November 29, 2024 • 12 mins
Ever wondered how a small piece of plastic could be the key to a comfortable and efficient pumping experience? Join us on The Ordinary Doula Podcast as we navigate the often overlooked, yet critical, world of flange fitting. With insights drawn from my 20 years in the doula field, I promise you'll leave this episode with the know-how to measure and select the perfect flange size, tailored just for your unique breast anatomy.
Breastfeeding should be empowering, not painful or frustrating. By understanding the importance of nipple size, shape, and elasticity, you can ensure a smoother and more enjoyable pumping experience. Whether you’re about to welcome your little one or are already in the throes of new parenthood, these practical advice and tips, combined with guidance from lactation consultants, will equip you with the confidence to manage your breastfeeding journey seamlessly. Don't miss out on this episode if you want to set the stage for a positive and rewarding breastfeeding experience.
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Show Credits
Host: Angie Rosier
Music: Michael Hicks
Photographer: Toni Walker
Episode Artwork: Nick Greenwood
Producer: Gillian Rosier Frampton
Voiceover: Ryan Parker
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with
Angie Rozier, hosted by BirthLearning, where we help prepare
folks for labor and birth withexpertise coming from 20 years
of experience in a busy doulapractice, helping thousands of
people prepare for labor,providing essential knowledge
and tools for positive andempowering birth experiences.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Hello and welcome to the Ordinary Dealer Podcast.
My name is Angie Rozier, I'myour host and I am looking
forward to this time to spendwith you sharing a little bit of
little tidbits here and therethat can hopefully help you with
your labor, birth orbreastfeeding experience.
So today I want to talk aboutflange fitting.
(01:10):
So flanges are a piece of apump that fits onto the mom.
They are generally plastic,like a firm plastic, and they
are part of the pump.
It looks like a little like theend of a trumpet, if you will.
Is what a flange looks like.
If you aren't familiar with that, there are lots of different
(01:31):
pumps on the market and all ofthem will have a component where
the breast goes into the pump.
They have to right.
So that's the flange part.
Some of them it's the pump is,if you.
Depending on what type of pumpyou have, the flange is kind of
a freestanding piece.
Some of them the flange isinside of a cup when the pump
(01:52):
mechanism is closer to the body,sometimes down a tube.
The motor, you know, is on atube, and we'll talk about types
of pump in another podcast, butthis one is about the flange
fitting.
So nipples, as you can imagine,come in a variety of sizes and
shapes, diameters, lengths,elasticity.
There's a lot of componentsabout nipples that people need
(02:16):
to be aware of when they arechoosing a flange the
appropriate flange size for themand maybe you are you know,
maybe you're familiar with allthe different types of nipples
and breasts there are, but it'sa wide variety, so it could be
worthwhile and you can do thison your own.
You can have somebody help youif you are at a hospital that
has lactation consultants, oryou can meet with a lactation
(02:37):
consultant before you have ababy or after you have a baby.
Both are great.
Beforehand, you get prenatalpreparation customized to you
and your situation can help kindof put together, put to bed
some of those rests and concernsin the early days.
Maybe you wait till you havebaby in your arms and you kind
of know what you're working withmore to get help from a
lactation specialist, but youcan talk to them about measuring
(03:00):
for flange, the appropriateflange fit.
So I'll just give this littlecaveat.
In a perfect breastfeedingworld, we don't really even need
to touch a pump for three tofour weeks.
That's perfect, though, andthen there's reality, and
sometimes we do need to use apump long before two, three,
four weeks.
So this is where flangefittings can come in handy.
(03:22):
So what we're looking for isthe flange fitting.
Flanges come in different sizesand they're millimeters they
have numbers on them.
And the different sizes andthey're millimeters they have
numbers on them and the sizingsystem is based on millimeters.
So the size you need is basedon the size of nipple that you
have, Not areola, not thatdarkened part around the nipple,
(03:43):
but the actual nipple itself.
So there are little measuringtools A lactation consultant
would have them are littlemeasuring tools.
A lactation consultant wouldhave them.
Lots of people buy their own.
Some pump sets come with them,but they range.
The measuring tools range fromabout 10 millimeters to about 30
, 34 millimeters across.
So 34 millimeters, that's, youknow we're definitely over an
(04:03):
inch there, and then 10, we'rejust, you know, a fraction of an
inch.
So there's obviously differentsizes of nipples.
So these are little circularmeasuring tools and you find one
that goes over your nipple well, like that's not super tight or
super loose, but that's justkind of the perfect fit.
(04:26):
And perhaps you have a nipplethat the diameter is 18
millimeters is what goes, youknow, fits on the nipple the
best.
What you want to do with thatis add one to three millimeters
and sometimes that's even fourand five sometimes, so that's a
(04:47):
little ambiguous and then youadd those millimeters and that
would tell you your flange size.
For instance, if you measuredat 18 millimeters, you might
want to get a 21 millimeterflange size.
If you measured at 22millimeters, you might want to
get a 24 millimeter flange size.
(05:08):
Different pumps come withdifferent flange sizes.
If you were just to order anordinary pump, spectra is one of
my favorite pumps and they comewith two flange sizes.
Theirs are 21 and 24.
Some pumps come with a 24 and a27 or 24 and a 28.
And those are kind of big.
We're finding a lot of peopledon't need that big of a flange,
(05:30):
so you can order for a lot ofbrands.
They have a variety of flangesizes available.
So find out beyond just whatcomes with your pump, which one
works best for you.
So do that by measuring andthen add one to three or four
millimeters to the nipplediameter and that will tell you
(05:50):
what flange you could use.
And it's not a bad idea to havea couple of options around that
size, because things can change.
So let me tell you what we'relooking for when we fit a flange
.
Now we kind of know, let's say,we're going to use an 18
millimeter flange and you haveto test it with the pump on,
like the actual component ofsuction working.
So when we put a flange, thenthe flange ideally that the
(06:13):
flange is a left like a flutedopening that that tapers down
into a tube that goes into thepump.
That's where the milk dripsinto, right, where we collect
the milk.
So what we're looking for is inthat tube.
The nipple should go into thatlittle tube of the flange and it
should have some air space allthe way around it, Not tons, not
(06:33):
tons of air space, but some.
So it shouldn't be touching thesides of the flange.
If it's touching the sides ofthe flange, we need a larger
flange.
If it's got tons of air spacearound it, like you could run
circles around that nipple inthe tube, you could run circles
around that nipple in the in thetube.
(06:54):
You need, um, uh, you're goingto need a bigger, a smaller
flange, excuse me.
So we want just enough airspace around it that there is
space.
And then, once the pumpingmechanism turns on, this is how
we test flange size.
The the pump is going to tug orpull right, it's going to pull
that nipple um, in a suctioneffort.
It is going to tug or pullright, it's going to pull that
nipple in a suction effort it'sgoing to.
When that flange is flush withthe breast, it creates a seal
(07:16):
and then the vacuum pull of thepump pulls milk out and ideally
we want the base of the nipple,where the nipples flush with the
areola and starts to rise, thatremains at the base of the tube
.
So you've got, the flange isflat against the breast and that
nipple should kind of remain atthe base of the tube.
We don't want the the areolabehind the base of the nipple
(07:39):
being sucked deep into the pump.
Now, this is also incrediblyvariable as well, and this
actually can change over thecourse of a pumping session and
over the course of abreastfeeding experience.
So the elasticity of the nipplehas a lot to do with how far
that comes in.
Some people have incrediblyelastic nipples that are just
(08:01):
going to suck far down into theflange, the tube of the flange,
regardless of the size.
And if that's you, you may wantto consider getting a low
silicone insert, and we'll talkabout those in a moment.
But ideally the base of thenipple stays put at the base or
the beginning of the tube.
So that's kind of what we'relooking for.
(08:22):
So that's how you do a flangefitting and, like I said, that
may change over the course ofpumping in one session or over
the course of pumping over weeks, months, years, however long it
is that you're going to bepumping and or breastfeeding.
So another thing, anotherproduct you can consider is
there are silicone inserts, um,that come in packages and
(08:45):
they're smaller than the flangebut they go into the neck of the
flange and they oftentimes comein packs of four.
So they might have a variety ofsizes, like they might have 16,
17, 18, 19, and 20 millimeter,you know, depending on what's in
that package.
Or they might come in a packageof 19, 20, 21, 22 millimeter,
(09:05):
so they can help you whenthere's changing that happens
over the course of pumping.
Those can be a part that youjust kind of slip in.
And I do like the action of thesilicone, the contact point of
the silicone on the skin.
Yes, it's backed by hardplastic generally, but that
silicone can have a littlebetter contact point, not quite
(09:28):
like skin or baby's mouth, butthe contact point can be just a
little bit better and more humantouch like than a hard plastic
flange.
So silicone inserts are aproduct that I really like when
my clients use that.
So that's a little bit about.
Maybe you didn't want to knowall that about nipples but now
(09:49):
you do.
But kind of see what size andyou can ask a lactation
consultant to help you with this.
The benefits of having anappropriately fitted flange is
comfort.
Like you're some people.
Pumping is very uncomfortablefor them, if that you know.
If it's too large of a flangeor too small of a flange, they
(10:09):
can cause discomfort fordifferent reasons.
We don't want the whole nippleand areola being sucked all the
way to the end of the pump.
That's incredibly uncomfortableand also it can impact milk
supply.
We have pretty effective,comfortable and effective,
efficient milk supply when wehave a well-fitting flange.
So maybe you're a mom who has torely on a lot of pumping, maybe
(10:30):
your baby's in the NICU or forwhatever reason you're choosing
to pump and breastfeed.
Make sure your flange fits welland sometimes reassess A couple
of weeks down the road, kind ofreassess and see where things
are.
Other people may use somenipple butter, coconut oil.
They might want to lubricatethe nipple before using the pump
and the flange.
(10:50):
That can also increase comfortand reduce friction as we are
using pumps.
So that's a little bit aboutflange fitting.
Hopefully you can find a flangethat works best, fits best for
you, for your situation, thatwill help you most comfortably
get the most amount of milkwhile you are doing the awesome,
important job of pumping.
(11:11):
Thank you for being with mehere today on the Ordinary
Dealer Podcast.
Again, my name is Angie Rozier.
Hopefully you can do somethingtoday that inspires you,
something that makes you andothers feel wonderful.
Have a great day and I'll seeyou here next time.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Thank you for listening to the Ordinary Doula
podcast with Angie Rozier,hosted by Birth Learning.
Episode credits will be in theshow notes Tune in next time as
we continue to explore the manyaspects of giving birth.
Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with
Angie Rozier, hosted by BirthLearning, where we help prepare
folks for labor and birth withexpertise coming from 20 years
of experience in a busy doulapractice, helping thousands of
people prepare for labor,providing essential knowledge
and tools for positive andempowering birth experiences.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
Hello and welcome to the Ordinary Dealer Podcast.
My name is Angie Rozier, I'myour host and I am looking
forward to this time to spendwith you sharing a little bit of
little tidbits here and therethat can hopefully help you with
your labor, birth orbreastfeeding experience.
So today I want to talk aboutflange fitting.
(01:10):
So flanges are a piece of apump that fits onto the mom.
They are generally plastic,like a firm plastic, and they
are part of the pump.
It looks like a little like theend of a trumpet, if you will.
Is what a flange looks like.
If you aren't familiar with that, there are lots of different
(01:31):
pumps on the market and all ofthem will have a component where
the breast goes into the pump.
They have to right.
So that's the flange part.
Some of them it's the pump is,if you.
Depending on what type of pumpyou have, the flange is kind of
a freestanding piece.
Some of them the flange isinside of a cup when the pump
(01:52):
mechanism is closer to the body,sometimes down a tube.
The motor, you know, is on atube, and we'll talk about types
of pump in another podcast, butthis one is about the flange
fitting.
So nipples, as you can imagine,come in a variety of sizes and
shapes, diameters, lengths,elasticity.
There's a lot of componentsabout nipples that people need
(02:16):
to be aware of when they arechoosing a flange the
appropriate flange size for themand maybe you are you know,
maybe you're familiar with allthe different types of nipples
and breasts there are, but it'sa wide variety, so it could be
worthwhile and you can do thison your own.
You can have somebody help youif you are at a hospital that
has lactation consultants, oryou can meet with a lactation
(02:37):
consultant before you have ababy or after you have a baby.
Both are great.
Beforehand, you get prenatalpreparation customized to you
and your situation can help kindof put together, put to bed
some of those rests and concernsin the early days.
Maybe you wait till you havebaby in your arms and you kind
of know what you're working withmore to get help from a
lactation specialist, but youcan talk to them about measuring
(03:00):
for flange, the appropriateflange fit.
So I'll just give this littlecaveat.
In a perfect breastfeedingworld, we don't really even need
to touch a pump for three tofour weeks.
That's perfect, though, andthen there's reality, and
sometimes we do need to use apump long before two, three,
four weeks.
So this is where flangefittings can come in handy.
(03:22):
So what we're looking for isthe flange fitting.
Flanges come in different sizesand they're millimeters they
have numbers on them.
And the different sizes andthey're millimeters they have
numbers on them and the sizingsystem is based on millimeters.
So the size you need is basedon the size of nipple that you
have, Not areola, not thatdarkened part around the nipple,
(03:43):
but the actual nipple itself.
So there are little measuringtools A lactation consultant
would have them are littlemeasuring tools.
A lactation consultant wouldhave them.
Lots of people buy their own.
Some pump sets come with them,but they range.
The measuring tools range fromabout 10 millimeters to about 30
, 34 millimeters across.
So 34 millimeters, that's, youknow we're definitely over an
(04:03):
inch there, and then 10, we'rejust, you know, a fraction of an
inch.
So there's obviously differentsizes of nipples.
So these are little circularmeasuring tools and you find one
that goes over your nipple well, like that's not super tight or
super loose, but that's justkind of the perfect fit.
(04:26):
And perhaps you have a nipplethat the diameter is 18
millimeters is what goes, youknow, fits on the nipple the
best.
What you want to do with thatis add one to three millimeters
and sometimes that's even fourand five sometimes, so that's a
(04:47):
little ambiguous and then youadd those millimeters and that
would tell you your flange size.
For instance, if you measuredat 18 millimeters, you might
want to get a 21 millimeterflange size.
If you measured at 22millimeters, you might want to
get a 24 millimeter flange size.
(05:08):
Different pumps come withdifferent flange sizes.
If you were just to order anordinary pump, spectra is one of
my favorite pumps and they comewith two flange sizes.
Theirs are 21 and 24.
Some pumps come with a 24 and a27 or 24 and a 28.
And those are kind of big.
We're finding a lot of peopledon't need that big of a flange,
(05:30):
so you can order for a lot ofbrands.
They have a variety of flangesizes available.
So find out beyond just whatcomes with your pump, which one
works best for you.
So do that by measuring andthen add one to three or four
millimeters to the nipplediameter and that will tell you
(05:50):
what flange you could use.
And it's not a bad idea to havea couple of options around that
size, because things can change.
So let me tell you what we'relooking for when we fit a flange
.
Now we kind of know, let's say,we're going to use an 18
millimeter flange and you haveto test it with the pump on,
like the actual component ofsuction working.
So when we put a flange, thenthe flange ideally that the
(06:13):
flange is a left like a flutedopening that that tapers down
into a tube that goes into thepump.
That's where the milk dripsinto, right, where we collect
the milk.
So what we're looking for is inthat tube.
The nipple should go into thatlittle tube of the flange and it
should have some air space allthe way around it, Not tons, not
(06:33):
tons of air space, but some.
So it shouldn't be touching thesides of the flange.
If it's touching the sides ofthe flange, we need a larger
flange.
If it's got tons of air spacearound it, like you could run
circles around that nipple inthe tube, you could run circles
around that nipple in the in thetube.
(06:54):
You need, um, uh, you're goingto need a bigger, a smaller
flange, excuse me.
So we want just enough airspace around it that there is
space.
And then, once the pumpingmechanism turns on, this is how
we test flange size.
The the pump is going to tug orpull right, it's going to pull
that nipple um, in a suctioneffort.
It is going to tug or pullright, it's going to pull that
nipple in a suction effort it'sgoing to.
When that flange is flush withthe breast, it creates a seal
(07:16):
and then the vacuum pull of thepump pulls milk out and ideally
we want the base of the nipple,where the nipples flush with the
areola and starts to rise, thatremains at the base of the tube
.
So you've got, the flange isflat against the breast and that
nipple should kind of remain atthe base of the tube.
We don't want the the areolabehind the base of the nipple
(07:39):
being sucked deep into the pump.
Now, this is also incrediblyvariable as well, and this
actually can change over thecourse of a pumping session and
over the course of abreastfeeding experience.
So the elasticity of the nipplehas a lot to do with how far
that comes in.
Some people have incrediblyelastic nipples that are just
(08:01):
going to suck far down into theflange, the tube of the flange,
regardless of the size.
And if that's you, you may wantto consider getting a low
silicone insert, and we'll talkabout those in a moment.
But ideally the base of thenipple stays put at the base or
the beginning of the tube.
So that's kind of what we'relooking for.
(08:22):
So that's how you do a flangefitting and, like I said, that
may change over the course ofpumping in one session or over
the course of pumping over weeks, months, years, however long it
is that you're going to bepumping and or breastfeeding.
So another thing, anotherproduct you can consider is
there are silicone inserts, um,that come in packages and
(08:45):
they're smaller than the flangebut they go into the neck of the
flange and they oftentimes comein packs of four.
So they might have a variety ofsizes, like they might have 16,
17, 18, 19, and 20 millimeter,you know, depending on what's in
that package.
Or they might come in a packageof 19, 20, 21, 22 millimeter,
(09:05):
so they can help you whenthere's changing that happens
over the course of pumping.
Those can be a part that youjust kind of slip in.
And I do like the action of thesilicone, the contact point of
the silicone on the skin.
Yes, it's backed by hardplastic generally, but that
silicone can have a littlebetter contact point, not quite
(09:28):
like skin or baby's mouth, butthe contact point can be just a
little bit better and more humantouch like than a hard plastic
flange.
So silicone inserts are aproduct that I really like when
my clients use that.
So that's a little bit about.
Maybe you didn't want to knowall that about nipples but now
(09:49):
you do.
But kind of see what size andyou can ask a lactation
consultant to help you with this.
The benefits of having anappropriately fitted flange is
comfort.
Like you're some people.
Pumping is very uncomfortablefor them, if that you know.
If it's too large of a flangeor too small of a flange, they
(10:09):
can cause discomfort fordifferent reasons.
We don't want the whole nippleand areola being sucked all the
way to the end of the pump.
That's incredibly uncomfortableand also it can impact milk
supply.
We have pretty effective,comfortable and effective,
efficient milk supply when wehave a well-fitting flange.
So maybe you're a mom who has torely on a lot of pumping, maybe
(10:30):
your baby's in the NICU or forwhatever reason you're choosing
to pump and breastfeed.
Make sure your flange fits welland sometimes reassess A couple
of weeks down the road, kind ofreassess and see where things
are.
Other people may use somenipple butter, coconut oil.
They might want to lubricatethe nipple before using the pump
and the flange.
(10:50):
That can also increase comfortand reduce friction as we are
using pumps.
So that's a little bit aboutflange fitting.
Hopefully you can find a flangethat works best, fits best for
you, for your situation, thatwill help you most comfortably
get the most amount of milkwhile you are doing the awesome,
important job of pumping.
(11:11):
Thank you for being with mehere today on the Ordinary
Dealer Podcast.
Again, my name is Angie Rozier.
Hopefully you can do somethingtoday that inspires you,
something that makes you andothers feel wonderful.
Have a great day and I'll seeyou here next time.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Thank you for listening to the Ordinary Doula
podcast with Angie Rozier,hosted by Birth Learning.
Episode credits will be in theshow notes Tune in next time as
we continue to explore the manyaspects of giving birth.
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