Returning to work this week, how often to pump during the day?

[greenmulberry]

I am going to return to work this coming Thursday, and work half days for about that Thurs and Fri and most or all of the next week before returning full time. The full time days will be a regular 8 to 5 day with hour lunch, half time would be 1 to 5, and the place I work for is very accommodating about helping me pump.

I am wondering how often I should plan to pump while at work? On the half days and the full days? DD just kind of nurses all day long right now so we don't have a schedule. She will be home with DH. We have talked about him maybe bringing her over to my work to nurse for lunch if he feels that is something that will be good for them to do. I am letting him decide if that is worth the trouble (and gas) for them.

Anyway, I am kind of freaking out about the logistics of this. my return date snuck up on me! I do have about 10 ounces of milk frozen, but we have not given DD a bottle in a long time and she was not too happy about it the last time although I convinced her to drink it. We are going to try again this weekend if I can get her to take a long nap so she will be hungry enough to go for the bottle (she tends to only catnap so it is hard to catch her when she is hungry enough to go for a non boob meal).

Any thoughts on this? I just want to know it is going to be OK.

[hildare]

oh, it's going to be just fine!!!  you can do it. 

i pumped for 10 months, and we're still going strong.

the best resources i found were www.workandpump.com  and the kellly mom site, specifically here. 

those should answer lots of questions for you!  good luck and congratulations.

eta it's awesome that you have the option of lunchtime nursing, i bet you'll decide it's worthwhile vs. gas.  plus your dh will probably want to get out of the house!  :)

as far as bottles go: my dd wouldn't take one from me, ever.  only other people.  she knew the source was nearby.  if you do have problems, many times they can drink from a cup, too. 

[neonalee]

Oh I so remember that feeling!  You will be surprised how quickly you figure it out and how routine it becomes.  I have OS/OALD and I usually pump 4 times a day.  DS usually nurses around 4 am, I get up at 4:45.  He was usually nursing from the same side all night, so I pump the other side.  Then he nurses at 6 and I get to work at 7:30.  Then I pump at 8, 10, 1, 3:30.  I usually get 16 oz total.  Daycare gives him  four 4 oz bottles (he's 8.5 now) but he started with 2 and 3 oz bottles, um, maybe 12 oz for the day? when he was 3 and 4 months.  I can't remember when he went up to 16 oz.  There is another new mom at my work who also pumps 3 and 4 times while at work, but, for comparison, one of the moms that recently stopped pumping only pumped 2 or 3 times while at work.  I'm not sure what the amount they are pumping is.

Whatever I pump one day is given to daycare the next day.  On friday what I pump goes into the freezer.  If I feel like pumping or need to for some reason over the weekend I do and that goes to Monday's bottles.  Otherwise he gets frozen on Monday.

hth!

[greenmulberry]

Thanks! I am comforted by the fact that I can do some half days so DH can get into a groove with Ruby before doing full days. Right now she is a total boob addict who wants mommy all day.

[CI Mama]

The one recommendation I'd have is to experiment a bit to figure out what works best for you.

When I returned to work full time (when DD was 12 weeks), I pumped 3 times a day. Then I got assigned to jury duty one day and I couldn't do my morning pumping. And I discovered that I could pump twice a day (lunch and late afternoon) and still get the same amount of milk! That was such a relief. I pumped twice a day after that, until DD was 1 year old.

Also, your LO may shift a lot of her nursing to night time, once she figures out that you're not around all day. There are pros & cons to that...it's a great way to stay connected, but (in my experience) can be a bit rough in terms of getting adequate sleep.

I highly recommend setting up lunchtime visits for nursing, even if it's only once or twice a week. I have a regular "lunch date" with my DD on Thursdays, and it's so helpful for both of us in terms of getting through the week. And my co-workers love seeing DD on a regular basis.

Good luck!!!!

[LittleBirdy]

You can do it mama!  I have been back to work FT since DS was 12 weeks old, he's 9 months now and we're still nursing!

When I first went back to work, I pumped once in the morning and once in the afternoon and then I went to daycare at noon to nurse DS.  I found I could not pump enough for him, and I was really stressed out about it which only made things harder.  Some days I remember getting only 4 ounces the entire day!  We did begin to supplement with formula and I was really hard on myself about it, but once I let go of the guilt I found I was happier and I was able to pump more.  I'm not trying to scare you, or to make it sound like supplementing is something you should expect to have to do, but I was so afraid it would jeopordize our nursing relationship and it totally hasn't.  At around 5 months I stopped the lunch time nursing because DS was too distractable to eat.  I pumped 3 times a day after that, but like PP noted some days I would get busy and only pump 2 times and I found I still got the same amount of milk.  So now I pump twice a day, and I plan to continue doing so until DS is 1 year.

DS was not on any sort of eating schedule either.  He and his daycare teacher just sort of worked it out, you know?  And he refused his first couple of bottles the first day, but then in the afternoon he just sort of figured it out - this is how we eat when mama is not here.  (Although he started making up for the lack of boobie time at night, but that's a whole 'nother story.)

Oh, and on the half days I would probably just pump once, unless you have a really long commute to get to work or something.

Those first days and weeks will be hard but I promise everything will be ok, it really will!

[greenmulberry]

I do have a thing of formula powder in the pantry that we bought when we came home from the hospital, I was so scared my milk would never come in because I had a really disappointing labor and I thought my body must surely be broken. But I never needed it so it is a nice emergency back up.

I am not opposed to a little formula if that is what it takes, but I have a pretty good milk supply I think. I do have about 16 ounces frozen now, so hopefully that is enough to get me through any initial bumps as we get our pumping rhythm down.

OK, I am feeling better about this!

[JudiAU]

Usually women nurse before they leave babe, nurse when they see babe, and pump three times during the day. If you aren't already, add a pumping session every morning and every evening to help build stash and build your supply. I'd double pump for at least one of those times. Pump 10m take a shower and pump 10m. Most babies would take between 3-4 3-4-5 ounce bottles during that time. Most report around 3 4 oz or 4 3 onz or some mix. It does not generally incease as they get older and some older babies 11m ish will drop a bottle.

[CI Mama]

Originally Posted by greenmulberry 

I do have a thing of formula powder in the pantry that we bought when we came home from the hospital, I was so scared my milk would never come in because I had a really disappointing labor and I thought my body must surely be broken. But I never needed it so it is a nice emergency back up.

I am not opposed to a little formula if that is what it takes, but I have a pretty good milk supply I think. I do have about 16 ounces frozen now, so hopefully that is enough to get me through any initial bumps as we get our pumping rhythm down.

OK, I am feeling better about this!

I just want to let you know that I, too, had a formula "back up" and it was totally worth the peace of mind. I needed to know that if for some reason I couldn't pump enough, my DD wasn't going to starve. I was lousy at pumping at home on the weekends, so we never had much of a freezer stash. I would pump at work, and DD would consume the next day. As it turns out, we did use formula a little bit, and I feel totally OK with that. It didn't negatively impact my nursing relationship. In fact, that relationship is so good that it's still going...and DD is now almost 31 months old! 
 

[sawingjello]

I went back to work full time when my baby was 13 weeks old.  I began pumping once a day about a month before hand so I had a freezer stash built up.  I had also done that so I could have someone give him a bottle once a week or so while I ran an errand so I knew he would take one.

For the first week I pumped once and visited him on lunch.  Since then I have pumped twice a day.  Baby is 8 months and we are still going strong.  Some days I pump less and it makes me nervous, other days I pump more and feel much better.  He averages 11 ounces a day at daycare.  This has been the same since he was about 6 month.  I usually pump a bit more than that and freeze the extra.

It helps if your daycare provider knows not to over-feed them.  If they do that then the baby nurses less with you at home and your supply goes down. The nursing and working sites listed previously have ideas for this.

[JudiAU]

Just wanted to add that almost everyone who doesn't use a daycare, reuses milk from one feeding to the next. If babe doesn't finish bottle, it goes into the next bottle if there is more than an ounce. If this happens across many bottles I wouldn't hold at the end of the day but if it is the last bottle of the day we hold overnight. It isn't "recommended" but again, every pumping mother I know with a healthy term thriving infant does it without a problem. We didn't when DH was a SAHD and I had too much milk anyway. But I was always a bit short with DD and we have a nanny fine. Never, ever have had a problem. 

[matty02]

I was only able to pump once a day at work with both children. I nursed before work on one side and pumped on the other side. At work I pumped at lunch and then I nursed as soon as I got home. My first baby did not want bottles and didn't drink much while I was gone. I was also able to pump more with him. My second was an efficient nurser and I had a much harder time pumping with her. I ended up giving her one bottle of formula a day at daycare. At first I felt guilty but then I realized she was fed, happy, and the rest of her feedings were breast milk. My first refused thawed milk but with this next baby I am hoping I can build up a stash and she will take it. At least I know if I need to use that one bottle of formula she will be okay. Where I work now I should be able to pump twice a day if I need to. Good luck! Both my children nursed for 18 and 19 months with me working full time! You can do it!

[greenmulberry]

Originally Posted by JudiAU 

Just wanted to add that almost everyone who doesn't use a daycare, reuses milk from one feeding to the next. If babe doesn't finish bottle, it goes into the next bottle if there is more than an ounce. If this happens across many bottles I wouldn't hold at the end of the day but if it is the last bottle of the day we hold overnight. It isn't "recommended" but again, every pumping mother I know with a healthy term thriving infant does it without a problem. We didn't when DH was a SAHD and I had too much milk anyway. But I was always a bit short with DD and we have a nanny fine. Never, ever have had a problem. 

This is good to know. She had a bit of a bottle strike yesterday on my first full day back at work and about 4 ounces got wasted. We dumped it because the guide that came with my pump says to toss out if she doesn't eat it once warmed. I have a hard time pumping a days worth while at work so i will tell him to try it in the next bottle if she refuses.