New CDC Breast Pump Cleaning Guidelines
By: Brian Ford
Tags: Fatherhood, Motherhood, Parenting, Breastfeeding, Baby Products

If you are a breastfeeding mum who has ever breast pumped before or is still pumping. Congrats for the commitment. It is not a walk in the park to withstand the task. Day in day out, there are new guidelines gazetted to make breast pumping safe ;with less or no health hazard posed to the baby and the mum.

Uncommon and Dangerous Infection

With that said, we can’t turn a blind eye to incident where breast pumps have created health hazards to babies. For instance, a premature infant that was born in 2016. Contracted a serious infection called Cronobacter sakazakii. After she fed the baby, on breast milk extracted using a contaminated pump.

And since the baby was premature she was more exposed to the infection. Soaking the breast pump in soapy water made the water to be a breeding ground for germs. The bacteria was later transmitted to the milk the baby drunk. It’s tragic that the baby’s brain was affected due to the infection. She was infected with meningitis and had delayed global development.

The Cronobacter is a rare infection. In that the CDC has a record of 4 to 6 cases reported on per year. We can assume we have more cases that are never reported. According to Dr. Bowen, Cronobacter is capable of causing infections to babies younger than two to three years. And babies born at full term are at a greater risk of contracting Cronobacter meningitis.

Dr. Bowen further claims that this was the first incident reported of Cronobacter infection that was caused by an infection from a contaminated breast pump. Although other babies get sick after taking milk gotten from the use of contaminated pump.

The infection was so severe that it made the Center for Disease Control, the hospital officials and the county health department to do an investigation. The mother’s breast pump and collection kits were picked for the laboratory tests.

It was found that the mother was using two different kits. One of the kits was owned by the hospital. Whereas the other was her pump. The mistake the mother was doing is she was soaking her pump in soapy water for five hours. Then rinsed and air dry it.

What was she doing wrong? The mom was right to air dry the equipment. According to CDC, towel-drying the equipment can lead to transmission of germs from the towel to the equipment. The sad news is that she forgot to scrub and sanitize the pumps. This led to the growth of bacteria in some parts of the breast pump.

To reduce the chances of your baby being exposed to risk of infection. Mums should at first wash their hands before touching the breast pumps. Also, mums should consider sanitizing the pump in the dishwasher. Also the CDC recommends that mothers to wash the pumps between sessions. This practice can be tedious for working mums since they cannot access a dishwasher or wash basin to wash the pump while at work in an office.

It is true to say a lot of breastfeeding moms have heard that placing the pumps part in the fridge. In between pumping can help avoid infections. To be honest with you, the process is not safe. You can decide to refrigerate between use if the kit is not contaminated. Cleaning the kit after every use is the only safer and recommended way to avoid infection to the younger babies. Since young babies are born with weak immune system.

Best care for pump parts according to CDC’s new guidelines

Make sure your hands are clean before you star using the pump. Also use disinfectant wipes to clean outside of the pump.

2. After every session of use, dismantle the pump parts and rinse them in running water. Avoid putting them to the sink.

3. Clean the pump parts immediately after use with soapy and hot water in a basin and use a brush to scrub and clean the pump parts.

4. Rinse them with fresh water and avoid placing them on the basin.

5. Air dry with a clean dish towel, but avoid rubbing the parts with the towel. It can spread germs.

6. Rinse the basin and brush. Then leave them to air dry.

7. In case you are using a dishwasher, put it on hot water and heated drying cycle or even sanitize cycle. Do not forget to wash your hands before taking out the parts to allow them to air dry.

8. Store the pump parts in a clean area right after they dry completely.

Final Thoughts

Although the risk that accompany absconding the cleaning are great. We can’t afford to ignore the hazard that infected breast milk can cause. We should note that not all milk pump carry C. sakazakii.

Other illness can occur if the breast pump is not sanitized in the right way and according to the new guidelines issued by CDC. Thus it is advisable for breastfeeding mums to be vigilant when it comes to the hygiene of the breast pumps and the storage equipment.