The Willow Pump Honeymoon Period

Honeymoons are vacations typically taken in celebration of a new marriage. The whole idea is to take off and escape from the real world to celebrate this new union. Honeymoons are a good thing… Unless it’s a Willow Pump Honeymoon… Then, it’s a recipe for disaster just waiting to strike.

What is a Willow Pump Honeymoon?

When we say the Willow Pump Honeymoon, what we are referring to is the tendency of someone to start off with the Willow Pump with poorly sized flanges with unexpected fantastic success! They pop on this wearable wonder, find they get their full amount with no discomfort, and they are elated!

Who wouldn’t be??

Except, it’s not long-term, real world, success. It’s a temporary reprieve until the consequences of pumping using a constant suction pump with poor sizing hits like a ton of bricks.

Typically, we see posts in support groups where parents are perplexed and frustrated that, with no apparent warning, what was once comfortable, is suddenly painful. What was once great output has dwindled to failing to empty the breast.

It’s emotionally taxing for these parents because pumping is hard work, and the honeymoon period had them thinking this was their miracle answer. And now, they have a huge hill to climb to get back to successful pumping, even steeper than if they had worked the steps correctly by sizing, and then, working the adjustment protocol if needed.

What do you do if you find yourself a victim of the Willow Pump Honeymoon?

It’s actually fairly simple. You need to get your nipples back in good pain-free shape so that you can start off with healthy, undamaged tissue to be sized and start working your adjustment period. Once you get to the point of it being safe to start using Willow Pump again, often you find there is a period where the body simply doesn’t respond for a few days before recognizing the constant suction as something to let-down for again, but we already know your body can respond to this suction, so the adjustment period is normally 2-3 weeks in these cases.

But, you have to get your nipples back in shape. If you Hoovered them down a wind tunnel in your honeymoon leaving them swollen and angry, it’s simply not realistic to jump right back to pumping with the Willow until this is resolved. Luckily, nipples are resilient, and with a little TLC, you can get back to a good starting point.

How can you avoid the Honeymoon altogether?

Take the time to size properly first.

Even if you decide to ignore the sizing recommendations I make, and opt to follow Willow’s direct recommendations which run several millimeters larger than what we have seen to work, the Honeymoon is almost always related to flanges 4 millimeters or bigger from the base nipple size. It’s even worse for those who were using overly large standard flanges that had already created puffiness. That type of size discrepancy simply creates enough room for a Honeymoon, which is fun while it lasts, but unpacking after is painful.

If you are getting ready to use your Willow Pump, go to this page for all the details about how to start off right.

You can also skip the DIY approach and book a session today for professional sizing so you can get straight to happy pumping the first try!