Does anyone else struggle to keep up with pumping at work?

[CityDweller]

I've just gone back to work. DD is 9 months old and I want to continue with just breastmilk until she's one. I was perfectly happy with my (single) Medela Swing for my evening pumping sessions, as I suppose I didn't really notice how long it took and it didn't matter how much (or little) I got out as I only needed the milk on rare occasions. But at work it feels like all I'm doing is pumping, or cleaning my pump parts and it's eating massively into my day and I'm getting a bit stressed out about how much time I need to spend pumping of a working day in order to have enough milk for DD. I get a decent amount each session - it just takes about 40 minutes. I'm wondering whether it's worth the expense of getting a double pump for the three months or so I have left of pumping at work? Have others persevered or did you go with formula while you were away from DC?

Bf was such a struggle for us at the beginning, and I was so proud to have made it this far ebf, that it feels like giving up to switch to formula now!

I love my double electric. it's a lansinoh affinity and it was the cheapest double electric I could find. I'd say was worth it, as you'll produce more if you're not stressed. lecithin can also help some people empty quicker, so it may be worth giving that a go.

I have an Ardo Calypso for work pumping and I love it like a big lovey thing - even on the single pump setting (I haven't tried the double adapter) I can get 4-5oz in 15 minutes.

I expressed at work for my eldest two from 6mo to about 10mo or 11mo. I found it got harder and harder to get a decent quantity. I used ameda lactaline which was good. What worked for me was taking really crappy magazines with real life stories as I found I needed to be out of a work frame of mind and reading take a break and the ilk was a helper.

I had an Ameda Lactaline, and apart from being double, you could also get spare pump sets so no washing in work.

I pumped at work for a year, so spent a lot of time at it!

You could hire a double pump for 3 months. NCT do pump hire. Ask your local MLU too.

Oh yeah, the Calypso does spare pump sets as well, they're not particularly expensive. Though currently only pumping once a day so don't have to worry about cleaning pump parts in work.

That's good to hear leedy as I was thinking about sucking it up and spending the ££ on a Calypso as that was the one recommended by the bf counsellor who helped us in the early days.

Marmitecat what did you do as your pumping yield dropped to keep up with the amount needed for your DC while you were away? I've noticed I'm getting less in my evening pumping sessions than I was a couple of months ago, but I also just took a 6ish week break from pumping as I was a bit fed up of doing it every night. Now I'm regretting that as my freezer supply is pretty much used up...

As my pumping dropped I gave the boys less. Then I dropped the worktime feed and switched to three feeds a day: first thing, straight after work and then last thing at night (a dream feed). Then towards 12m I shifted the dream feed earlier until it was dropped and moved to morning and evening feeds. Did that until the kids wrre around 2yo.

I did similar, except didn't drop the middle of the day/work feed til just after a year (DS2 still has it). Then the after work feed went, then was on just morning and bedtime til 2.5.

How much are you leaving for your 9 month old? I know by 10/11 months both of mine were pretty much only missing one feed while I was at work and 5oz or so was plenty - they just ate lots of solids and drank water. Though it does depend on how long your working day is, I was able to do a morning, after work, and bedtime feeds as well.

I find eating more helps increase supply now I'm back at work so I am snacking on fatty things. My dd has also reversed her feeding habits so feeds through the night and just tops up a bit in the day.

I have a long commute (1.5hrs each way), so on work days I'm away from her from 8.15am until 6.15ish, so I miss three of our usual feeds (right now she does three daytime feeds (10ish, 1ish, 4ish) , plus wake up and bedtime - so five a day). I leave approx 3x150ml (5oz) and she drinks all of it. I guess I could try leaving less and seeing how she does, but I don't want to encourage reverse cycling as she's just dropped her night feed and started sleeping through (hallelujah!). She's also on three meals a day and eating well. And she's not a big baby - I do wonder where she puts it all!

marmitecat did you just give them less milk full stop, did you make up the drop in bm with formula?