Pumping & Driving… A Game Changer
Make most of your morning and afternoon commute, pump milk while on the road.
With my second baby I started traveling for work at when he was just three months. I’d never recommend this to anyone, but I was blinded by needed to perform in my corporate job. Some of my travel required longer drives (4-6 hours). The idea of pumping in the bathroom at a random Starbucks or in the family room at a rest stop was horrifying.
My brilliant husband pointed out that there was an outlet in my car — why not pump while I drove. This would have never occurred to me. I jumped right in.
At first I would pump on long road trips, wearing a nursing slash pumping bra and a button down shirt. Then one day, a lightbulb went off, I could pump and drive every day. I started pumping on my drive to and from work. This is a massive time saver and ironically, it gave me a new level of privacy. No more leaving my desk with a massive pumping bag and trouncing through the office, no more knocking on the conference room door, taping up my “nursing mom” sign and no more sitting naked in a meeting space.
Pumping while driving is more private than you’d expect:
People can’t see nearly as much as you think they can through your window. Your boobs are likely out of site.
People don’t look at other drivers nearly as much as you think — they’re all busy texting (the worst), talking and daydreaming.
You rarely see people you know driving by. If someone does see you and does recognize what’s goin on in your front seat, it’s almost guaranteed you’ll never see that person again.
If you haven’t considered it, it may be the up-level you need to add one or two pumping sessions to your workday.
There are two ways to effectively pump and drive:
Plug Your Breast Pump
This works if you have an SUV, minivan or truck with an AC outlet and a pump you can plug in. Get a small extension cord (which you can hide under your seat when not in use), and plug into your pump. If not, you can get an inverter (easy, check Amazon) and set yourself up.
Make sure you wear a pumping bra (or a bra where you’ve cut in your own holes). Have a cooler bag handy, lids for your bottles, and place to put dirty breast pump parts. The Medela Pump In Style works particularly well for this, as you can plug into the bag itself and put parts right inside the bag. You could also use batteries, but they run out of life so quickly with a breast pump, that a plug in cord is the way to go.
Get a Willow Breast Pump
A Willow is cordless, it’s charge lasts for three days, it’s spill proof and it sits inside your bra. Put it in when you leave, turn it on, have milk when you arrive at your destination.
Some Planning
Regardless of your route, some key points for pumping milk and driving:
You need a plan for spills. At this point in your life, you should have baby wipes on your person at all time. Make sure there’s some within arms reach of your driver’s seat.
Don’t speed, drive responsibly. The last thing you want is to get pulled over while pumping.
Plan on some re-combobulation time when you get to your destination — to put milk away, take your pump off and put clothing back in place (on your body).
Pumping milk while you drive is not idea in the winter (too cold) or the hot hot heat of the summer (stifling).
Pumping milk while driving may be a foreign idea, but it’s totally doable, legal and worth a try.