It may seem like a silly question. Why should stay-at-home moms consider pumping breast milk? After all, they are home all day to take care of their children. Why would they ever need to pump? In reality, there are plenty of reasons why stay-at-home-moms may consider pumping breast milk.

9 Reasons Why a SAHM Should Consider Pumping Breast Milk

1. Babysitters – Sure your job is to be at home taking care of your children, but you don’t want to be locked in your house forever! Sooner or later mama is going to want to have a break, a girls’ night, a date night, or a trip to Target all by herself. Can you hear the angels singing?

Taking some time for yourself is glorious, but only if you have some milk to leave behind. Do yourself a favor and leave a bottle of pumped breast milk for your baby. It will make your time off much more relaxing if you aren’t constantly checking the clock to make sure you are back in time for the next feeding.

2. Insurance Policy – Bad things happen sometimes. An accident or illness could leave you unable to nurse your baby for an extended amount of time. If you have a nice stash of pumped breast milk in your freezer, it is like having your own personal insurance policy for your little.

4. Low Milk Supply – Some women naturally struggle to have enough breast milk for their newborns. Personal friends of mine built up their supply (under the guidance of a lactation consultant) through a routine of nursing and pumping.

5. Add Breast Milk to Homemade Baby Food – Making your own baby food is very simple to do. One thing you need to remember is to make sure the consistency is appropriate for your little one. You can add water or breast milk to the food to thin it down.

6. Milk Supply Dries Up – Some mothers struggle to keep up their supply after they introduce solids or their baby starts skipping nursing sessions. Pumping during that time can signal to your body that you need to continue making more milk. Or if you have a nice stash of frozen milk, you could supplement with bottles.

7. Early Self Weaning – If your baby decides they are done nursing before you would like, you can offer breast milk in a sippy cup from your frozen stash. Please note, that babies typically won’t self wean before 12 months. If they are on a nursing strike, there are things you can do to move past that before ending the breastfeeding relationship. This tip is intended more for the babies who lose interest in nursing after 12 months, but perhaps you hoped to nurse until age two or older.

8. Donation – There are so many babies in the world who are in desperate need of the health benefits of breast milk. Donating privately or to a milk bank is an excellent reason to consider pumping breast milk.

9. Money – Have you heard of the Mothers’ Milk Cooperative? They are a new milk bank that pays their donors $1.00 per ounce. Earning some extra cash might be a good incentive to pump.

A Warning To Pumping Moms:

When my daughter was 5 months old, I discovered that I had excess lipase activity in my breast milk. It is a rare condition that caused my breast milk to develop a bad taste after I had it in the freezer for awhile. My daughter refused to drink it. I had 575 ounces of frozen milk in my freezer that she wouldn’t drink.

If you are pumping to build up even a small stash of frozen milk, do yourself a favor and “test” your milk for excess lipase activity before hand. Leave a small amount (less than 1/2 an ounce is plenty) of pumped milk in your refrigerator and taste a drop of it everyday for a week. If it develops an offensive taste then you likely have excess lipase activity. If it tastes fine, then you are in the clear.

Thankfully, there is a solution to excess lipase activity and you can continue to pump.

Don’t know how to get started pumping?

First, it is always smart to talk to a lactation consultant about creating a schedule for pumping. This is especially important if you are pumping to build up a low milk supply or if you are struggling with an over supply.

If you are interested in simply saving a bit of milk as an insurance policy or for babysitters, consider pumping in the morning when your breasts are likely the most full. I made it a habit to pump after the first feeding of the day and had good success with that.