Sterilising Your Breast Pump
Keeping your breast pump clean is an important part of ensuring the milk that you are collecting for your baby is safe. I often see families wasting precious time sterilising (or more accurately, sanitising) their pump parts too frequently.
All the parts of your breast pump that come into contact with your breasts or breast milk must be completely clean and dry prior to their use.
You should always check the manufacturers instructions for guidance as not all items are suitable for all methods of sterilisation. If you want to know more about options for sterilising then please check out my separate post.
How often should you sterilise your breast pump parts?
Unless there is a particular concern about your baby and you have been advised to sterilise your breast pump parts more frequently then it is only necessary to sterilise your breast pump parts once every 24 hours.
Many families are sterilising their pump parts prior to every use. This is not necessary.
Pump parts should be rinsed in warm water as soon as possible after use, the warm water helps to break down milk proteins which can stick to items and therefore be more difficult to clean.
Parts should them be washed in warm soapy water and then rinsed in cool water. Alternatively, if they are suitable, they can be washed in a dishwasher.
Items should then be dried with a clean cloth or placed to air dry in a clean area.
After washing it is only necessary to sterilise pump parts once after every 24 hours. They should of course be sterilised if you have not used your pump for some time or prior to the first use.
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Milk in Breast pump tubing
If you are using an electric pump it is not necessary to wash and sanitise / sterilise the tubing as this would usually not come into contact with your breast milk. If you do get milk inside you can rinse it through with warm soapy water before running though cool water and then hang it to dry. You can also spin the tubing to help clear the majority of the water before hanging it to air dry.
If the tubing is moldy or has a residue inside it then it is best to replace the tubing.
