To express at work?

[throwcushions]

I'm returning to work soon. My baby will be 7 months old. Bottles and cups have so far been a losing battle but I'll away too long for her to be breastfed alone. I'm planning to express twice at work and once when I get home. Is this feasible timing wise? I probably can do 15 minutes for each session at work. Do any working and expressing mums have tips for expressing and storing milk? What about sterilising? I am thinking of double hand pumping in the toilets because the rest room isn't very accessible and using it would add a lot of time to each expressing session. Is this a terrible idea?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

If the toilets are clean i wouldn't see it as the end of the world. If your baby isn't taking a bottle now I would personally express a few feeds in advance and just express once on the first day and she how he goes. He might just fill up more on food and water in the day and you might not need to ever bother doing it twice. My DS dropped down to one sleep about this time too because I used to feed him to sleep.

Re. manual pumps:

I did use a hand pump from time to time OP, and like you found it effective (though for me maybe slightly less effective than the electric, though not by much).

The benefit of the double electric pump for me was that I could use an expressing bra with it and eat lunch/scroll my phone/read a magazine etc. whilst pumping, and no crampy RSI type feelings in my hands which I got with the manual.

Have you tried double manual pumping? I needed one hand to hold my breast, and the other to squeeze the pump with my manual. The expressing bra didn't work with is as the funnel shifted around and would lose suction from the force of the pumping hand.

No, I haven't. Only ever using a silicone pump alongside an electric pump which gives me no hands free anyway. Really wishing I'd bought a double electric pump from the beginning now! I might see how the first week goes with one long pumping session using a manual on one side and electric on the other and if it's not enough then do a second session with two manual pumps in the loo. Have built up a big freezer stash, fingers crossed I can actually get her to drink some of it at some point

You're entitled to somewhere private and also somewhere to store your milk if expressing at work. Ask your manager.

I bought a cheap double electric pump from amazon. Was around 30 pounds. I wouldn't have wanted to use it for full time expressing but perfect for once a day. Might be worth a look.