Pumping/Working Mom Challenge...

[rozziemama]

I suppose this targets the full time working moms who I hope have some BTDT advice...

I've been successfully EBF'ing DS2 (~17 weeks old), and just as with DS1, it just has been going really well... I am convinced something like half and half comes out of my boobs because he's enormous and nurses for like 5 minutes at the longest and only ever on one side at a time.

With DS1, I breastfed for 16 months. I returned to work at 12 weeks and pumped until his first birthday when I continued to BF but happily gave my pump to another new mom to borrow, since DS could drink milk now and was eating a lot of solid food, etc. I felt great having pumped for 9 straight months, and never giving formula. I can state definitively that breastfeeding while working full time was 100% a success with DS1.

So, now I'm back at work and, much to the chagrin of my nipples, back at the pump again. Only this time, my job is much more intense (it's the same place I was working four years ago but I've since been promoted and have a lot more responsibility... days are FULL when I'm here). I am lucky my work is supportive of my need to pump, I can pump at my desk, so I can multi task, but I am having SO MUCH TROUBLE this time. I know I have plenty of supply when I'm at home, but I am afraid that I just can't find the time to pump the 15-17 ounces of milk DS2 needs while I'm gone. I'm feeling super stressed out about it (which I know doesn't help with production) but seriously it's so hard to fill a full bottle. Yesterday, I had back to back meetings and wasn't able to eat lunch until 3pm (!) because I had to spend all my "free time" pumping milk for DS. And I still only barely pumped 15 ounces in 9 hours.

DS is a big baby, and he chugs a 5 oz bottle very quickly. While he is clearly growing and so I guess getting enough food, I wouldn't be surprised if he were able to eat 8 oz at a time especially in the morning when he is the most hungry. He basically nurses (cluster feeds?) from when i get home at 5-ish until bedtime at 7-ish. So, essentially, I am nursing ALL THE TIME that I'm home, and when I'm away I need to be pumping all the time to fill the bottles he needs while I'm at work.

To make matters more stressful, there are a few weekend events coming up where I'm going to need to leave the baby with his grandma and use some of that precious milk on a Saturday - and then, in early December.... my first over night work trip... I never did overnight travel when DS1 was that small (I guess he will be 7 months by then but I don't think I traveled overnight until DS1 was about 11 months old). So all of this to say -- do I just give in and buy some formula to supplement if/when I can't pump enough bottles?

I know that formula isn't the worst thing in the world and I've even given advice to some mommy friends to use it if that's how they maintain their sanity. But I am having trouble taking my own advice. I know it would be great on a Saturday morning to go to my 1.5 hour yoga class and not worry about having to pump a bottle or use up my precious work milk supply ... But it kills me to give DS formula. Am I just being overly emotional here? What is it about formula - especially when I really wouldn't be using it that often, and then just a few ounces here and there - that makes me cringe, and makes me so depressed?

Anyone supplemented with formula but still successfully BF'd your babes?

[Mosaic]

Maybe worry about that when/if your supply drops that low. At this point, you're keeping up with his demand, even though it's challenging. It sounds like he's a great nurser who will do his part to keep your supply at the level he wants! Fit in those pumping sessions as well as you can: you know from the first time around that multitasking helps a lot. You can also add in a pumping session or two at home: I would pump right before going to bed and after the AM feed to pad my freezer stash back in the day.

In other words, don't worry yet, because your schedule is too packed to make room for worrying! You're doing GREAT!!

[HappyHappyMommy]

rozziemama, hugs to you and congratulations on your new LO.

I exclusively pumped and worked out of the house 40 hours/week, so the pumping at the office challenge is one I really empathized with. Like you, I was able to pump in my office and multi-task, which helped a lot. I scheduled meetings (with myself) on my calendar so that I'd have time set aside in advance for pumping and then used the time to respond to email, review or write documents, etc. It didn't always work (other meetings ran over, etc.) but it helped. I tried not to think about how much I was pumping. (In fact, at one point, I pumped into bottles that didn't have measurements and then I'd measure when I got home.) The less I thought about how much I was pumping, the more I pumped. I switched to using a hospital grade pump (in my case, both at home and at the office); I was able to get much more milk from the hospital grade pump and it was faster and more comfortable, both of which helped at the office. Oh and I ate while I pumped! I hope some of these ideas help.

Originally Posted by Mosaic 
In other words, don't worry yet, because your schedule is too packed to make room for worrying! You're doing GREAT!!

Great advice!

[skycheattraffic]

You have an amazing supply! I think baby is burning through milk really quickly though at daycare, making it tough to keep up. Babies up until they start taking solids drink about 20 to 30 oz of breastmilk in 24 hours with 24 being the average consumption. Bottles generally are much easier to get milk out of than the breast and a baby may seem to guzzle a large bottle simply because his mouth keeps filling with milk. To try to get his consumption while away from you down a bit, make sure his bottles all have newborn/slow flow nipples and that DCP uses paced bottle feeding. This will also help prevent breast refusal due to bottle preference. Since he can nurse around the clock on demand when he is with you, he can drive up his consumption with direct nursing which is a LOT easier for you. He may have a need to suck which can be mistaken for hunger and could be satisfied with a pacifier while you're at work. I EPd for ten weeks before transitioning DD to the breast and my supply was nowhere near yours. I was thrilled to make 24oz in 24 hours so in a typical workday my output would have been 8 to 9 oz. I was starting to fall behind very quickly and my LC told me about how much DD would drink if nursing directly, using newborn nipples and paced feedings. She also told me to make more but smaller bottles so DD would not get overfull on a big bottle but still be hungry 1.5 hours later. With careful use of the paci, smaller bottles (3 to maybe 4 oz) , paced feedings, my DD went from drinking 32 or more oz a day to 20-26 oz without going hungry. I highly reccomend you try to get his demand for milk more into the 8 to 12 oz range while you're at work. It will help you keep up and keep his bottle feeds feeling more like nursing, making a bottle preference less likely down the road.

Kellymom has some great tips:
http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/feeding-tools/bottle-feeding/

Good luck!

[rozziemama]

What great advice. I'll read the Kelly Mom article - and learn about paced feedings. 

I am hoping that once I introduce solid foods (next month maybe, depending on what pedi says) my anxiety and the unsustainable pumping schedule will subside a bit as well -- I think DS1 was about 5 1/2 months when we started some solids, like once a day. I don't mind nursing him more when I am home, I just really dont think I can mentally or physically handle adding MORE pumping to the amount I'm already doing. 

[JudiAU]

I don't have any formula advice but I say worry about it when you get there. A couple of things: yes, I had a harder time pumping with #2. She simply didn't need or make enough milk and I pumped less for my stash because of 2 kids plus I had donated a lot of milk with my first. Well, I got to work and almost cried because I realized it was going to be much harder. I had to pump four sessions instead of three. I also found that a daily am back to back pumpin session either at night or in the morning or first pumping at work was really helpful. Pump ten, wait ten, pump another ten minutes.

Some things that stuck out: an ebf baby should never be drinking more than a five ounce bottle, at any age, especially one so young. Just because they can it doesn't mean they need it. Bottles are easy. If your baby absolutely needs more food than he might night a smaller bottle at a different point in the day or actually breaking up the milk into 4 4 oz feedings but you can really mess up their expectations of "full" and overfeed them during the day with a bigger portion. Far better to cluster nurse with you. which is also great for your supply.

Also, your caregivers probably need instruction on how to properly feed a breastfed baby. Most don't understand how bottle feeding works with them and always assume the ebf baby's bottles are too small.

Also, does your ds take a pacifier? SOmetimes ebf babies are really helped with the introduction of one when they are away from mom. Their desire to suck but not eat is difficult to satisfy outside of the home. A lot of time that extra milk is how they are getting that sucky satisfaction when they don't need the food. One of my kids like MAM and one them liked soothie.

Also, going to back to work can be awful on its own because of delayed projects and deadlines. I know it is easy to conflate AH WORK IS SO HARD RIGHT NOW with OMG PUMPING IS SO HARD RIGHT NOW but seriously, it is going to calm down. I promise.

[rozziemama]

More terrific advice, thank you. I am going to be very clear with caregivers about this. And yes, certainly there are some general "stressed about returning to work" emotions mixed up in all of this...

Originally Posted by JudiAU 

I don't have any formula advice but I say worry about it when you get there. A couple of things: yes, I had a harder time pumping with #2. She simply didn't need or make enough milk and I pumped less for my stash because of 2 kids plus I had donated a lot of milk with my first. Well, I got to work and almost cried because I realized it was going to be much harder. I had to pump four sessions instead of three. I also found that a daily am back to back pumpin session either at night or in the morning or first pumping at work was really helpful. Pump ten, wait ten, pump another ten minutes.

Some things that stuck out: an ebf baby should never be drinking more than a five ounce bottle, at any age, especially one so young. Just because they can it doesn't mean they need it. Bottles are easy. If your baby absolutely needs more food than he might night a smaller bottle at a different point in the day or actually breaking up the milk into 4 4 oz feedings but you can really mess up their expectations of "full" and overfeed them during the day with a bigger portion. Far better to cluster nurse with you. which is also great for your supply.

Also, your caregivers probably need instruction on how to properly feed a breastfed baby. Most don't understand how bottle feeding works with them and always assume the ebf baby's bottles are too small.

Also, does your ds take a pacifier? SOmetimes ebf babies are really helped with the introduction of one when they are away from mom. Their desire to suck but not eat is difficult to satisfy outside of the home. A lot of time that extra milk is how they are getting that sucky satisfaction when they don't need the food. One of my kids like MAM and one them liked soothie.

Also, going to back to work can be awful on its own because of delayed projects and deadlines. I know it is easy to conflate AH WORK IS SO HARD RIGHT NOW with OMG PUMPING IS SO HARD RIGHT NOW but seriously, it is going to calm down. I promise.

[ninjamommy2]

I had the same problem when I went back to work.  I work in the parts department of a car dealership, so there was no desk for multitasking, let alone some privacy.  The more stressed i felt, the less I could pump, and after only a month back at work, I had gone through my entire stash in the freezer, and had to start buying formula.  

Sometimes I felt awful because I had to give my son formula, and that I couldn't make enough milk to feed him (he had an unbelievable appetite), but I came to realize that even though I couldn't continue to nurse him, I was able to for the first 2 or 3 months of his life.  That was an amazing bonding experience, and 2 or 3 months of breast milk is better than none at all.  

Us working moms have to make more compromises than some, but remember.... Breathe and the answer will find you!