One of the biggest problems that I had with middle of the night pumping sessions was getting back to sleep afterwards. I’d feed the baby, pump, clean everything up, and go back to bed – and lie awake, thinking about how I only had two hours to sleep before getting up to do it all again. If you’re in the same boat, one thing that might help you go back to sleep is keeping the lights low while you pump! There is a special light for pumping flanges called Lactalites that allow you to pump in the dark so you can still see what you’re doing.
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The owner and creator of Lactalites, Patrick O’Malley, was nice enough to answer some of my questions about how they work.
What gave you the idea to create the Lactalite?
When our son was born and my wife was pumping, I could quickly see how stressful this was. One afternoon, I had come home from work and Kelly was in our room sitting on the recliner pumping. Even though it was light out, our room wasn’t very well lit and she was using her cellphone light to see if she was expressing anything.
I just had a lightbulb go off in my head, so I went to the garage and found an old foam “pool noodle.” I cut a small piece of foam out so that it would fit into the back end of the breast shield and then put a small thumb light into the foam. It fit perfectly and she turned it on.
The only way to describe it is that I could see the stress melt off of her face. She no longer had to worry about being able to visualize whether or not she was expressing milk or not. She started to use it at night and quickly commented that she could not pump without it. I was doing some medical device work on other projects, so I took it to this team I was working with, and we sped it through the process and came up with the design we currently have today. We got a patent and began manufacturing!
Can you walk me through how a Lactalite works? How does it attach to a breast shield? Are they easy to attach and turn on in the dark?
Lactalite is pretty simple to use. There is a clear plastic clasp that snaps over the tunnel portion of the breast shield. It is flexible, so it can fit on the majority of breast shields. There is a slight tapering of the clasp to coincide with the slight tapering you see on the breast shield.
It can be spun around the entire circumference of the shield so that you can find the position that works best for you. Having it on the underside with the light directed upwards seems to provide the best visualization, but you can play around with it.
The on/off button goes from off, to a white light, then blue light, then off.
There is an automatic 30 minute shut off to prevent the battery from burning out, and the battery is easy to replace if it runs low.
Do most moms keep the light on for their entire pumping session? Is it primarily for positioning and knowing when your milk lets down, or are there other reasons to keep it on?
From what we hear, moms will attach it to the breast shield and leave it on during their pumping session. It doesn’t really interfere with anything so leaving it on makes sense. Almost all of our orders have been as a pair, since most women pump both breasts simultaneously.
We got a lot of feedback from IBCLCs stating that Lactalites have been helpful in showing moms proper nipple placement, especially when moms are just getting familiar with the pumping experience. It can help demonstrate proper flange sizing as well because you can really see how far the nipple is being pulled in.
Its a personal preference as to whether or not mom wants to leave the Lactalite attached throughout the whole pumping session. I think leaving it on allows for a quick “spot check” to see how the flow is going. Another great use for this is being able to see how manual massage can affect milk flow. As a physician, it was really fascinating for me to be able to visualize how massaging different parts of the breast almost “activates” or recruits additional milk ducts. You can see flow from several ducts, and then with massage, 2-3 additional sprays started up.
My attempt to show how the Lactalite lights up the flange in the dark.
Do Lactalites work with all pumps? (What about manual pumps, like the Medela Harmony?)
No, it doesn’t work with all pumps. It doesn’t work with Freemie, Willow, and may have a tight fit with some of the Evenflo shields.
It does work on Spectra, Medela, Ameda, Lansinoh, Ardo, Bailey, RumbleTuff, and Tommee Tippee. We have not tried it with every single breast shield, but we estimate 90% or greater will work. Very tiny or very large flanges may or may not work.
We have tried it with several manual pumps and it has fit just fine, but again, we have not tried it with every single manual pump available.
How long does a Lactalite battery last? Is there any other maintenance needed?
Lactalites come with CR2032 button batteries installed, so it works right out of the box. Battery life can vary, but from our own testing, we have gotten 60+ hours out of the batteries. If they start to dim, you can replace the battery.
No other maintenance is needed. You can wipe it off with an alcohol prep pad, damp cloth, or baby wipe should you get some breast milk on it. It’s not waterproof, so make sure you don’t accidentally throw it in the sink when washing all those wonderful pump parts!
Updated 9/12/18: This post was originally a giveaway and has been updated to removed outdated information about it.
The biggest challenge for me is waking up to that alarm when the baby is still soundly sleeping. Hooking myself up to the pump, storing the milk, cleaning up the parts and then getting ready to go back to sleep, only to be woken up by the baby who is now ready to eat!
The hardest thing for me is waking up in the middle of the night! The thought of having to interrupt my sleep to go through the whole process can be mentally draining. But thankfully I have pretty much mastered the trick of falling right back to sleep after!
The hardest part is waking up! I just slept through my MOTN pump! ?
Hardest part of pumping in the night is staying awake while pumping & getting up and out of bed! I like to keep it dim for myself so I can easily go back to sleep after, so I use my phone light constantly, would love the convenience of a lactilite!
Waking up to bottle feed and then having to pump after. I end up being up for almost an hour. After that it can be really hard to back to sleep. I am exclusively pumping for my preemie born at 31 weeks.
The hardest part of pumping at night is Blanca g my cell phone just right so the flashlight doesn’t wake the baby, but is shining on the pump so I can see if I’m still expressing milk or not. I hate that I end up with the flashlight shining right in my eyes and I can’t use my phone for entertainment/to help me stay awake while I’m using the flashlight. These would be great!!!
Its hard to pick one thing that’s the hardest. Setting my alarm round the clock to pump is hard!! And not being able to do much in the beginning is hard, since we pump so frequently and then have parts to wash and a pump to prep for the next session, not to mention then feeding the sweet little baby and spending time with them, but it’s ALL WORTH it to me to provide our sweet babes with breastmilk. It is hard going back to sleep after pumping for 30-45 minutes and being on my phone to stay awake, hard to turn off my thoughts so quickly. But again it’s so so worth it.
Pumping at night in general is the hardest part. Being oh so tired and usually feeding a little one at the same time.
The hardest part for me is getting up to pump at night! That kills me! I love my sleep! Haha these lights would be so helpful instead of using my cell phone!
The hardest part for me is waking up to pump and also to position my mobile phone to see if the flanges are placed properly without waking my older child and SO.
The hardest part—especially in the beginning—is staying awake! Inevitably a few times a week, I wake up and the pump has automatically turned off who knows how long ago, and my neck is sore! 😉
The hardest part of pumping at night is making sure I don’t wake anyone up. Especially the baby! I’ve been using my makeup mirror light but it’s not well lit so I always end up using my cell phone light to pump.
The hardest part of pumping at night is waking up with out waking up the baby and husband. Once I’m up then I stumble around trying to get enough light for me to see but not waking up every one. I have found I some times use my cell phone light but it isn’t the best.
The hardest things about pumping at night — not turning my alarm off AND not being able to see if my nipple is positioned right. I’m constantly using the flash light app on my phone!!
The hardest part about pumping at night is staying awake and not waking up the rest of the household by turning on all the lights. I use my cellphone light to see when I pump.
It’s dark…awkward using my phone for light…and I simply must see the milk spraying. 🙂
The hardest part for me pumping in the middle of the night was 1 getting up but 2 getting back to sleep after everything! Turning on a lamp just wakes you up so much more so having a tiny light right where you need it would be perfect.