PumpTok Is Taking Over Social Media. But Is It Helping Or Hurting New Moms?

Yahoo

4 days ago

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The video starts as Breanna Seibel reaches into her blue tie-dyed sports bra to pull the portable pumps off her breasts. As TLC's 'Waterfalls' plays in the background, Seibel, clad in an oversize green T-shirt, her blonde hair pulled back from her face, pours her breast milk into bottles; there is so much milk that she needs to use two. The TikTok capture, which has been viewed over 16 million times since Seibel posted it in February of 2023, is hashtagged #pumpinglife and #breastmilksupply.
The 32-year-old mom from Wisconsin started posting pumping content after her twins—a boy and a girl—were born prematurely at 24 weeks. She wasn't prepared to begin pumping or breastfeeding and didn't even own a pump when the twins were born. Three weeks later, her son tragically passed away. Nurses and lactation consultants told Seibel she could pump less if she wanted, since she didn't need to produce as much milk.
'I just decided I didn't want to do that,' she says. 'I wanted to donate the milk to another baby in honor of my son. My body was producing milk for two, and I wanted to feed two.' And so she did—and shared the process with the world. Now, her account, @breannaseibel, on which she posts mostly pumping content, has over 214,500 followers.
Welcome to #pumptok, the corner of TikTok where nursing moms share videos of their successes in one of the oldest physical feats known to womankind: producing breast milk. The videos often have an ASMR quality, with creators sliding their breast pumps toward the camera's lens to show how much milk they've pumped before pouring it all into aesthetically pleasing glass and plastic bottles. The amplified sound of splashing milk takes center stage. The women tap their nails on the containers as they show their haul. 52 ounce morning pump 12 weeks postpartum, reads the caption of one popular video. Morning pump oversupply, reads another.
On PumpTok, pumping 12, 25, or even 50 ounces per session is not unusual, and an 'oversupply,' which means the mom produced more milk than a baby drinks in a day, is the norm. In the comments section, other moms bemoan their own smaller pump outputs and tiny freezer stashes. Me watching with 2 oz of milk combined, reads one comment on a video of a mom pouring her stash into a large glass bottle. Not only are these PumpTok moms able to feed their babies for the day after a single pump session, but many of them also have intricately organized freezer stashes of their frozen milk.
For context, newborns drink up to an ounce in the first 72 hours, then one to three ounces per feed in the first few weeks. Between 1 and 6 months old, babies tend to consume around three to four ounces of milk per feed, according to the Cleveland Clinic. So, for women consuming PumpTok content and wondering if they don't make enough milk, Kelsey Klaas, MD, a pediatrician at Mayo Clinic Children's, says these massive amounts being shown in the videos are 'outliers.'
And although everyone is different—and supply depends on several factors, including the baby's age and how long the pumping session lasts—Dr. Klaas says that, on average, women usually pump between two and three ounces in one session. Over a 24-hour period, someone who exclusively pumps and uses that milk to feed their baby from a bottle (a practice known as 'exclusive pumping') might expect to get between 24 and 30 ounces, Dr. Klaas says. But that's the result of an entire day of pumping, not one session.
'The numbers add stress in a lot of ways,' Dr. Klaas says of the stats in the videos and their effect on other moms. She also emphasizes that moms should start to worry about their supply only if their baby isn't going to the bathroom or gaining weight regularly. (Of course, if you have questions or concerns about your supply, you should always reach out to your doctor.)
Comparing and Competing
Although the creators on PumpTok claim that pumping isn't a competitive sport, the women who are scrolling through their videos feel as if it is. Shannon, a 30-year-old first-time mom who lives in Florida, stumbled across PumpTok after her son was born in the fall of 2024. 'I remember seeing these people pouring all this milk and thinking, Oh, that's so satisfying. I want to be able to produce like that,' she says.
As Shannon scrolled and watched the women of PumpTok pour wild amounts of breast milk per pumping session, she wondered: Am I doing something wrong? Why is my own output so much less? 'I definitely had some big feelings about it. There was definitely a sense of inferiority. And postpartum is such a vulnerable time anyway. You've got a lot of big feelings,' she says.
Shannon's not alone. There are so many new moms out there who worry they aren't producing enough milk—or are just trying to figure out how to get their baby to latch onto their nipple. And though breastfeeding and pumping can seem simple and natural if you're consuming PumpTok content, it's not easy for most women. 'I don't know if I've ever met a mom who hasn't at some point said, 'This is hard. I don't know what I'm doing,' ' says Dr. Klaas. Only 25 percent of moms were exclusively breastfeeding their babies by six months, per a recent State of Feeding report. Seventy-four percent were using formula, and 87 percent used a combination of breastfeeding, pumping, and formula.
Sunayana Weber, a lactation consultant in Austin, says her clients' perspectives on normal pumping outputs have been skewed by PumpTok. 'I think it just creates this doubt in a new parent's mind, and I feel like they're already in such a vulnerable place after having a baby,' she says. 'It's making it seem normal to have that much of an oversupply. And in my experience and in my practice, it's usually the exception rather than the norm.'
Weber's clients worry that they don't have enough of a stash of frozen milk or that they're not producing enough to feed their child. If a client is stressed, Weber will do regular weight checks to make sure the baby is gaining weight. 'We talk through a lot of different things before we decide that, yes, your baby is struggling to get milk and it's a supply issue.'
So, it makes sense that comparing themselves to PumpTok might make moms feel less than, says Kim Chappell, chief brand officer at Bobbie, an organic formula company that bills itself as supporting moms in their feeding journey, whether that means breastfeeding, formula feeding, or a combination of the two.
'I would just remind people that your ability to produce a certain number of ounces, your ability to breastfeed, your ability to turn to a formula of your choice—all of that does not determine your value or worth as a mother,' Chappell says. 'For a mom who's looking at [PumpTok] thinking she's a failure…is her baby safe? Is her baby loved? And is her baby fed? If it's a yes to all those questions, she's a freaking great mom.'
Questioning Reality
Competitive elements aside, the posts even make some 'just enougher' moms (read: mothers who produce 'just enough' breast milk to feed their babies) doubt their milk supply. And there is a question over how much of the PumpTok content is #sponsored, commissionable, or even real. 'I can't help but wonder if some of them have brand deals or commission deals with pump companies,' Weber says.
Jessica Nehus, a 31-year-old PumpTokker mom who goes by @exclusively.jess on TikTok and identifies as 'an exclusive pumping mama,' says she has been sent 20 free breast pumps by companies to test and use in her videos. She monetizes her content through the TikTok Creator Rewards Program and made $1,000 in May. (Sponsored posts must be labeled as such, according to TikTok's branded content policy. One popular PumpTok creator said she pays for her pumps herself but does receive a commission based on the sales her videos generate.)
Then there's the possibility of the platform paying creators for views: If a creator on TikTok has at least 10,000 followers, they're eligible for the TikTok Creator Rewards Program, through which they can be paid for the number of views they have on eligible videos longer than a minute. Seibel, for her part, says she wasn't paid for her super-viral 16-million-view video because it wasn't longer than one minute, but she does receive compensation for other videos that are over a minute and for ones that aren't duets or stitches (in which an original video is combined with an existing one).
PumpTok naysayers wonder if the moms are actually pumping that much milk or if they're only making it appear that way to get more views on their videos, which then might make them more money. In the comments section on TikTok videos and in Reddit threads, people ask: Is that actually all breast milk? Are these moms truly producing this much?
'I think a lot of people are either just making it look like all the milk they pumped that week is from one morning, or even cow's milk,' says Shannon, whose son is now 9 months old. 'I hope viewers are taking into account that it may or may not be real. It's just like any other form of media.'
Seibel has had people accuse her of faking her supply. 'Mine is 100 percent real, and it would be a lot of effort to fake that,' she says. In a TikTok video responding to questions about whether her milk is the real deal, Seibel tells viewers, as she pours, 'Why on earth would I do that? Why would I fake something like that?'
She shows the pump to the camera, pointing out that it's nearly impossible to get milk into the small opening of the breast pump attachment without suction. 'It would take forever. I'd have to, like, use a syringe.'
But Mackenzie, a 29-year-old mom who lives in Georgia, still has questions about PumpTok motives. 'Are they doing it just for show? Are they doing it to make money on TikTok?' she asks. At the same time, she, too, can't help but compare her own supply to what she's seeing online. 'I saw someone the other day where she said that her first pump in the morning was 50 ounces. That's five days' worth of pumping for me. It's just like, okay, how? What are you doing? Is it a me thing? Is it a them thing? Is it actually real? It just makes me question what I'm doing wrong more than anything. It is upsetting because you want to be able to do the exact same thing for your own baby.'
Turning PumpTok into Lemonade
That's not to say that the existence of PumpTok is creating only jealousy and comparison. Pumping can be a truly isolating experience. Often, new moms have to pump every 2 to 3 hours, 24 hours a day, and handle the cleaning and washing of pump parts as well as the labeling and storing of milk. It's no small task for a postpartum person, and though partners can help out in some ways, the nursing parent is the one who is attached to the pump multiple times a day.
In this context, PumpTok is almost revolutionary. The videos lift the curtain on an act that is often solitary and show the immense amount of work that goes into feeding a baby—and keeping it alive. And watching videos in which other moms are also grappling with the seemingly endless tasks of pumping can be comforting. In the comment sections of the videos, moms give each other advice and form a sort of virtual community.
'I think it can be really great, where a mom is scrolling in the middle of the night because she's up pumping or nursing her baby. If she runs across information of somebody else that's up pumping, it can definitely help her feel less isolated with her particular journey,' says Weber. This kind of documentation can also be awe-inspiring, says Dr. Klaas. 'How amazing is a human body to be able to produce that much milk?'
In a video viewed over 19 million times, Nehus, hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, pours 42 ounces of her breast milk into seven different bags. She doesn't say a word, instead letting the sound of gushing milk speak for itself. Her ASMR-style videos come together with quick cuts and crisp sound effects. The caption reads, in part: Happy bagging dayy. I love bagging milk. 'It's a creative outlet for me,' she says.
PumpTok has also been a way for Nehus to connect with other moms. 'The one thing I didn't expect from it—because I do think learning to navigate motherhood can be a little lonely—is that you can meet really amazing people through social media.' Later this summer, she's planning on meeting up with two other PumpTok creators in real life. 'I never thought I'd make friends doing this,' she says.
Seibel has another goal in mind too: She hopes her content can help fight the stigma of breastfeeding and pumping. 'It helps normalize it, because it's not something that we should be ashamed of,' she says. 'There's, for some reason, this shame and guilt, [like] it's dirty or sexual. And it's not. We're just doing what our bodies are designed to do.'
While she understands that the videos of her incredible oversupply could make other women feel inferior, a good portion of her content is focused on providing insights and information for other women on their pumping journeys. She shows them her pumping schedule and what she eats and drinks to stay nourished and hydrated, all with the aim of producing more milk. 'So, it might be hard to see, but it really is helping people with an undersupply, through tips and then through donations as well,' Seibel says.
Seibel gives her leftover breast milk to milk banks and other families in need, and she urges her followers to do the same. And though she has more breast milk than she needs, she hopes other moms don't compare themselves to her. 'My wins don't take away from anybody else's wins or make their wins smaller,' she says. 'Even one drop of breast milk has so many benefits. It's unbelievable.'
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