I often lament to friends that I wish breastfeeding could be a casual or part time activity. I love nursing my children when they are around me. However, unfortunately, being able to nurse means having to pump every 3-4 hours whenever the children have done me the courtesy of being elsewhere. (How long one can go without expressing milk depends on how old one's baby is and one's own feelings of discomfort. Many lucky people can go longer than I can. Also, once your baby is over 8 weeks, you don't have to pump at night if they sleep in blessed longer chunks.)When I pump at home I do not use the same products and methods to clean the pump parts as I do at work. This is because I do not need to minimize the time I spend in my kitchen cleaning this equipment for privacy reasons in my own house. It is also because I try not to use disposable products (like the steam bags and wipes) when it is perfectly convenient to use something else (in this case soap and hot water)
.
The most efficient method I've found for cleaning my pump parts when in the comfort of my own home is this.
- 1. I boil water in my electric kettle. I often start the kettle boiling before I sit down to pump for the last time that day (I keep my pump parts in the refrigerator between sessions if I am going to pump at home more than once in a day). What's great about using an electric kettle is that you don't have to wait for the water to get hot enough in your sink, nor do you have to get up to turn the stove off as you would with a stove kettle. My kettle very politely turns itself off when it's done (automatic shut off is also a convenient safety feature for those times that you start making yourself a cup of tea 4 times without actually completing the task because... baby). We have a Medelco Cordless Glass Electric Kettle
. It's efficient, has automatic shut off, and is pretty and glass, though as previously mentioned any electric kettle with automatic shut off would work just as well.
- 2. When I'm done pumping, I take apart the parts and dump them all into a bowl in the sink (pictured). I then add some dish washing soap into the bowl. You don't need anything fancy here (or ever) like special "baby dish-washing soaps
". Just a good fragrance free soap that you use for all your dishes will do (we use Palmolive Ultra Pure and Clear Dish Liquid
because I find that it gets grease off things with the least amount of scrubbing).
- 3. I then just dump the kettle full of recently boiled water into the bowl and go do something else for 5 or more minutes. The beauty of this method is that soap + *very* hot water, means that all the milk dissipates off the plastic by itself and I don't have to go over anything with a brush.
- 4. If I'm going to rinse the parts right away, I turn the faucet on after 5 min and run enough water that I can reach into the bowl without burning myself. I then rinse each part and place it on my drying rack. Otherwise, I just come back to the bowl, sometimes even hours later to rinse and dry.
. This is a really simple product. It has a clip on one end, a thick short strap, and a loop at the end of the strap. The clip can be attached to your baby's clothes, the carrier, the stroller strap, or anything else your baby routinely spends lots of time around. The loop at the end can be used to secure a pacifier (as the name suggests) or a favorite toy. That way, you're not constantly chasing the object of their desire around the house/store/car/train, etc. In particular this is a great way to keep an older baby entertained on an airplane without worrying that the thing they're playing with will fall between the seats never to be seen again.
and they were recalled in the fall of 2015 because the beads were breaking off the string and causing a choking hazard.
. 
, the 
, the 
, the 
, the 
And if you don't have some already, you may want to grab some 
while you're at it.
enough. I've always loved making blended soups and this thing has changed my life (I previously owned a $30 Cuisinart, it was fine, but not true love). You don't need a fancy blender to make baby food. Frankly a fork will probably do, but sometimes mama deserves something nice, right? 
. The food really does slide right out of these guys. The set comes with 2 trays so you fill 1 tray with the puree (or purees) of your choice and freeze. The next day you can pop all the cubes of baby food out and into a quart sized Ziploc bag (don't forget to label and date the bag so you're not guessing as to its content a month later). Then just throw the tray into your dishwasher. This way you can rotate one tray in the freezer and one in the wash.
. If you're less neurotic than me, then the solid foods chapter in 
and your 
and head to the kitchen. You want to wipe down each part with a wipe, rinse under running water and place in the steam bag. If you truly want to minimize the time you spend in the kitchen, you can even wipe the parts down in your pumping room (then all you have to do is rinse and place in the bag once you're out in public). I know some people online say that they use 
to wipe down the parts but honestly, I don't know how they do it. The Munchkin wipes are much smaller, thinner and less wet than the Medela ones. One Medela wipe is enough for me to clean the full set of parts I use in a day, whereas when I tried to do the same with the Munckins I was using approximately 5 to do it. This method of using wipes and the steam bag (each steam bag can be used 20 times, i.e. for a whole month of an average work schedule) allows you to clean the parts at work without needing brushes, a bowl of soapy water, or 20 minutes. Everything comes out sterile in approximately 5. They can also be used with almost any commercial personal breast pump (a couple of the 
parts are the only exception to this that I've seen - some of them are not rated to be steam cleaned).
. The great thing about these guys is that they get attached behind your existing curtains. This means you get to keep your decor and have a pitch black room - score! Additionally, if you've had to get some for your room, you can use the same set for the kid's room once you're ready for them to be on their own.
or 
. We, on the other hand, have decided to go in another direction. We've taken an old, no longer used, cell phone and downloaded a 
that we've been using for the past 2+ years when we're home (on the road we just use the phone as is).
that attaches to the frame of your stroller for the toddler to hold. They come in a variety of colors so you can pick your toddler's favorite one. Ours is obsessed with owls so this was a major win for us. We have been enforcing strict hand holding with her ever since she was 12 months (not holding hands resulted in immediately being picked up, which for some blessed reason she thinks is punishment). Thus, when the stroller came out of storage after the birth of our son it was easy to edit the previous "always hold hands rule" to a "always either hold hands or the owl" rule (she almost always prefers the owl handle). We've been happily using this for 3 months without any problems.
. This is a board that attaches to the back of your stroller that your child can ride on. Most stroller brands offer this as an add on. We have the Valco version because that is the brand of our stroller, though this attachment claims itself to be universal. Looking at the construction, I would guess it probably can attach to most strollers if you're willing to apply some muscle. Additionally, what's great about the design is that the board slides into braces that you attach to the stroller. This means that once you attach the braces, you can take the board itself on and off relatively easily (figuring out where to put the braces and then securing them can take a bit of both brain and brawn, so it's nice to only have to do this once). 
(I have no experience with this brand of bottles, I just know they are popular). The best way to avoid having to wash these small parts by hand is to get a dishwasher caddy. I highly recommend the 
. The way the lid opens is genius because the small parts in the lid do not fall out every time you want to add something to the big compartment. Unfortunately for us, we bought this product and realized that it was too tall for the top rack of the dishwasher. Thus it sadly resides at grandma's house and I sigh every time I use it there and am not frustrated. We ended up having to go with the 
. Though it is highly reviewed, I find it irritating to use when I have already placed some parts in its top and want to put something in the bottom. Other than that, it is perfectly adequate.
wins over the 
. I find the bristles on the OXO to be so much more efficient at getting stuff out of the bottles. Also, I don't get the purpose of the soft top of the Munchkin brush, it doesn't seem to do anything as far as I can tell.
really gets my vote. It's quite compact and can fit a ton of stuff on it while taking up relatively little counter space. It also has a tray on the bottom to catch run off so it doesn't just go all over your counter. To the right is a picture of it in action, drying all the infant bottles and toddler straw cups that came out of one dishwasher load. 
, which I personally dislike (though I haven't used it myself). It seems to take up more horizontal counter space to store the same amount of stuff and needs extra parts like the 
to accommodate all the small parts. Yes, it is very cute looking, but I prefer to save my counter for the important things... like my french press.
. This allows you to split an existing tall shelf into two shorter shelves. This is how we've managed to fit our new baby's equipment into our kitchen, which had to accommodate all of the toddler's things already.
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(Why yes, it IS a terrible name! Have you noticed how baby product manufacturers assume you have no dignity?). Remember to put it on thickly (think spreading it like icing).
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