Back to work and BF

[PeanutButter99]

I guess I just want some advice really.

My DS is 13 weeks today and I've been back at work since he was 7 weeks. (1 day office, 4 days home). DS is EBF and I managed to stockpile EBM for my DH is feed him while I was at work. He started sleeping through the night at 9 weeks (10pm to 6am)so I express every morning before I feed him and pop the milk in the freezer. Waking up with rock hard boobs is a small price to pay for a full nights sleep :)

When I'm in the office I pump both breasts at about 1pm and get no more than 8oz in total. Then in the evening I feed DS with 1 boob and express the other.
This seems to work ok and doesn't affect my supply as it's only 1 day a week.
I guess what I want to know is will I be able to do this 4 days a week and breast feed as normal the other 3?

I'm so sad about returning to work but unfortunately SMP doesn't pay the mortgage :(

I hadn't planned to BF past 3 months as I knew I was going back to work and it was so hard and painful at the beginning. But I evenntually got the hang of it and now I really love it and don't want to stop before I'm ready.

Any advice would be really helpful

Bump

Hmm I don't know really, I think if he is only 13 weeks then not feeding during the day might affect your supply but not sure tbh. Hopefully someone who knows more will be along shortly.....hellooooo???

I did that during my KIT days (2 in a row) at 10 weeks and I didn't think there was a big impact on supply - I made sure I always pumped as much as he drank IYSWIM.

I pumped in the morning after feeding (4oz), and at lunchtime (8oz). He drank 3 x 4oz bottles at roughly 10am, 1pm and 4pm - he then fed from me at 6.30pm and 10.30pm. At that point he was sleeping through.

You don't need to stop feeding

Why don't you pump after your 10 pm feed?

I work FT and still feed and have maintained that without pumping although my DD was older than yours when I went back

A morning feed, lunchtime pump, back from work feed, pre bed feed, 10 pm feed and pump plus unlimited access to the boob when you are around may help?

8oz is well loads.

As a rule of thumb BF babies need 25oz a day (19-30oz range). So if you find he is taking more than what you think, this may be due to him sucking for comfort (which in a bottle gives him milk).

Before 7 months, I pumped twice a day to get out 10-12oz. I would then pump once at night just to have a bit extra. Maybe I've paid the price a bit by her catching up in the night, but tbh she did this before I went back proper so I think it's unrelated. I pumped at 12ish and 3ish. (Now just the one and then at home in the evenings)

We give her 1oz per hr, eg if it's been 3 hrs since her last feed she is given a 3oz bottle. If she cries afterward she if offered more, but an 1oz at a time. Of course this only applies if your worried about not pumping enough. As others have said, unlimited boob when your around and you'll be fine.

Work on her needing 1-1.5oz an hour when you're not there (it's supposed to be 1oz but my dd is very hungry -a- -wee- -gannet-) Build up a freezer stash by all means but you really want your expressing for the day to equal her intake. 8 oz in a sitting is tons (jealous - much). I agree re a night time express (at 11ish would be fine) and maybe 2/3 in the day depending on how long you're away from baby and how flexible work are. I'm back at work in 3 weeks and that's my plan. Dd2 will be 23 weeks but I'll be back full time :(. I did go back at about 15 weeks with dd1 but shorter hours and she stayed ebf so hopefully we can both manage it this time. Good luck.

Thanks everyone.

I knew the day would come when I'd have to start expressing at night time. I hope DS leaves me some milk to express after his feed! Maybe express before he feeds??

I currently have a manual Avent pump, which I think works ok but since I've never used another pump I have nothing to compare it against. Are the electric pumps worth the money? Will I get more milk out? Are they quicker? As much as I'm grateful for my pump I am beginning to despise it!

By the way, I'm new to mumsnet and
don't know what IYSWIM means. It's nice to have other mums to talk to, especially BF ones :)

Hi pb. Iyswim = if you see what I mean.

I manage to feed after dd goes to sleep. If I leave it at least 45 mins I get my usual amount (3-4oz). I also boosted my supply when I started pumping for my stash with fenugreek seed. Worked really well for me but I did smell of curry. I have both an avent manual pump and a medela swing. I find the medela much quicker but I can't guarantee it'll suit you. I doubt you'll get much more than 8oz though - that's fantastic anyway. What hours will you be working and will you be able to pump at work?

I work 9 to 5, supposedly. Never get to leave at 5 though. Will have to pull the 'I have a baby therefore must leave at 5 from now on card' :) Leave the house before 8am and get home after 6pm.

Am able to express at work but do so in the car. The office is completely open plan and the board room is glass fronted. Only private place in the bathroom and I refuse to express in there!

Normally take about 20 minutes to express at lunch time and then put the bottle in the fridge.

Hi PB :)
I do the pump-and-save thing while I'm at work Mon, Wed, and Fri and feed him as normal (which is all the blardy time, at the moment!) the rest of the week. So I'd say, go for it!

Also, you don't need to give as much volume of breastmilk as you would formula. I put 3oz in bottles for my 12 wk old son, and he's offered them ever 2 hours or when he indicates that he's hungry when I'm not there. He's a very sucky baby, it comforts him, and sometimes he just wants to suck on a dummy rather than feed. IF I were there, I imagine he'd have a quick feed and then suck for comfort, when I'm not he will refuse a bottle and take the dummy instead.

Soooo don't stress about having massive bottles for your baby, is what I'm rambling to say.

Also dead jealous about 8oz per pumping session - I wish I could do that! I get 4oz every time I try (every 2 hours while at work) and it takes me 15 mins at least!

Electric pumps are better at getting out more milk quickly, specifically cos you pump both breasts at once and the suction is more efficient - but they're dead pricey. You can hire them from some places here (in USA) I wonder if you can near you?

Also I wonder if you'd get more milk if you pumped both breasts at once with a manual pump. the two-at-a-time thing seems to be key, for me.

P.S. I am totally crazily jealous at the sleeping-through-the-night part. DS wakes me 3-4 times a night for a snack! I wonder if the fact that he eats little and often is what keeps him hungry so often in the night. Mmmn. Might try waving my boob at him a bit more during the day! :)

8oz per pumping session, I wish!!

Just to clarify, the 8oz only comes when I pump at work at lunch time. I pump in the morning at 6am so by the time 1pm hits my boobs are so full the milk is flowing out.

In a normal session I get 4oz if I'm lucky :)

I'll have a talk with DH about how he feeds when I'm not there. DH is the one who gives the bottles when I'm at work so I don't know if he's hungry or just wants to suck. Plus I don't want to upset DH by implying he doesn't know what the baby wants!!

Blackcurrants, I feed DS every 2 or 3 hours during the day to get him to sleep at night!
Plus he would only nap for about an hour at a time.

Yesterday he fed roughly every 3 to 4 hours and since I'm at work today he woke last night at midnight and 3am!

I thought employers had to give you somewhere hygenic and private to feed/express? Surely the car is not exactly private!! Can you ask if there is somewhere you can use for expressing?

BraveGirl, I think it is law but there literally is nowhere private in this building and I don't want to push the issue as work have been so good about allowing me to work from home.

And expressing in the car is fine. We have a basement and the car is tucked away in a corner. Plus the lights are motion sensored so I know straight away if there is someone there :o

PB aah I see what you mean about the lunchtime session, then. Can you pump more often during the day? Pumping at night is miserable, think of that lovely warm bed you're missing out on! (may be projecting here, had to pump at 2am last week and was so angry DH was asleep while I was doing it... yeah, not exactly rational!)

Because women here go back to work at 6-12 weeks (if they're lucky enough to get that much off) those of us who breastfeed are like magpies when it comes to picking up expressing info. The best tip I got is, if you want to get more milk, pump more often. You might find that you only get 3oz a time if you pump every 2 hours, rather than getting 8oz if you pump after 6 hours - but if you'd been able to pump at 8am, 10am, and then at lunchtime you'd already have 10-12oz of milk in the bank, if you see what I mean. Like everything else with breastfeeding, it's supply and demand - if your body gets used to producing as much for the pump as it does for your baby, you'll be bringing home a lot more milk. The best way to do that is by pumping more often.

If you had a broom cupboard with a chair in it, rather than trekking out to your car, could you squeeze in 15 mins pumping break a couple of times more in the day?

More than anything else, I couldn't do from 6am to lunchtime, I'd be in agony!

this site has some handy information.

argh I meant 9-10oz, obviously. See how bad I am at maths? That's cos My DS wakes every 3 hours during the night.
[actually always been bad at maths but OMG still jealous of your lovely sleep!) :)

I went back to work f/t when ds was 4 months old (that's all the maternity leave we got back then :().

I preferred my manual Avent pump to electric pumps. I been loaned an electric pump by the hospitla when ds was 2 weeks old so that I could supplement ds with EBM (he wasn't gaining weight but with hindsight, it was just "catch down" growth) and found it, for waht of a better description, very tiring on my boobs. I also went back into hosptila a few days later with a bad infection and was on IV antiobotics, so was using the hospital's pumps in the "expressing room".

When I went back home and started using the Avent pump once I had given back the hospital one, I found I got as much from it and far more gently.

I never had any problems with feeding ds fully at the weekends (sometimes even found time to express then as well, in order to top up with the freezer, especially if he had an extra long gap) and giving the child minder bottles of EBM for the time he was with her (8.30 to 5.30)

8oz is good - you may find you get more as ds gets bigger (although when ds was nearing one, the amounts I got started to drop off - but maybe I wasn't putting as much effort in as he was by then also eating solids). Also, are you switching regualrly while you epxress? It's something I wouldn;t have realsied if I hadn't had to be re-admitted, but the expressing room had instrcutions on optimal expressing, whcih was basically alternating boobs, reducing the time as you go on (eg starting with 5 mintues per boob, then 3 minutes, 2 minutes and 1 minute - but you can adjust that to the time you have available).

Ds was always a good sleeper (actually sleeping though from too early, so had to be woken to be fed): down at c.8pm, a feed at 10pm and then all the way through to 6.30 when I would feed and then express before going to work. He quickly dropped the 10pm feed but I kept it going as an express instead.

I usually expressed twice or even three times during the day but if there were meetings or I had to go down to London, I could get away with just doing it at lunchtime - just got more!

Hey Blackcurrants.
I think you're being totally rational at being angry with DH for sleeping while you express :) But why are you getting out of bed? Sterilise the pump at night and take it to bed with you. Stay in bed when you have to express and then wake DH to put your expressed milk in the fridge :o

If I'm pumping more than once at work how do I clean and sterilise the pump each time? Do I have to? The Avent Pump has a little cover so can I just put that on in between sessions?

Prettybird, I actually don't switch boobs when I'm expressing so I must try that. I normally stick with one until it's done! At tomorrow morning's session I'll be alternating boobs, while still being in bed :o

Breast milk has wonderful anti-bacterial properties, so you don't need to sterilise your pump every time you use it during the day. I just used to put it into an (opaque) plastic bag and leave it in the fridge at work inbetweentimes, but if I was down in London for the day (leaving the house at 6am, getting home at c.7pm), it just stayed in my handbag and never had any problems.

Hi - just to say that usually your local NCT can rent you electric pumps for not very much per day - allows you to try some of the more expensive pumps without having to fork out for something that doesn't suit.