Be honest, how often do you wash your pump parts?

[Anonymous]

After DD was born I started pumping around 4 weeks and was washing my parts in hot soapy water each time. I'm about to head back to work at 12 weeks and can't imagine having to wash them each time I pump, which could be up to 4 times a day because I work four tens. If breastmilk is fine in the refrigerator for 6-8 days, isn't it OK to just throw your pump parts into a ziploc and keep them refrigerated in between pumps? Can I do this for a few days at a time or should I be taking them home each night to wash?

[Anonymous]

The standard thinking seems to be that you should wash them once a day and keep them in the fridge in between washings. If you have two sets, you could just wash them all together every second day. That's what I did. Also, I never sterilized mine after the first few weeks.

There are also evidently some wipes designed (or marketed!) specifically for pump parts, but I never bought those. They get recommended here all the time, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The standard thinking seems to be that you should wash them once a day and keep them in the fridge in between washings.

This is what I did. I just put them in the dishwasher with the bottles every night so everything was clean in the morning.

[Anonymous]

Once a day. Fridge in between pumping sessions.

[Anonymous]

Twice a week (Wednesdays and Fridays). Parts go right into my mini fridge, which is kept on the coldest setting, between pumps. Because I only wash twice a week, I use the Medela sanitize bags or dishwasher to sterilize when I wash. Bottles come home and go through the dishwasher between uses. Have been doing this for months at work, and it works just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The standard thinking seems to be that you should wash them once a day and keep them in the fridge in between washings. If you have two sets, you could just wash them all together every second day. That's what I did. Also, I never sterilized mine after the first few weeks.

There are also evidently some wipes designed (or marketed!) specifically for pump parts, but I never bought those. They get recommended here all the time, though.

I use these. They are the Medela "Quick Clean" wipes. They seem to work well.
I've been pumping at work for 5 months now, and I have yet to wash my pump parts at work (no pumping room available, and I just don't want to use the community kitchen sink or bathroom sinks). Occasionally I will clean parts using the wipes, but most of the time I store the parts in a ziploc in a cooler bag in our refrigerator, then wash nightly at home.

[Anonymous]

I am lazy and don't do any of this. Lucky if I rinse them out with hot water now and then. Hasn't poisoned my baby yet, just sayin'.

[Anonymous]

I think it's fine to put them in the fridge between pumpings at work. I did this sometimes when I didn't have time to wash them with warm soapy water but I did wash them at the end of each day in between shifts. ( I work 3 or 4 12 hour shifts)

[Anonymous]

I wash them every day. Sometimes when I pump at night it's 24 hours (I'm on maternity leave so I'm up at all hours). When I'm at work, I wash at the end of every day and keep them in the fridge in a zip lock bag at the end of every day.

Here's what an LC recently shared on the subject of frequency of washing parts.

Human Milk for Human Babies sets the guidelines for milk storage and have tons of data about bacterial growth in various settings, temperatures, containers, etc. Pump parts should be washed at the end of the day. The drops of milk that accumulate become gooey, the single drops that remain in the pump parts are not as effective at inhibiting bacterial growth vs a large pool of milk. Additionally, the milk is likely to congeal and become gooey over longer periods affecting pump function.

[Anonymous]

I wash mine q couple times a week. They stay in the super cold personal fridge at the office. If they look gooey then I wipe them down before pumping. I have two sets of parts so I rotate them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am lazy and don't do any of this. Lucky if I rinse them out with hot water now and then. Hasn't poisoned my baby yet, just sayin'.

Same here!
It's not like there's unpasteurized goat milk on the pump pueces, just harmless and sturdy breast milk.

I rinse them at the end of the day. I also have 2 sets of flanges, etc so I really don't feel like I spend any time cleaning.

[Anonymous]

I started out being super careful to wash the parts after every session and sterilizing every day. After a few weeks I became more lax and just relied on running them through the dishwasher.

Then I got thrush and I was in a world of pain. I started sterilizing after every single use. It was super time consuming and I was kicking myself. It took a full month for the thrush to clear. Absolute hell.

[Anonymous]

I washed once a week when pumping for 18 months with my child. Kept the parts in the fridge at work and washed on Friday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I washed once a week when pumping for 18 months with my child. Kept the parts in the fridge at work and washed on Friday.

+1 This exactly.

[Anonymous]

I could only manage to pump twice a day at work, so I bought two of the various parts that would need to be washed and used one set for each pumping session. I would then wash all of them each night and let them dry for the next day.