Many moms want a hands-free pumping experience. In the first few months of motherhood, a lot of time is spent breastfeeding or pumping, and unless you’ve got around-the-clock help, you’ll have other tasks to do. 

The kitchen has to be cleaned, there’s usually laundry waiting to be folded, emails need answering, and the older child wants you to tie her shoe—again. Being a mom can be stressful, and stress affects breast milk production, not to mention our role as a wife, mother, friend, and every other place we fit into. 

I can vividly remember those first feelings of excitement, confusion, panic, and overwhelming joy when I first found out I was pregnant. I was the wife of a junior enlisted service member who had just returned from his first deployment to Iraq, and this was exactly what we wanted after a year of chaos. Our future might be uncertain and our time in the military might be unclear, but our family path was carving itself out and we couldn’t be happier. 

For some of you, this might be your first baby, your third, or maybe you are further along on your journey to gathering your family together. Maybe you’re doing this without your partner nearby, maybe your family is close or maybe they are hundreds of miles away. One thing is for certain: you don’t have to be alone. There are many resources available to support you, including when you’ve made the decision to breastfeed or pump for your baby.