Do you hate your middle of the night pumping session? Waking up and setting yourself up to pump at 3AM isn’t most people’s idea of fun. It doesn’t have to be terrible, though. Here are some tips to make pumping at night easier.
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Here are three ideas to make middle of the night pumping sessions (sometimes referred to as MOTN pumps) less challenging.
1. Set yourself up to pump and go back to sleep
One option (if you’re pumping at night while baby sleeps) is to wake up, set yourself up to pump with a hands-free pumping bra, and see if you can go back to sleep.
A few tips for pumping and sleeping:
- If your pump doesn’t have an auto-shutoff, it’s a good idea to set an alarm so you don’t wake up 3 hours later with extremely sore nipples.
- Pumpin Pals make it easier to lean back without spilling. (More on these here.)
- With the Willow pump, you have the option to pump into spill-proof bags. You can start pumping, lie down, and go back to sleep. (More on the Willow pump here.)
- LacTeck makes a SleepyMommy adaptor that allows you to lie down while you pump.
2. Pump in bed, waking up as little as possible
Here the goal is to stay awake for your pumping session, but to do so in a way that makes it easier for you to fall back asleep when you’re done pumping.
Here are some things you can do.
Go to bed with your pumping gear ready to go
Keep everything you need near your bed, ready to go, so that when you wake up to pump, your breast pump is right there, your pump parts are all put together and attached to the bottles you’re going to pump into, etc.
Keep the lights off or low
Not turning on bright lights will make it easier for you to go back to sleep when you’re done pumping.
To help you position your breast shield and see how much you’re pumping, you can try using a Lactalite or the light from your cell phone.
Listen to something to entertain yourself
One good option to entertain yourself while pumping at night is listening to a podcast or an audiobook, since looking at the light from your cell phone can shift your sleep schedule and make it harder to get REM sleep.
If you need to listen for your baby, use one earbud and leave the other out.
Keep your breast milk in your room
When you’re done pumping, disassemble your pump parts, put caps on the bottles, and – depending on what time it is – you might be able go back to sleep without heading to the kitchen to put your milk in the fridge.
Breast milk can sit out for about 4 hours at room temperature, so if it’s not really early in the night, you can keep the milk on your nightstand and feed it to your baby at his or her next feeding.
If you do need to refrigerate your milk, you can get a tiny fridge like the one above and keep it in your room.
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3. Wake up completely, but do something you enjoy
In this scenario, you wake up completely, turn the lights on, etc. Maybe you’re also feeding the baby at this time, or you don’t like the idea of falling asleep while pumping or pumping in the dark.
If you’re going to wake yourself up completely, you should give yourself some kind of treat to look forward to when you pump so that it’s not such a slog.
Some things you can try:
- Find a great show that you only watch during middle of the night pumping sessions (How to Get Away With Murder worked really well for this for me)
- Play a time wasting game like Candy Crush that you only play in the middle of the night
- Give yourself permission to do a little Amazon shopping (or window shop and just put some stuff on your wish list)
- When you’re done pumping and ready to go back to bed, you’ll probably be hungry – reward yourself with a small treat (a lactation cookie, some chocolate, etc.) – you just burned a bunch of calories pumping.
What tips do you have to make middle of the night pumping sessions easier? Share your pumping at night tips in the comments!
References
- National Sleep Foundation. “Why Electronics May Stimulate You Before Bed” https://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-topics/why-electronics-may-stimulate-you-bed
Comments & Chitchat
What about cleaning the pump parts? Any way to make that easier in the middle of the night? Is hand expression an option to avoid cleaning pump parts at 3am?
Having multiple sets of pump parts (with some ready to go for the night sessions and first session of the morning can be super helpful! Hand expression can work too!
What is considered middle of the night pump?? & what is considered morning pump?? Is it different for everyone? What if we all wake up at different times? Is it when I usually get up or would it be like 5-6 am. I sleep late like 12 am-2 am to try to get a night pump but I also wake up all night to feed baby, pump, use the bathroom, drink water, or have insomnia sometimes, so I sleep in for as long as can (if the babies are asleep still of course) so would my morning pump be after I get up or maybe sooner?
Hi Beverly! There’s no exact definition. Prolactin levels peak around 3am, so I’d say maybe midnight to 5am? But it sounds to me what you’re doing is great and I wouldn’t worry about labeling it. Definitely get as much sleep as you can!
My tip: Don’t use the heart beat option as your white noise choice if baby is sleeping in your roon. I was inadvertently causing myself a great deal of stress and anxiety, because I would dream I was constantly connected to the pump and had fallen asleep and laid down flat and spilled everything. They rhythm of the pump and the white noise heartbeat were too similar and I would wake up startled and miserable.
That is a great tip! I can totally see how that would be an issue!
I save my ‘oat of this swirled’ Ben and Jerry’s ice cream for my middle of the night pumping sessions. I know it sounds crazy, but this eating this ice cream every night makes me produce more hind milk, and companies with lots of water my morning pumps are 8-12 ounces!!
Love it!