Can You Use a Breast Pump While Pregnant?

There is a lot conflicting information on whether it’s safe to use a breast pump while pregnant. You might be wondering – what are the concerns with pumping while pregnant? Can you keep exclusively pumping if you become pregnant again, or do you need to wean? Will pumping while pregnant help your milk supply after your baby is born?

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When I was exclusively pumping for my first baby, I got pregnant again. He was already 14 months old, and I’d been very gradually weaning. Because it was my understanding that pumping while pregnant wasn’t safe, I finished weaning pretty quickly after getting the positive test.

But was this really necessary? Is it safe to pump while you’re pregnant?

Why would using a breast pump while pregnant be considered unsafe?

When your nipples are stimulated (by a baby, or by a breast pump) a hormone called oxytocin is released. Oxytocin causes the breast tissue to contract, resulting in your breast milk letting down.

This hormone also stimulates the uterus to contract. The concern with pumping during pregnancy is that these uterine contractions might trigger pre-term labor.

To support this theory, one 2005 study found that 37.8% of 719 full-term, pregnant women who were randomly directed to stimulate their nipples went into labor over the following three days, as compared to 6.4% of the women who were not.

Therefore, nipple stimulation may have some impact on inducing labor in full-term pregnant women.

But isn’t nursing is considered safe during healthy pregnancies?

Yes. In a healthy, low-risk pregnancy, nursing your child is considered safe. From the American Pregnancy Association:

Many women worry about breastfeeding while pregnant as breastfeeding can cause mild uterine contractions. However, in a healthy pregnancy, these contractions are not a concern, as they generally do not cause preterm labor. This is because oxytocin, the hormone released during breastfeeding that stimulates contractions, is usually released in such a small amount during breastfeeding that is not enough to cause preterm labor.

How is a low risk pregnancy defined by the APA?

• You’re not carrying multiples
• You’re not bleeding or having uterine pain
• Your provider hasn’t advised you not to have sex
• Your provider hasn’t told you that you are at risk for preterm labor or that you are high-risk

What’s the difference between nursing and pumping during low-risk pregnancies?

So if nursing is considered safe, why isn’t pumping? What’s the difference?

I’m not sure, but one theory I have is that mothers have been nursing during pregnancy for hundreds of years out of necessity, but electric breast pumps are much newer. With the availability of formula, there isn’t much incentive to study the safely of using breast pumps during pregnancy, and there are significant liability concerns.

Another guess is that with nursing, there are natural limits from the baby on the amount of time spent pumping as well as suction strength, while these don’t exist with pumping.

What do the experts suggest?

Here’s what Kellymom has to say:

It is often stated that a woman should not use a breastpump when pregnant. However, there is considerable reason to believe that pumping, like breastfeeding, will not trigger preterm labor in a healthy pregnancy.

She states that working moms should be able to continue to pump as the same as they did before they became pregnant again:

If you are pumping to provide milk for your current nursling when you are separated, this should not pose more of a problem than breastfeeding… Aim to keep your pumping in scale with what you were doing before pregnancy, or in scale with your baby’s normal breastfeeding. Sustained and intense pumping is more of an unknown and is not recommended.

My recommendation is to call your provider when you find out that you are pregnant and discuss whether it makes sense for you to pump during pregnancy, given your personal history.

Will pumping while you are pregnant help your milk supply after your baby’s birth?

No, pumping while pregnant for your unborn baby will not affect your milk supply after birth.

How should you pump while you are pregnant?

Assuming you’re given the okay from your provider to pump, how should you do it?

If you’re pumping earlier in pregnancy for an older child

If you are a working or exclusively pumping mom and have been given the all-clear to continue pumping, I would suggest continuing to pump as you did before, being careful to not exceed the amount of time that you pumped in the past, and to not use higher settings.

If you’re harvesting colostrum later in pregnancy

If this is your first baby or you are not breastfeeding a baby currently, you want to harvest colostrum, and have been given the go-ahead by your doctor, I would suggest using a milk catcher hand pump like the Haakaa. You can just suction these pumps onto your breast, and it will gently pull out any colostrum you have.

Another option can try is hand expression – it’s a great skill to have after your baby is born!

Bottom line: If you’re having a low-risk pregnancy, it’s probably safe to use a breast pump while pregnant, but always talk to your provider first.

More on getting ready for breastfeeding and pumping here.

References

1. American Pregnancy Association. “Breastfeeding While Pregnant.” https://americanpregnancy.org/breastfeeding/breastfeeding-while-pregnant/
2. Bonyata, Kelly, IBCLC. “Is it safe to use a breastpump during pregnancy?” https://kellymom.com/tandem-faq/05pumping/
3. Medela. “The Science Behind Pumping to Induce Labor.” https://www.medelabreastfeedingus.com/article/282/the-science-behind-pumping-to-induce-labor