Teachers – Expressing at work?

[aubergenie]

I?m a primary school teacher, returning to work 3 days a week in July when ds will be 9 months old. I?ve been exclusively BFing and would like to continue this if I can, but have no idea how I?m going to manage expressing at school.

I?ll getting to school around 8am so will be able to feed ds before I leave (short commute thankfully). There?s a theoretical hour?s break at lunchtime which, taking into account meetings/eating/setting up for the afternoon etc will give me about 15 mins when I can express. The next opportunity would be when the children have gone home at around 3.30. We?ve only just started weaning and it?s a slow process (BLW), so I?m still feeding loads and at the moment I can?t imagine going that long.

Fortunately, I?ll only be back for 3 weeks before the holidays and ds will be 11 months by September and hopefully be more established on solids so it?ll be less of an issue.

Also, how does the law stand about being given time/a place to express with a baby over 6 months?

I?d love to hear others? experiences or advice.

Hi Aubergenie - sorry don't have the answers but am in a very similar situation and interested to hear others' advice. Bumping it for you (and me...)

Hi Aubergenie,
I am currently on maternity leave from a secondary school but when I had DD (now nearly 3) i went back when she was 4.5 mnths and was almost exclusively BFing. I used to express at night and store it for the next day as it was easier than trying to do loads in the day, teaching just isn't the sort of job where you can take a quick break! I did manage a quick pump at lunchtime and then at 3.15 and they did give me a place to go and do this but then my baby was under 6 mths so not sure if law is different for older babies (don't see why it should be as I think it is just for BFing mothers in general). I found I was just really pumping to relieve pressure on the breasts and to stop leakages and this gradually got better over a 2 week period when I then found I didn't need to express at all as she was happy being mixed fed with BF in the morning and evening. But then she was much younger than your DS so bit different circumstances!

Where is you DS being cared for? I had a teacher friend who used to pop to the childminders at lunchtime and feed her DD till she was almost 1, very local to the school though! .

I hope you get on ok, I must say I'm not looking forward to going back in september when DS is 8 mths .

You have a right to ask for time / space to express and somewhere to store your milk. Anyone returning to work does.
You can ask for it on H and S if need be by saying that not expressing could lead to mastitis.
I used to express (in my store cupboard) playtime, lunch time and afterschool initially. It wasn't so much to get the milk but to keep my supply stimulted.
I requested that I didn't do a playtime / assembly duty so that I could express.
In time though I was fine reducing this and got to the point that my boobs just seem to adjust to having 2 days at work when they weren't needed and 5 days at home where they were very much needed!
I kept my milk in a freezer bag in the staffroom fridge.

www.childrens-rooms.co.uk/cr-web/images/products/large/388.jpg

Thanks for the messages. Ditsy - Do you know if there's a limit on the age of your baby to have the right to express etc?

Very useful to know that you eventually got used to it, as I was wondering about that.

Pat - my dp is caring for ds initially so we could definitely try to get him to walk ds down to school for a quick feed at lunchtime. Great idea. Thanks!

I'm not sure you have the 'right' to express, but if not expressing puts your health at risk (mastitis etc.) then it is a health and safety issue, whatever age your baby is.
Have you had any dialogue with your school about wanting time to express? It might be worth putting your intentions / requests in writing.
A friend of mine recently returned to work recently and unfortunately had to get the union in to negotiate expressing time. It did all get sorted though and she happily expresses at playtime and lunchtime.
Another friend has her baby in a nearby creche so expresses at playtime and pops into feed baby at lunch time.

Just noticed that I randomly posted a picture of a beanbag in my last post!!!!
What I meant to post was:

www.breastfeeding.nhs.uk/en/materialforclients/downloads/leaflet_4.pdf

www. breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/further-info-work.html

www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg373.pdf

(th ough, it is a lovely beanbag!)

It is indeed a lovely beanbag!

That makes sense Ditsy. I'll take a look at those links. Thanks.

I haven't spoken to my school yet, as I wanted to get a feel for how these things work. I'd be surprised if I have any problems, as I've got a really good head teacher but it's useful to be able to suggest solutions in case it's not an issue she's had before.

It sounds like I'll need to express a couple of times during the day in the early days then my boobs will eventually get used to it and I might be able to get away with just doing it after school or not at all. If I can explain this pattern to her, I'm sure she'll be fine.

Are you going to be expressing just to stimulate your supply and to stay comfortable, or are you after several bottles of milk to feed baby while you are away?

If you are after stimulation / comfort then you won't need long and a couple of pumps (play and lunch)should be enough.
If you are after plenty of milk then you might need a bit longer and you might also need to pump once or twice a day at home too.

Having it all planned in your head is really useful when approaching the head: Time scale, when / where you would like to do it, how you'll be able to do this without it affecting the class, where you'll store the milk etc. Also knowing your rights as an employee is useful as the nicest of heads can get a bit funny about things like this.

Good luck.

I think I'll need to pump in order to get plenty of milk when I'm back in July then I'm hoping that, come September, ds will be more established on solids (he'll be 11 months by then), feeding a bit less and it'll be more for comfort.

I think your suggestion of putting the request in writing is a good one. Also putting forward suggestions as to how it could be done will make it more less of a problem, I think.

Thanks for your help with this.

I am in EXACTLY the same situation - and exclusively bf my ds til 3.5months and then introduced bottle of formula at 6.30 to

1. supplement my milk as I have 4yr old twins to run around after too
2. to ensure that he didn't refuse a bottle

BUT - over last few days he TOTALLY 100% refuses bottle at 6.30pm and only wants a breastfeed. I don't think I have enough for him anymore... as the last 2 nights that he has refused bottle, he also has woken at 5.30am.

Will be interested to see if I would be able to express at work to help keep my supply up.
GOOD LUCK with it. I will follow this to see if anyone else has any further info.

I went back 3 days a week when DD was 9 months. I used to express in the TA's little room at lunch time and keep it in the staff fridge.

It ended up being a bit of a waste as DD wouldn't take the expressed milk at nursery. She would feed first thing in the morning, immediately we got home and in the evening on the days I worked and had water at nursery. y supply seemed to cope fine with demand feeding the rest of the week so I stopped expressing after 3/4 weeks.

It would be much easier for DP to walk DS to school at lunch/3.30 though!

I am back 2 days per week. DD is nearly 7 months. I don't express at school at all. DD has formula and EBM on my work days. It seems to be working OK and my boobs are actually more comfy if I leave them alone!

I went back 3 days a week when DD was 4.5 months and was expressing 3 times a day at first. I didn't do breaktime duty or go to assemblies so that gave me a bit of time at 10ish then lunch time and afterschool. I ended up giving DD a bottle of formula during the day when I was working after a few months as I found the expressing hard to keep up and then feed her on the days I was home. Your boobs do adapt.

When she was established on solids from about 10 months I feed her morning and night and she was fine with that. I also feed more on the home days if she wanted.

Good luck!!