Taking Care of your Breast Pump

While human milk has a lot of protective qualities, it is important to take precautions to keep it bacteria free. Most pump equipment should be rinsed out with clean water and stored where it can dry. A cleansing solution provided by the pump company should be okay, but regular soap can give the baby diarrhea. Be sure to clean the area well where the milk comes in contact. Be sure to wash your hands before pumping, too! At least once a week you should wash it thoroughly, preferably in the dishwasher. There you have a non-sudsing detergent, and the high temperatures reached in the dishwasher are important.

Hospital grade pumps are required to have a safety valve that does not allow milk to regurgitate (backflow) into the pump.Each patient has her own disposable kit, so that each kit is cleaned by that woman. These kits can be used multiple times by a woman, with cleanings after each use, but they can't be used by more than one woman. The only thing that is necessary to clean the pump is to wipe the pump off with the standard cleaning solution that the hospital provides for other multi-patient use equipment. This is a standard procedure in hospitals; you don't need to do any more cleaning beyond this.