Exclusive Pumping Photoshoot Inspiration - Celebrating Your Journey

Exclusively pumping is a big achievement, whether you do it for one year or one week! One way that many moms in our Facebook group celebrate when they’ve reached their goal or when it’s time to wean is with a pumping photoshoot. Here’s some inspiration, plus what you might want to include in your photoshoot!

Pumping Photoshoot Must Haves

What should you include in your photoshoot? Here are a couple of things that are in most pumping celebration pictures!

(I called these must haves, but obviously you can do your photoshoot however you want! These are just the most common elements.)

1. Baby

Almost all exclusive pumping photoshoots include a picture of the reason for all of the hard work – your baby!

Exclusive Pumping Photoshoot: Baby on a green background with bottles and bags of breastmilk and a Spectra pump with the tubing in the shape of a heart

Image courtesy Sara (@sgarcia7890)

However, if that’s not possible (some exclusive pumpers are surrogate mothers or pumping for donation after their baby has passed away), some token that celebrates the reason you decided to pump can be nice to include. A donation certificate, for example, can be a good option.

2. Breastmilk

Lots of moms also include breastmilk in their photoshoot.

Milk can be displayed in lots of different forms. Some options that moms like to use include:

In a milk bath
In pumping bottles
Frozen breastmilk bags (sometimes arranged in a pattern)

Pumping photoshoot: Baby laying on a blue sheet with bags of breastmilk surrounding baby

Image courtesy Kaila (@kailaja)

3. Pump

Lots of moms also like to include their pump!

(One mom actually took a photoshoot of her smashing her pump with a sledgehammer, which I thought was hilarious.)

Pumping photoshoot: Spectra breast pump in the foreground with a mom holding a sledgehammer slightly out of focus in back

Image courtesy Jordan (@jgcurfew)

4. Letterboard, Chalkboard, or Sign

Either a letterboard, a chalkboard, or a sign giving some details about your pumping journey can be really fun. Some details that you might want to include are:

How long you pumped
How much milk you pumped
The amount of milk you donated
The total number of hours you pumped or your total number of pumping sessions

Pumping photoshoot: twin babies outside in a milk bath in the fall with breast pump, bottles, and letterboard

Image courtesy Amanda (@amandanflaugh)

Other Fun Ideas/Elements to Include

Here are a few additional ideas to consider for your pumping photoshoot.

Cute breastfeeding-themed shirts for you and your baby

You can find lots of shirts for you and your baby on Etsy that are cute and funny to celebrate your pumping experience. I love this one that Sarah got:

Woman wearing a black t-shirt that says "supply" with a toddler wearing a pink t-shirt that says "demand"

Image courtesy Sarah Wilson

Milk bath

As I mentioned above, lots of moms like to put their baby in a milk bath for the photos as a way of incorporating breastmilk!

Image courtesy Kristen Goldsworthy

A Themed Cake

Another fun way to celebrate can be with food – I love this cake that Kylene’s wife made when she reached her first pumping goal.

Pumping photoshoot: brown cake with good job mother pumper written on it

Image courtesy Kylene (@kylenepepper)

Fun Onesies

If you don’t want to be in the picture, you can also get a cute breastmilk-themed onesie for your baby to wear in the photoshoot. Here are some great options on Etsy.