The End of One Journey and The Beginning of Another: Medela Recycles

One of my favorite things about being a blogger is when I get to team up with brands that truly care and that I truly care about. Medela is one of those brands for me, so I was thrilled when they asked me to be an ambassador for their Medela Recycles program. The program has created a beautiful and practical way for moms to support one another. The end of one mom’s breastfeeding journey and parting ways with her pump can now mark the start of another mom’s breastfeeding journey.

Because my own Medela breastpump was such a big part of my motherhood journey with Fern, teaming up with them was such a meaningful experience for me. If you’ve followed along with our family since the early days, you may recall that I struggled something fierce when it came to nursing her. Even though breastfeeding was supposed to be the most natural thing in the world, it definitely didn’t come naturally for me. I had low supply issues and as such using a pump was a quintessential part of my daily breastfeeding routine. I remember pumping, pumping and pumping some more – not just so I could have extra milk to bottle-feed my baby, but to simply encourage the increase in my supply. Not only was I becoming BFFs with my pump, but there was also another Medela-using mama who was pumping for me so that my daughter could have donated breast milk. We were basically one, big happy Medela family and I am so grateful that I had to tools I needed to make feeding my baby a possibility.

The End of One Journey and The Beginning of Another: Medela Recycles // via The Little Things We Do

Photo by Lisa Warninger

As part of the Medela Recycles program, moms who are finished with their personal-use breastpumps, can send them in to be recycled and in exchange for the pumps received through the program, Medela will donate two brand new Symphony Preemie+ breastpumps and breastfeeding supplies to Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) across the country. The goal is to provide NICU mothers with the same high-quality equipment they use at the hospital during their time at RMHC and since nearly 40% of the families that RMHC serves are caring for babies in the NICU, the demand for easily accessible pumps is great.

Nursing was hard enough for me with a perfectly healthy baby, so I cannot even imagine what it would be like with a baby in the NICU.

As part of my ambassadorship with Medela, I had the opportunity to visit the  Ronald McDonald house here in Portland to donate two of these medical grade pumps to the house and it was such a wonderful experience!

Medela Recycles // via The Little Things We Do

We were able to take a tour of the house and I was so impressed with the work that RMHC is doing for families. For very little to no cost, families are able to stay here while their children at at OHSU up the hill, receiving the quality care they need. The facility itself was wonderful (you can take a little tour here), but even more wonderful were the people I met who were so dedicated to making the lives of families better during challenging situations.

The End of One Journey and The Beginning of Another: Medela Recycles // via The Little Things We Do The End of One Journey and The Beginning of Another: Medela Recycles // via The Little Things We Do

After the tour, I was able to give a brief spiel about why this program, my ambassadorship and the work that Medela is doing is so important to me. I got through it without any emotional tears or turning too pink, which is a solid success considering my fear of public speaking.

The End of One Journey and The Beginning of Another: Medela Recycles // via The Little Things We Do

I am so thankful for the opportunity to be even just a small part of this program and another mama’s breastfeeding journey!

If you have an old pump lying around, I would encourage you to visit the Medela site where you can print out a free shipping label and recycle your pump. They make it super easy! So far 2,800 pumps have been donated, but the goal for the year is 12,000. Let’s make it happen!

xo

Lauren

Comments

  1. Emily M says:

    Thank you so much for posting about this! I have 2 pumps sitting in my closet that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with now that I’m done with them. So happy I can do some good with them 🙂

  2. This is great, Lauren! I’ll totally repost on my own site. And donate my own, of course. Thanks so much for doing this important work!!

    -Kate

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