Power Pumping with the Willow Pump
What is Power Pumping?
Power pumping is a popular intervention designed to boost milk production. The idea with power pumping is to replace a typical pump session of 30 minutes with a pattern of pumping followed by rest, followed by more pumping for about an hour.
Pump. Rest. Pump. Rest. Pump. Rest.
Power Pumping works to increase milk supply by triggering numerous increases in prolactin over the course of the hour to trigger higher future milk production.
You can read more about Power Pumping and Cluster Pumping to decide if these strategies are right for you here.
Challenges with Power Pumping:
The biggest challenge with Power Pumping is the time commitment required to make this work. Regular pump sessions are already challenging to manage for many parents, so extended pump sessions required for power pumping can be overwhelming. Because of this, there is an increased desire for pumping parents to utilize wearable pumps to help reduce the burden of power pumping to allow them more opportunities to use this strategy to increase milk supply.
Power Pumping with the Willow Pump:
The Willow Pump is highly desirable for power pumping. It fits in the bra and can be used with leak free bags. Of all the pumps available on the market, this pump has the highest potential to make power pumping a reasonable intervention for more pumping parents.
The challenge is that the very features of the Willow Pump that make it appealing to use for Power Pumping are the features that you need to carefully consider before trying this.
Constant Suction:
The Willow Pump places the nipple under constant suction is not exactly easy on nipple tissue. Using the Willow for power pumping would mean having your nipples under constant suction for up to an hour, which for some people may be just too long to do safely. That length of time can encourage the nipple to stretch and swell even further than the a standard pump session with the Willow could, and this poses a risk for tissue damage.
One strategy to protect the nipples during power pumping is to keep the Willow Pump in place, in the bra, but to break the latch by reaching into the bra, and using a finger to release the latch by pressing at the edge of the nipple gently while the pump is paused. You want to be learning forward when doing this so that any milk in the flextube gets sucked up during the flip-to-finish suction.
If your Willow is properly fitted and supported, the latch will break, but the nipple will remain in place. There shouldn’t be leaking as the nipple is tightly fit to the flange and should block any milk.
The risk with this is if the latch isn’t properly broken, the nipple could shift, and then, when the pump is turned back on, the nipple may be misaligned causing tissue trauma. The Willow unlatched can easily shift in the bra and increase this risk even if the suction is gently broken without shifting at that time.
Swelling:
The swelling from the extended use of the Willow Pump during a power pump is more likely to cause swelling of the nipple, and swollen tissue is more prone to breakdown and damage. As the skin thins from breakdown, the chance of causing blisters goes up significantly.
The bags that make the Willow leak free and are so desirable for power pumping can also pose a challenge as power pumping increases the opportunities to have the bags filled with air. This could require you to let the air out of the bag in order to keep pumping. Pumping bags out is the easiest way to address this as you can let the air out without removing the entire pump.
If power pumping requires you to fully unlatch the Willow, there is a possibility that your nipple may not nicely fit back into the flange based on the tight fit required for the Willow to work for most people.
Is the Willow Pump a Great Option for Power Pumping?
In my professional opinion….not really. It can certainly be done with the Willow Pump, and some people can do it successfully.
For others, though, they may find it damages their nipples and presents complications that reduce the advantages of the Willow Pump to almost nothing.
When I am working with a client to improve milk supply who uses the Willow Pump, power pumping with this pump is very low on the list of things I look to try.
Here is a list of things I look at first:
Pumping Frequency: Often, pumping frequency can be used to increase supply versus power pumping, and Willow is a great way to make pumping frequency more feasible.
Flange Fit: It’s possible for flanges to feel fine and still not be optimal for optimal nipple stimulation.
Other Pumps: Options to add in pumps with a more effective pump may prove to increase milk more than the Willow Pump which trades a strong and efficient motor for portability.
Other Causes: Underlying causes of milk supply concerns that can inhibit milk production and won’t be addressed by pumping more often or adding a power pump.
Power Pumping with the Willow is one of the last things I look at because the risks are a serious concern, and I have not found it to be the best option to support milk production.
But, if you want to try it, please try it very carefully! To review:
Here are the Tips to Protect your Nips:
Optimize your pump routine before considering this.
Check, double check, and triple check your sizing. Power pumping with a bad flange fit is almost certain to do damage.
Break the latch so your nipple isn’t under suction during the rest periods.
Watch alignment so you don’t do any damage.
Watch for excessive swelling.
Consider bags out so you can reduce the air in the bags without removing the whole pump, which is high risk for damaging the nipples.
