Pumping and returning to work

[boobingbriefly]

Hi - I'm looking for some advice around breastfeeding and going back to work. Best products for convenience and discretion and on a related subject should I expect any flexibility at all to pump/express during the day? My hours are 8-5pm with a one hour lunch break and I feel like I'm going to struggle to make that work, especially for the first few days/weeks. P.S. I'm in UK (England).

Yes your workplace should allow you extra breaks and a space to pump and store your milk.
should be able to Google and find in your work policies

With my first I used to eat lunch at my desk and then go pump. It was just that one time a day. It was kind of miserable actually, I had to hide what I pumped in a coolbag in the communal fridge. The pumping room was the first aid room and occasionally people would knock on the door wanting to use it as such and I'd feel rushed.

With my second I had a revelation when I realised that my breasts would only really make milk for the times I was feeding. So by pumping, I was ensuring I had a lot of milk in the middle of the day everyday and getting uncomfortable. So I stopped. Morning feed before I went to work and one when I got home and overnight and then she had a bottle of cows milk during the day (I went back from maternity leave when both were a year old). And within a day maybe two of this new routine I was not uncomfortable at all whilst at work without pumping at all. It was explained to me as breasts make milk to order in line with the demand on the previous day or so. I wished I had realised this with my first!

If your little one is not weaned yet obviously this won't help, but if they are I would really recommend the latter approach. Pumping at work was fiddly and a bit miserable.

Thanks for sharing that - The thought of only having 1 chance to pump in a whole working day isn't exactly filling me with joy but that's an approach I hadn't considered. Will keep it in mind.

Speak to HR about this before you return. Ask quite firmly and specifically for what you need eg a lockable room with window blinds reserved for you between 1pm and 1.30pm.

When I returned after my first mat leave, the "policy" was: I could express in one of the nurse's rooms, if they weren't in use by a student in which case come back later, except on Wednesdays...! Presumably I should just get engorgement/mastitis on Wednesdays? No surprise that this "policy" doesn't work and mums were expressing in the loos.

I kicked up a (polite but firm) fuss, by email before returning to work, and they added blinds and locks to our small meeting rooms which are often empty anyway so I could book one out each day. This has since been used by at least 3 other mums, for several years.

If I'd had to sort this all out after returning to work it'd have been so stressful.

I pumped every three hours through the day by buying the double Elvie - super convenient and discreet, if I had a reasonably baggy jumper could just pump at my desk and work away. I pumped on the way to work, twice during the working week and on the way home (was feeding my daughter exclusively on breast milk but bottle feeding and didn't have huge supply so had to keep it up). You need to be organised with a cool bag and lots of spare, sterile parts. Bloody expensive but couldn't have done it otherwise.