Why meditation might be the key to pumping success
Meditation has been proven to help you relax and produce more milk while pumping. Let. It. Flow.

If you’re a working and pumping mama, you know that taking multiple breaks throughout the day to pump can be stressful.
Usually while I’m pumping I’m multitasking—replying to emails, eating lunch, jotting down reminders—and I’m always trying to strategically plan my pump sessions in between meetings. For a while, when I was done pumping, I wished I was producing more. It was taking 15-20 minutes every time I pumped during the day to only produce 1-2 ounces! I didn’t know what was going on. I tried it all—fenugreek, oatmeal, pumping more often, pumping longer, cluster pumping, reglan, etc.—nothing worked for me.
And it’s not just me.
Another study found that in a split group of women, the women in a test group who received a relaxation tape with instructions to listen to it while pumping for 20 minutes a day had a 63% increase in milk production as compared to the control group.
Usually while I’m pumping I’m multitasking—replying to emails, eating lunch, jotting down reminders—and I’m always trying to strategically plan my pump sessions in between meetings. For a while, when I was done pumping, I wished I was producing more. It was taking 15-20 minutes every time I pumped during the day to only produce 1-2 ounces! I didn’t know what was going on. I tried it all—fenugreek, oatmeal, pumping more often, pumping longer, cluster pumping, reglan, etc.—nothing worked for me.
But after researching, experimenting and contemplating the causes of my low output, I finally realized the cause: stress.
Why does stress hinder milk production?
An important study by Pediatrician Dr. Michael Newton and B.A. Niles Rumely Newton called The Let-Down Reflex in Human Lactation, demonstrated that “stress—and stress hormones—are linked with reduced milk production and lower milk transfer. That’s likely because stress hormones inhibit release of oxytocin. Oxytocin is the hormone that stimulates the tiny muscle bundles surrounding milk-making lobules in the breast, pushing milk through the ducts to the areola.”Stress less, meditate more
When I talked to my East-West Integrated Medicine M.D. Dr. Nita Desai about what I could do to stop stressing while pumping, she suggested I meditate while pumping instead.So I gave it a go, and it worked! I was shocked to see three ounces more than usual while pumping that day.