordable, easy to clean, easy to use, and easy to transport.
By pumping one breast while I fed the baby on the other, I eliminated extra pumping sessions, which gave me back a ton of time. It also pumped out more milk than my electric pumps, and I was able to get about 2 to 3 ounces of milk each time I used it.
It didn't give me an oversupply as other pumps did
No matter how much milk your breasts produce, the Haakaa is still an excellent device. Unlike milk catchers that only catch the milk that drips, the Haakaa uses suction to express the milk. So regardless of whether you're leaking or not, the Haakaa can still pump out milk.
I only used the Haakaa in those first few weeks when my milk supply was at its highest. Once I had a good enough backup stash and found my breasts were regulating more, I then slowly weaned off using the Haakaa. For example, if I used the Haakaa for four feeding sessions a day, I'd reduce that to three feeding sessions for a few days, then two, and so on. It's essential to wean off each pumping session slowly to regulate your breast milk adequately.
Chrissy Horton is a mom of four with an education in early childhood development who helps moms prepare for their pregnancy and motherhood journey.