This Pumping Hack Has Breastfeeding Moms Cheering

For many nursing moms, pumping is a nightmare. From simply finding the time to pump to cleaning all the parts and pieces, the only thing worse is hoping you can actually fill the bottle. For many moms, the stress of pumping and wanting to fill the bottle can actually slow down the entire process and cause your milk to stop flowing. So, if you have been looking for a way to make pumping easier, one mom has a hack for you to try.

Switzerland-based lactation consultant Johanna Sargeant posted a tip on her Facebook page that has gone viral because breastfeeding moms say it’s simple and actually works.

“Are you someone who sits and watches the trickle of milk, if any, that comes when pumping?” Sargeant’s post posed. “Do you get stressed or sad about your output?”

Sargeant, a mom of two, recalled attempting to pump after feeding her daughters and feeling both disappointed and dejected when very little breastmilk came out.

“I’d double pump for twenty minutes after every feed and became more and more demoralized at the lack of milk in that bottle,” she wrote. “I realized that, for my own mental health, I needed to stop watching! Easier said than done. Enter the baby sock.”

That’s when Sargeant covered the bottle with a sock. Similar to a watched pot never boils, a watched bottle never fills with breastmilk.

So why does this hack work?

We know that oxytocin release is inhibited by stress, and oxytocin release is required for letdowns, so if you find yourself getting stressed while watching, try it!

The best part of this hack—besides so many women saying it is helping them—is that all moms have baby socks just hanging around their house. So, there is no need to buy anything new!

If your pumping sessions have been stressing you out and you are seeing less and less milk, give this hack a try.