Hellobee Boards

I just kept them in my cooler! At first I used two sets then I just used one set for two pumps.

I pump twice a day. I rinse them after the first pump and then wash them at night.

I use to clean them after every pump at work and let them dry at work. I had a set at work along with all the cleaning tools I needed. I only bought bottles in daily.

We have a private room with a sink that ran pretty hot water. Only mothers that were pumping knew the code to the room.

A lot of times I didn't even put it in the fridge. Fresh expressed milk is good for 8+ hours at room temp. But, yeah there's no reason to wash in between if you have access to a fridge (or even a cooler bag!)

i EPed and i just stuck the parts in the fridge between sessions and washed them every night.

Remove flanges from bottles, put caps on bottles, put everything in fridge. For the next pump, use the flanges (without washing) on new bottles. Clean everything at the end of the day.

@PawPrints: Exactly this!

@JenGirl: I put everything in opaque lunch bags in the fridge.

@PawPrints: Like a reusable bag? Does it get messy with milk dripping off the flanges/valves?

I rinse and sanitize every time, actually wash once a day-ish.

Rinsed parts after each use and then kept them in the fridge and washed at end of day.

Have tons of parts...rinse and throw in a bucket and clean everything once a day or so.

I wipe the flanges dry, toss in a wet bag, run water through the other parts, shake off, wrap in paper towel and throw in the wet bag. Throw wet bag in fridge.

I used new bottles each time I pumped, didn't make sense to store them with bottles attached.

The wet bag was the best addition to my pump supplies. Sure beat using slimy ZIplocs for some odd reason.

I then washed at home. I had ~3 sets of pump parts, stored them in one of the veggie drawers and washed them all every 3 days. Who am I kidding...DH is the master pump part/bottle washer!

@JenGirl: Yeah it's a reusable bag. It gets a tiny bit of milk dropping into it but I'm careful about shaking off excess first.

Regarding the idea of keeping the flanges connected to the bottles-- you really aren't supposed to combine milk from different pumping sessions into one bottle.

One more comment, this got me thinking about the idea of hiding pump parts from male colleagues. As I said I do keep my parts and bottles in an opaque bag, but, at the same time, I've had conversations with most of my colleagues while I was standing at the sink cleaning parts. They're all respectful and I've even had male co-workers express real curiosity about how breastfeeding/pumping was going, which was nice. It doesn't have to be super weird.

@PawPrints: I did pretty much the same thing. I would pump into 1 set of bottles and cap those off, then at my 2nd session pump into a second set of bottles and cap those off, then at my 3rd session I'd combine the first 2 pumps (since both were now cooled), rinse out the 2nd set of bottles, and pump into them again.

@JenGirl: If you're not comfortable putting everything into a shared fridge, you can keep it all in a cooler bag with an ice pack. That's what I did. Milk is fine in a cooler bag with an ice pack for up to 24 hours.

Like others I used disposable bags, so no better bottles. In between sessions I kept them in a plastic bag, technically a microsteam bag, in my pump bag which was next to a cooler. Once I got home I'd clean the bottles in the sink and let them soak. Before bed I'd pump again and then run everything through the microwave in a microsteam bag.

I voted keep flanges attached to bottles in fridge, but I only do that at home where I have room to stand them up in a stable way without touching other things. At work I keep them in a big ziplock in my cooler bag and put lids on the bottles after transferring milk to storage bags.

If I'm pumping in a room where I can rinse the flanges and bottles, I do. If not, I just put them in the cooler as is.

@PawPrints: & @littlebug: Actually, my concern was more about mess than about people seeing my pump parts. I put my bottles of breastmilk in the lunch room fridge and nobody ever says anything. And I talk to people (men and women) about pumping all the time. I was more concerned with residual milk from the parts making a mess in either the fridge or the reusable bag. But it sounds like that isn't as much of an issue as I imagined. I just know that when I used breastmilk on my son's rash, it gets super sticky. And while I think my work people are cool with pumping/breastmilk, they are definitely not cool with making a sticky mess in the communal fridge. Plus, it gets really crowded in our communal fridge (which is why I don't put the bottles in a bag, it takes up more space that way).

Maybe I'll try the fridge trick.But I also timed myself washing/drying parts yesterday and it took me less than a minute, so I don't think it makes a big difference either way.