With practice and knowledge of how the breast works, the mother will soon become more efficient at pumping. Doing this can cause discomfort and anxiety and actually discourage the let-down response. Understanding how the let-down works makes understanding pumping easier. The let-down reflex releases milk from the back of the breast into the ducts to make it available to baby or the pump. As the nerves in the nipple and areola are stimulated by baby's sucking or the action of the pump, the pituitary gland receives a signal to release prolactin and oxytocin into mother's blood stream.
Prolactin relaxes the mother and stimulates the alveoli to produce more milk.
Oxytocin causes the alveoli to contract and squeezes milk into the ducts. Read the instruction sheet in the kit carefully. All parts of the pump need to be sterilized before the first use. After each use, all parts of the pump need to be washed in warm, soapy water, rinsed with hot water and drained on a clean towel. Plastic tubing does not need to be cleaned unless milk gets into it.