# Breast pumps Technology · id `maternal:breast-pump` · Maternal & Newborn Atlas · release `c7fb95f1d15a7d13` (public) > General information from published sources, not medical advice, and not reviewed by clinicians. Check the cited source before relying on anything here. The atlas's own text and curation may be reused under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/): credit the atlas, and do not use it commercially. See the atlas About page. Text quoted from a source stays under that source's own terms, given as the source's reuse\_basis. The atlas's reuse terms do not cover it. The downloads list each quotation with its source in third\_party\_quotations. Browse, life stage: Postpartum Browse, care area: Breastfeeding and lactation ## In plain language A breast pump is a device a breastfeeding woman uses to express (draw out) her milk. FDA regulates breast pumps as medical devices. The pump can also be used to keep up or increase milk supply or to relieve engorged breasts and plugged milk ducts. ## Technical summary FDA's consumer page (content current as of 26 March 2018) calls breast pumps medical devices regulated by FDA and describes their uses. Only the landing page was read; the sub-pages on types, choosing, buying, using and cleaning a pump, and any FDA clearance record, were not. The page is general information, not medical advice. The recipient is the breastfeeding mother. ## Claims, with the population each applies to ## Context: Women who use a breast pump (FDA consumer page) Recipient: Maternal; Population: Women who breastfeed or express breast milk, as the FDA consumer page on breast pumps addresses them.; Care setting: Home, work and travel (the page mentions returning to work and travelling).; Geography: United States (FDA consumer page); Life stage: The period of lactation after birth; Gestational age: Not reported; Postnatal age: Not reported; Follow-up: Not applicable (consumer information). ### FDA's consumer page says breast pumps are medical devices regulated by FDA. It says they are often used by breastfeeding women to express their breast milk, and can also be used to maintain or increase milk supply and to relieve engorged breasts and plugged milk ducts. FDA says a pump can be used as a supplement to breastfeeding and that some pumps are designed to mimic the suckling of a nursing baby. The page states that it gives general information and is not intended to provide medical advice. - Category: Regulatory - Evidence stage: Guidance - Certainty: Certainty not assessed - Applies to: Recipient: Maternal; Population: Women who breastfeed or express breast milk, as the FDA consumer page on breast pumps addresses them.; Care setting: Home, work and travel (the page mentions returning to work and travelling).; Geography: United States (FDA consumer page); Life stage: The period of lactation after birth; Gestational age: Not reported; Postnatal age: Not reported; Follow-up: Not applicable (consumer information). - Limitations: The page says its content was current as of 26 March 2018, so it is more than eight years old. Only the landing page was read, not the pages on choosing, buying, using or cleaning a pump, and no FDA clearance record for a particular pump was read. The page does not say which pump types are cleared for which uses. - Last checked: 2026-10-15 - Sources: 1. Supports: Breast Pumps (FDA consumer page) (Regulator, edition FDA consumer page as shown on 2026-10-15; it says content current as of 03/26/2018, so it is more than eight years old. Only the landing page was read, not the sub-pages on choosing, buying or cleaning a pump.) Locator: Paragraph 1, sentence 1. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:54Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: bdb383531b62377eb380fd6c4ebbbc85a00ae70a78b2a901e377834f33070688. How it applies: FDA web page. 2. Supports: Breast Pumps (FDA consumer page) (Regulator, edition FDA consumer page as shown on 2026-10-15; it says content current as of 03/26/2018, so it is more than eight years old. Only the landing page was read, not the sub-pages on choosing, buying or cleaning a pump.) Locator: Paragraph 1, sentence 2. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:54Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: bdb383531b62377eb380fd6c4ebbbc85a00ae70a78b2a901e377834f33070688. How it applies: FDA web page. 3. Supports: Breast Pumps (FDA consumer page) (Regulator, edition FDA consumer page as shown on 2026-10-15; it says content current as of 03/26/2018, so it is more than eight years old. Only the landing page was read, not the sub-pages on choosing, buying or cleaning a pump.) Locator: Paragraph 1, sentences 2 and 3. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:54Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: bdb383531b62377eb380fd6c4ebbbc85a00ae70a78b2a901e377834f33070688. How it applies: FDA web page. 4. Supports: Breast Pumps (FDA consumer page) (Regulator, edition FDA consumer page as shown on 2026-10-15; it says content current as of 03/26/2018, so it is more than eight years old. Only the landing page was read, not the sub-pages on choosing, buying or cleaning a pump.) Locator: Paragraph 2, sentence 2. Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:54Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: bdb383531b62377eb380fd6c4ebbbc85a00ae70a78b2a901e377834f33070688. How it applies: FDA web page. 5. Background: Breast Pumps (FDA consumer page) (Regulator, edition FDA consumer page as shown on 2026-10-15; it says content current as of 03/26/2018, so it is more than eight years old. Only the landing page was read, not the sub-pages on choosing, buying or cleaning a pump.) Locator: Paragraph 3, sentence 1 (part). Retrieved 2026-10-15T13:49:54Z. Source state: Current. Snapshot hash: bdb383531b62377eb380fd6c4ebbbc85a00ae70a78b2a901e377834f33070688. How it applies: FDA web page (context for the claim). ## Connected pages - Expressing milk: Breastfeeding (`maternal:breastfeeding`) - Filed under this front: Newborn support: warmth, breathing, feeding (`maternal:front-newborn-support`) ## Provenance Content hash: 4133fe56c4c51e9e96fb788893bded70d7ab4ce6cfd8a3a35cdc245e658d3384 Last substantive edit: 2026-10-15 Evidence last checked: 2026-10-15