Breastfeeding Without Nursing: "If Only I'd Known More about Exclusively Pumping before Giving Birth"

Human milk is understood to be the optimal nutrition for infants, yet many women struggle to nurse. Although exclusively pumping human milk can provide a solution, women may be unaware of this possibility and, thus, experience unnecessary frustration.

This study aimed to (a) determine the proportion of respondents who had heard of exclusive pumping prenatally; (b) describe sources that respondents turned to and/or received breastfeeding-related information from prenatally; (c) explore the ways in which respondents learned prenatally about exclusive pumping; (d) describe how useful respondents found various information sources when learning about exclusive pumping; and (e) describe the differences between respondents who first heard the term exclusive pumping prenatally versus postpartum.

A cross-sectional, self-report, mixed-methods survey was administered online to a convenience sample of current and/or past exclusive pumpers ( N = 1,215). Descriptive statistics were produced (Research aims 1-4), and chi-square tests (Research aims 1, 2, and 5) and a Mann-Whitney U test (Research aim 5) were conducted, to identify trends and compare respondents.

Seventy-one percent ( n = 864) of respondents had not heard of exclusive pumping until after giving birth. Respondents reported that very few prenatal breastfeeding information sources mentioned or explained exclusive pumping. Women who had heard about exclusive pumping prior to giving birth ( n = 291, 24%) reported feeling more knowledgeable about how to exclusively pump and less frustrated, insecure, depressed, rejected, embarrassed, envious, burdened, guilty, and disappointed while exclusively pumping.

For postpartum knowledge and affective outcomes to improve, prenatal infant feeding information and education must include information about exclusive pumping.