Pumping breast milk after a surrogate delivery can be a wonderful gift for your intended parents and their new baby. At GSHC Surrogacy Agency, we will work with you to make sure you are comfortable attempting to pump with absolutely no pressure if you are unable to do so. If you are anything like I was during my first surrogacy journey, then the task of pumping breastmilk for your intended parents after delivering can seem like a daunting task. As surrogate mothers, we all want to help our intended parents’ family in any way possible. This is why GSHC Surrogacy Agency is here to help you understand the process for pumping breastmilk so that you can decide what is right for you.
How to Prepare
You can start preparing for pumping post-delivery while you are still pregnant, and I suggest you do. As you may know from your previous pregnancy(ies), you will aim to pump enough milk to meet baby’s demand. For most, this equates to pumping approximately every 3-4 hours (6-8 times per day). Because you will be pumping at all hours, start with a checklist of items that will make pumping throughout the night easier for you. Make sure to include snacks high in protein and hydrating drinks.
Here is my personal checklist from both of my surrogacy journeys:
- Hands-free pump: I used one with my second surrogacy journey (versus the traditional pump I used for my first journey) and it gave me the freedom to run errands, travel, etc as I wanted/needed, and the insurance policy my IPs purchased for me covered it entirely.
- Hands-free pumping bra and traditional pumping bras: Whether you’re using a hands-free or traditional pump, I recommend purchasing both types of bras. These are my favorite traditional pumping bras and this is my favorite hands-free bra, all found on Amazon.
- Pumping clothing: There is a wide variety of different types of pumping clothing, like shirts/dresses/etc. I recommend buying at least a few pumping shirts, even if you’re planning on pumping short-term. I really like these pumping shirts, they are super soft and good quality.
- A couple sets of pump accessories: It is important to have a couple sets of pumping cups/bottles/etc that fit your pump. The reason is, you’re not going to want to wash your pump parts in the middle of the night when newly postpartum. Also, if a pump part breaks you will not want to go days without pumping and possibly lose your milk supply.
- A flange sizer: To avoid dry, bleeding, painful nipples it is imperative to make sure your flanges are the correct size.
- Milk bags/a sharpie for marking bags
- Protein bars; variety pack, protein shakes, oatmeal, postnatal vitamins
- Water bottles, body armor drink bottles
- Lanolin nipple cream: Lanolin is safe for babies to consume in small quantities, so it is approved for pumping.
- Night light: You won’t want to wake your family up during your middle-of-the-night pumping session
- Armchair pillow: Sitting up while newly postpartum and exhausted can be uncomfortable. An armchair pillow like this one drastically increases your comfort levels and even allows you to sleep safely while pumping.
- Insulated boxes and ice pack sheets for shipping: These boxes and ice pack sheets are trusted by pumping surrogates around the world and for good reason. They will get your milk to your IPs and surro baby safely and still frozen. You can also research options for storing, freezing, and shipping breastmilk at Milkstork.com.
- A good support system! This is most important while pumping full-time, and you can count on your GSHC team to be a part of that support system.
The cost for most of these items can be reimbursed, so be sure to ask your GSHC Surrogacy case manager or financial coordinator for clarification on how to seek reimbursement and what your monthly allowance will be used for.
Next, discuss with your IPs (or IP coordinator) how long they may want to receive breastmilk and whether or not they want to supplement with formula. This way, you can plan for how long and how many times per day you will pump.
Finally, remember that your GSHC Surrogacy Agency case coordinator is also an experienced surrogate! You can always reach out to your case coordinator for her pumping advice and for any support you may need during your pumping journey.
Pumping in The Hospital
Your pumping journey as a surrogate mama starts shortly after delivering your surrogate baby. Your hospital should provide you with a pump for your stay, so be sure to call and confirm that they do as well as what brand they use. Your hospital nurse and lactation consultant will help you figure out how to use your pump and what pumping schedule is best for you. Usually, you will be pumping once every 3-4 hours. While it can be a bit difficult sitting up or waking up every 3-4 hours to pump, it is much easier than caring for a newborn. With that said, I encourage you to use the reclining feature in your hospital bed when needing to sit up and ask for all the help you need from your nursing staff and support person(s). GSHC will be sure to support and spoil you in any way possible while you recover and adjust to this new lifestyle. If you have any questions, please reach out to us here or reach out to your case manager.
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