Breast Pumping

Abstract

The important place of the breast pump in contemporary mothers' experiences with breastfeeding is a relatively new phenomenon. Discussion of the place and meaning of this technology, particularly in the last 5 years, has held an almost constant presence in the media. An article published by American historian Jill Lepore in The New Yorker in 2009 [1] prompted an overwhelming onslaught of commentary and inquiry from mothers and media outlets across the nation. Somewhat unexpectedly, perhaps, Lepore touched a nerve when she asked, "If breast is best, why are women bottling their milk?" She received hundreds of e-mails and phone calls in response to her discussion of the rise of breast pumping, and eventually she appeared on the National Public Radio's show Talk of the Nation [2]. Mothers called in and shared their exasperation with the modern-day conflation of breast pumping with breastfeeding [1-5]. As many mothers then and since have attested, the experiences of hooking oneself to an electrical milking machine and feeding an infant at the breast are two very different things [6].As odd as it may seem when pointed out in this way, by the late 1990s, the breast pump had ascended to near ubiquity as part of the breastfeeding process-becoming so integral to feeding a baby breast milk that the technology seemed all but invisible to critique, analysis, or question. By the early 2000s, as breastfeeding activism in the U.S. focused on public breastfeeding and lactation rooms in work places, few seemed to take notice of the subtle takeover of the breast pump. While scholars have attempted to evaluate the technology in terms of what it can do for women, few have taken a longer look at the history of this device to see where it has come from and to ask what, if anything, the breast pump means for the future of breastfeeding in America.

Origins of human milk microbiota: new evidence and arising questions

“…30 Overall, in the absence of strain-level information, absolute quantification, and evidence for colonization of these bacteria in the infant gut or upper respiratory tract, it is not possible to confirm the clinical significance of these milk bacteria. Studies designed specifically to address these questions are warranted, given the substantial and increasing use of breast pumps worldwide, 31 and evidence that the bacterial content of pump-expressed milk varies considerably depending on the setting, handling, and cleaning of the pump equipment. 32 We are aware of one such study (clinicaltrials.gov, NCT03123874) 33 and eagerly await the results.…”