Introducing “What’s in Your Pumping Bag,” a series featuring moms who give us a peek into their pump bags and lives.
For the first installment, we met up with Andrea, CEO and Founder of SimpliFed — the platform democratizing access to baby feeding and breastfeeding services. A biomedical engineer and mom of two, Andrea has built a game-changing service that provides evidence-based and inclusive virtual support to parents no matter how they choose to feed their babies.
What are your pumping and breastfeeding essentials?
First things first, I have an essential mantra: ‘Everything has to work for me.’ That’s how I [approach] my pumping experience and my pumping bag! I don’t want to suffer with feeding. If I’m suffering, then that doesn’t work.
Now, let’s get into it.
- My Willow is always with me.
- I always have my nursing cover that’s machine washable, feels comfortable, and is more like a scarf than a giant blanket.
I use a nipple shield. Real talk, it’s better for my mental health. I had really bad nipple pain in my first week.
A breastfeeding pillow — I like Boppy and My Breast Friend.
Willow 360™ Wearable Breast Pump
Willow 360™ Wearable Breast Pump
Willow 360 is designed with a zero-gravity latch to give you 360° of leak-proof mobility. It's the hands-free breast pump that changed the game.
Cleaning on the go is so important! What are you cleaning must-haves?
I carry two cleaning options: soap in a travel pack and pumping wipes so I can clean in a pinch. [I also have] microwave bags [for sanitizing my pump parts] when traveling, plus a small tupperware that I can use as a station when I’m hand washing.
Any travel tips?
I print out TSA guidance if I’m traveling on a plane so I can let them know my rights [and have that information] at my fingertips.
What’s your go-to pump bag?
I love my Willow pump bag because it doesn’t look like a pumping bag and I can fit some professional things like a laptop in there. It’s important that I don’t have a million bags! So I use my pumping bag as a [work bag] too. The bag is so well designed and useful. I learned the hard way that if you have to travel with all the things, you may as well get something that’s streamlined and cute!
Willow Pump Anywhere Bag
Willow Pump Anywhere Bag
Keep your pump safe and your milk cold on the go! This sleek, compact bag with removable milk cooler holds your pumping essentials as a backpack, crossbody, or shoulder bag.
What’s the most important item in your bag?
When I’m out and about with my baby, it’s really important for me to have that nipple shield. It allows me to [nurse in addition to] pumping and protects my body and my mental health. I love having this nursing cover as well. I know it’s my right to breastfeed in public, but I feel more comfortable when I’m covered. It also helps protect my baby from direct sunlight.
What self-care item(s) are in your bag for YOU?
My AirPods!
Favorite on-the-go snack?
I’m a hangry person! I have lots of snacks in my pumping bag. Like my fiber snacks! I need them — after birth I was constipated, and things weren’t moving. I have to have my fiber crackers on me.
What is your #1 piece of advice for moms returning to work?
Design a plan that works for you. Work with a lactation consultant: things don’t have to go POORLY to work with one! I recently returned to work and I worked with a LC to create that plan.
I work remotely, but I also travel and I needed a plan that would untether me, [allow me to] travel for work and travel for fun, and [support] my goal of giving my baby breastmilk [while] protecting my mental health and supply.
For example, I read a blog post about a swivel desk [that I got] that makes it easier to feed and hold your baby, and still work comfortably from the couch without missing a beat.
What keeps you motivated throughout the day?
Knowing everything that my team and I work on is making an impact. That we are making things easier for moms and protecting their physical and mental health [when it comes to] feeding. Everything we do leads to supporting moms and their confidence.
[Personally], I’ve been able to accomplish my goals based on the support I’ve received physically and through services and great medical devices [like Willow]. It’s time for more women to claim access to the technology and services that can better support them. There’s a lot of data that shows that in the first half of the last century, automating household tasks freed women. Now with feeding our babies, we need to [once again] embrace and demand technology that untethers us.
What do you wish you could keep in your pumping bag?
Jeni’s ice cream! It’s this great women-led company out of Columbus Ohio, and I love it so much. It’s my treat to myself every night after working and keeping the kids alive.
Final piece of advice for other new moms?
Truly — make things work for you. Don’t [try and] fit the mold of what people think you should look like/be like/act like. Don’t be ashamed if you bring tupperware traveling! If you have to use a nipple shield, do it. If you have to eat fiber snacks to poop — DO IT.
