Pumping at Work/home

I'm a peer counselor with Nursing Mothers Counsel, and generally what we recommend to working moms is to pump whenever your baby would eat during your work day. It really has more to do with when they would feed vs what time it is on the clock. 10-15 minutes is a good guideline for the pumping part of your break, but it also depends on how you respond to the pump and how long your employer will allow for pumping breaks. You're going to need to factor in time to sit down and begin pumping, as well as storing milk and cleaning your pump accessories after you pump.

To get both you and baby used to the new schedule, you're going to want to introduce your alternative feeding source (bottle, cup, medicine dropper, etc) as soon as possible. We usually recommend that you begin preparing 4-6 weeks before your return date to help build your milk in the freezer, but in your case, being able to nurse your baby in the middle of the day will help. However, you're still going to need milk for his/her other feedings while you're away. You also need to prepare for a possible day when your baby drinks more milk than have pumped. Hopefully, you won't have to face this :)

Because you're going to be pumping not nursing during your work day, you also need to prepare your body. You're going to wean your baby off the breast for the feedings that will be missed. Start with one feeding, probably the 10:30/11am feeding. Introduce the alternative feeding source, and pump while baby is feeding (if possible). After 3-4 days, drop the 4pm feeding and give the bottle/cup/etc.

To help stockpile milk in your freezer, you can definitely pump after each nursing session. This will increase your milk supply, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially when you need to fill your freezer. The best times to pump are right before you go to bed for the night (or right before your longest sleep), then again right after the first feeding in the morning.

Don't be frustrated if you don't get a lot from pumping. Your baby is the best pump there is, and some women don't respond to the pump as well. Depending on supply, most women can comfortably pump 2-4 oz per pumping session (total from both breasts). This amount will be more or less depending on when you pump. If you pump right after a feeding, you may only get 1 oz, but that's fine. If you're pumping when your baby would be feeding, you'll more than likely get the 2-4 oz. A lot also depends on how much your baby drinks normally. This is a great website that I recommend to moms: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html

When it comes to storage, I personally recommend the bags because they are more compact, and are more easily and quickly defrosted. For expressing and storage guidelines, you can go to our website at http://www.nursingmothers.org. If you'd like more information, you can always go to our website or send me a message. If you'd like hard copies of the guidelines, I can mail you a copy of each. Just let me know.

Finally, you don't need to follow this routine at home (ie: day off or weekends). You should be able to nurse while home, but it really depends on your baby. He/she may be more comfortable with your work day schedule.

Sorry for the length of the response!!!

I found pumping at work very difficult! However, I was very determined to do it. I think if you go in with that attitude you can do it. There is a law that they have to provide a room for you with a door that locks. I didn't have that (but didn't complain) and a lot of people were so rude about me using this little back conference office to do it. They were not shy about letting me know it inconvenienced them. And I was constantly trying to move around my pump to find an empty office for the day. They did accomidate me by frosting over the glass doors. I was using my hooter hider and trying to be so discreet but I was terrified of someone walking by.
Do you have a double pump? That was important. I borrowed one from a friend and got my own attachments.
Anway, I pumped twice a day and I couldn't nurse at lunch because my MIL watches my baby and she's too far. I pumped at 11:00 and 3:00 and it was fine. Unless you have a low milk supply, you may be able to drop one of you pumping sessions (maybe in the morning). That sounds like a lot of pumping and you might get burnt out. You will find a good schedule. I pumped for almost 8 months - from the time my son was 2.5 months to 10 months. Then, I kept nursing at night but stopped the pumping. The last several months I only pumped once a day at work because of my schedule. I rarely supplemented any formula.
The bags are really expensive. I recommend freezing in bottles. They make clear plastic disks that go in place of the nipples and I loved those.
And I didn't pump beforehand to get a schedule. That'd be hard! When my baby was hungry he wanted mama! I just got comfortable with using a pump and that was good enough. They were a few times my milk was so full and I couldn't pump. Your body will adjust in time.
One last thing! Make sure you don't leave your milk in the car. I did that a couple times and of course then you can't use it. It was hard to throw it out. Sounds like a no brainer, but you can be so busy as a working mom. Make sure to take it home and freeze it asap!

1. I think you should do a test run of this schedule this week, to see how it works for you and your baby. Overall, I think it's a good plan but ultimately depends on you and your baby.

2. It's true the more you nurse or pump, the more milk you will make. I would pump after nursing so I would have milk on supply in case of emergencies or situations where I couldn't make it home.

3. I didn't read this question prior to my responding to 1. :) I don't think there should be a problem with clashing you will just have more milk to pump at work next week. Just make sure you bring enough bottles. Which is good because the longer you can nurse the better.

4. I used freezer bags where you could write the date on them. That way your caregiver will know which ones to use . Plus, they are easier and safer to store.

My biggest advice is to keep a manual pump with you at all times. I once had a business trip and forgot to bring my pump while I was gone. Engorgement can be pretty painful if you don't illeviate it. :)

I hope this helps, if I think of anything else I will post again.

Take Care!

Congrats on your new baby! It sounds like a busy day!

I went back to work when my little one was 8 weeks old and I pumped right before I left for work at 8:30 (nursed and then pumped), pumped for 30 minutes on my lunch at 2:00 and then nursed and pumped when I got home at 7:30 or so. (or pumped on my way home in the car depending on how full I felt)

My work schedule was not every day but two days in a row and then off two and then on two and so forth. My supply did not drop until around 10 months (but I had stopped breast feeding around 6 months). I am not sure if it was because of my schedule inconsistency.

I just feel you may be overdoing it. If it works for you I say go for it, but I don't want it to be overwhelming to have to get so much pumping in.

Congrats again.

Hi there!

I noticed that there's only 1 1/2 hours between your 1st and 2nd pumping and 3h with the rest. As others have pointed out, you might want to see how it fits in your normal schedule. My schedule was pump at 7:30am, 9:30am, 12:30pm, 2:30pm (hardest to fit in b/c of meetings), 4:30pm - all times +/- 30min depending on schedule and engorgement. With this schedule, I had plenty of milk for a year of nursing.

0. Recommended equipment: double breast pump with proper sized breast cups (Medela pump in style, car adapter), hands-free nursing tank top (pump in your office, in the car while commuting), nursing coverup (bebe au lait or the like), milk storage containers (target).
1. The schedule disturbance for pumping is such that I would fit in a full pumping session, not mess with a halfsie. Of course, if that's all the time you have, you got to do what you can! But, of course going for 15 min with the double pump is pretty efficient.
2&3. I did only when my schedule conflicted with the baby's continually changing schedule. If the baby was napping, and I needed to pump, I did. I would only make it a point to pump after the baby nursed due to mastitis or if I wanted to increase milk supply. If you need to increase milk supply, the Mother's Milk Tea was helpful.
4. I used the Lansinoh bags- they worked great. I hated the Medela twist tie kind. This time I will try the First Years Easy Pour Milk Storage Bags b/c they stand up on their own and seem easy to handle on the bottle preparation side of things.

I was so fortunate to have a office mate (another mom) who was comfortable with me pumping in the office (I was very discrete and covered up). This really was so helpful b/c I could keep working while pumping. This time, I've arranged to switch to an office with another nursing mom to keep the same schedule. A year was a long time to keep it up, but with little loss in productivity due to the pumping, I was ok.

Please feel free to shoot me a private email with any additional questions.

Best,
Erika

Your supply won't necessarily but you may or may not pump a lot at each session. This is NOT reflective of the amount of milk you actually make for baby. Baby is far more efficient at getting milk than a pump will ever be.

I would pump at least once in the evening that way you will help have extra on hand.

I used the Gerber storage bags with the press to close seal. I only ever had one leak and I pumped a lot for my little preemie guy! But do write the date because you want the older milk used before the new.

I think rather than going with pump 10 minutes see how pumping works for you. When I was pumping for my preemie I would get a good amount then always had a really good final let-down at around the 20 minute mark. Everyone is different so see what works for your body.

Because you will be home with baby while test driving your routine expect that she may want to nurse at a time you planned on pumping. Just work around it and pump a bit later.

That sounds like a very good schedule. I pumped at 7am before going to work but other than that, it sounds like the same schedule I had. The only thing I would add is try to either nurse or pump in the middle of the night or just before you go to sleep to keep the milk up if you find your milk supply is running low. Towards the last 2 months, I pumped for 20-25 mins instead of 15 mins and that really helped increase the amount of milk also. Good Luck!!

Every mom is different, but just be prepared for your supply to diminish. I wasn't aware that even with pumping, I would begin to produce less milk. I think your plan will work. Depending on what happens to your supply, you may need to pump after each nursing session. My supply overall went down, so for the first week I was back to work (and my twins were eight weeks old), I pumped after each nursing session. It can be a pain, so I also began taking things to help increase my supply.

I used storage bags and froze the milk.

Hello! my little one was 4 months old when I returned to work. My work schedule was leave for work at 7:50 am and get home at 6:30. I would try to nurse her right when I got up for work, around 6:45-7am. If she didn't nurse I would pump for 10 mins. Once at work, my schedule was pump at 11am and again at 4pm. I pumped for 10 minutes each session. I used the Medela hands free. I've used it almost every day for 6 mos now, love it, never had a problem! I found pumping more than twice a day at work was not feasible for me as I work in a law office and I support 3 attorneys! Yikes!
I would take my phone with me in the nursing office and use that time to call my nanny and say hello to baby or look at her pics in my phone to make the "good feelings" come thru my pump session. Make sure you don't forget a stash of extra bra pads.
Lastly, I would be full when I arrived home and nursed my baby as soon as I got home. good luck!