Returning to school in 3 weeks - Pumping ?s

[shapiro-strano]

I have been lucky to be at home primarily with my son, who nursed until self weaning at 2.5, and my daughter who is nursing strong at 6 months. I am in school now though and will need to be away from my daughter on Monday and Wednesday from 11:45 until close to 5pm. Having never needed to pump for my son, he refused anything other than fresh from the source, I have lots of questions!

1. How much should I expect a 7 month old (when school starts she will be 7 months) to need during those hours away? She nurses every 2-3 hours during the day and often cluster nurses during the day as frequently as every 45min-1hr. We do cosleep and I expect her to nurse more at night when I am gone more during the day.

2. I have a Medela PIS and plan to pump between classes. My school has a great new and nice lactation room for mamas! So that is nice to have a private spot for that other than a ladies room. Should I just pump once in between? And how do I store it if I bringing it home?

3. I started pumping today to build a stash in the freezer. I have about 3 weeks until class begins and want to try to pump as much as I can before. How often should I pump to build the stash? I find it hard to work in pumping when she wants to nurse so much!

4. I was only able to pump 1.5 ounces in about 10 minutes today. Is that a normal amount? How can I increase my pumping output?

Thanks to all you pumpin' mamas for the advice!

[kanga1622]

If I were you, I'd try to pump at least twice during your time apart. Generally you would want to pump every 2 to 3 hours. If you find that you produce more than you need, you can always drop down to 1 pumping session in the middle of your day. A lot of your pumping schedule would depend also on when baby last nursed before you left.

I found it hard to pump before going back to work because I just didn't have time between nursings. What I eventually figured out was that I needed to pump after putting DS down for his first morning nap. This was often about an hour after he'd last eaten, but it was the only time I could find to get 20 minutes to pump and still generally have an hour before he'd be up wanting to nurse again. I had a fairly small freezer stash before going to work (maybe 40 ounces) but now pump more than he eats so I have tons in the freezer. I still pump that session 7 days a week now even though that's all extra for the freezer.

1.5 ounces sounds great. I pump for 20 minutes each session and generally get 3-3.5 ounces total. I find that compressions during letdown help quite a bit for me - one side just seems to flow better so when that one starts going, I start compressions on the other side to keep a more even pumping session.

I know my PISA came with a little cooler bag with an ice pack that's just right for 4 of the 5 ounce bottles. That should easily keep everything cool while you are in school and then you can transfer to fridge/freezer when you get home.

My DS is 5 months and I leave 3 ounce bottles for him when I'm at work. He generally eats every 2.5-3 hours when I'm gone and more frequently after I return from work. He was eating a bit more often before I returned to work and then spaced out his daytime feedings a bit once he started getting bottles.

Bottom line - every baby is a bit different but I think if you plan for about an ounce an hour that you are away, that is a great place to start. After a couple of weeks, you'll figure out what works best for the two of you.

[JudiAU]

I would aim for at least two pumping sessions. The car adapater works well so you might fine a car session is easy too.

3-4-5 oz bottles are all normal. My babies would probably have eaten 2 bottles during that time.

The room likely has a refrigerator or fridge/freezer; if not considering asking the school to add one. It would be nice to be able to leave your pump there, put the ice pack in the freezer, milk in the fridge, and then take it all home. Otherwise, if you do need to carry it, the ice pack that comes with PISA will be fine during that time frame.

I found "double pumping" helpful when building a stash. Pump ten minutes, take a shower, pump ten minutes. Great way to build a supply and the shower helps you get a second let down.