Breastfeeding after return to work - any tips?

[Dormouselike]

Does anyone have any experience of continuing breastfeeding after returning to work? I'm trying to work out practicalities of expressing at work (when, how, storage, equipment etc) and any tips would be very welcome. Thanks

How old is your baby? (I returned to work when mine were 11 months and 14 months and carried on feeding but my experience will be no help if your baby is 3 months.)

Be prepared to be up all night! And if you’re baby is a bottle refuser like mine, he won’t take any milk all day anyway and save himself for night time when you’re there.

I pumped in a meeting room on my lunch break, put into bag and kept in fridge but my supply didn’t drop (baby was 8 months on return so very established) in the end I stoped pumping at work as he wouldn’t take it anyway!

He'll be nearly 9 months when I go back in mid-October. Never taken a bottle but happy with a sippy cup of expressed milk when I'm not there (although so far I haven't left him for as long as I'll need to for work).

My baby was feeding every four hours so I kept to that schedule and pumped twice at work and then fed lo myself outside work. I had to pump at night too though to make enough milk for while I was at work the next day as I didn't pump enough at work. I just took a normal lunch bag and stored my milk in that in the work fridge, no one was any the wiser. It was a ball ache but I'm glad I did it as when I was at home I could continue to bf as usual.

Good to hear your supply stayed ok even with only pumping once a day. Was a bit worried I'd need to do it twice and my work days will be packed as it is! Only working 3 days a week so hopefully will be fine with just lunch breaks. Fingers crossed he'll take it!

Hmm interesting @Aria2015 I guess I'll have to see how things go with how many times to pump. How much milk was your LO taking in a day then? I've been expressing every evening for a while now so I have freezer supplies to start me off. Did you get a pump for work or take it in every day?

I returned when my child was 9-10 months old... I found that it wasn't the physicality of the expressing, so much as the issues with my employer... So I guess the first thing I'd recommend is making sure that you know where the facilities are at work, and what policies the work has in place to support you... I went back 3 days a week, my supply regulated within a few weeks, but by 12 months my child was having one 150ml expressed pouch if I was lucky and I got pretty stressed about expressing at work that I often didn't bother and just waited till I got home to feed...no issues with supply on days off, luckily. I found it supremely depressing that works attitude was so draconian and I left shortly afterwards..but good luck to you and I hope that your workplace will be supportive.

Useful to hear people’s stories... am returning soon too and would like to keep BFing in the morning and evenings....

I've been working the odd day (self employed) since my baby was 2 months.

I take a cool bag with lots of ice packs and I store my expressed milk in there. I just rince my pumps out under the tap and sterlise when I get home.
As my baby is younger than yours, I'm making sure to express strictly every 2-3 hours.
(When I went back to work after my first baby I didn't express regularly and sadly my supply diminished significantly and I couldn't get it back.)

Sorry... That was a bit of a downer... I found useful things were that I had a pump that took batteries (I had a tommie tippee one but I'm sure you could do other brand or manual pump too), a cooler bag (can get them cheaply). Also.. A friend of mine gave me the (expensive) tommie tippee express and go pouches, which just attach to the pump (no need for the bottle... So no need to wash the bottles after work... Time saver!) but... They ARE expensive. A bit of research now will save you a lot of hassle, in my experience.

Sorry to hear your work were rubbish about it @Dinorattle1. Hoping mine will be ok - they're pretty good on this kind of stuff but I'll definitely email the HR person this week so they're prepared. Thanks for the other tips!

dinorattle that Tommy tippee straight into the bag pump sounds amazing!

I use Lansinoh manual pump + a silicone bulb thing that catches (sucks out) your let down from the other side. It's fab and I get about 2-4Oz from the silicon :bulb' when I'm expressing the other side!

@dormouselike thanks. Yes... Definitely email HR... if they have it on file that you gave them written notice of your intention then they have to provide a space for you.... A toilet is totally unacceptable, but it's often the first uneducated place you get signposted to. I think ACAS actually have a 'returning to work for breastfeeding mums' guide... Google it as it may help to know what you are legally entitled to, and how HR can provide good support to you. Honestly... Those tommie yippee pouches were bloody amazing. And saved me a lot of space and time... Especially useful if you have to commute to work.

My baby’s 1 so a bit older, but am also 3 days a week. Initially I took my manual pump in and pumped at work (milk in a little lunch bag in the normal staff room fridge), but now feed first thing (about 5:30-6am if he’s awake) then again when I get in (usually around half 5) and pump from the side where he’s not eating. Saves having to find time to pump at work and I’ve found my boobs are full but not painful so it works for us.

Pumped milk gets fridged for next work day. Sometimes he has it all, sometimes none.

Plain natural yoghurt is good if he wants a feed but is out of milk, according to my mum/DH who have him when I’m at work.

And yes. He’s stopped sleeping through so he can feed at night. I couldn’t do my 6:15 alarm if we didn’t cosleep.

He was drinking 5ozs per feed and I was pumping about 3.5ozs in two 15-20 minutes breaks. So I had 3ozs to make up at night. My pumping breaks were basically my lunch break split in two. It was hard because it meant I didn't really get a proper break. I took my pump in every day, sterilised everything the night before. I never felt like I pumped much, I know friends who could pump 5ozs in 5 minutes but I wasn't that lucky! I was doing 3 days a week too and I did notice that I pumped less as the third day approached and then fourth day would be a struggle at home because my milk had dipped but then it would build back up over the rest of the week as I fed lo myself. Was a real rollercoaster but I wanted to bf on the days I didn't work and it was the only way to keep going.

I never got on with pumping. EBF until I returned to work at 7 months, then fed morning, when I got home, night and fridays/weekends when I was off until he was just over a year. Supply adjusted and I never felt overly full. He had a carton of formula at nursery 4 days a week.

I don’t have experience of pumping at work - yet like a PP mentioned, both were BF in the morning, after work and in the evenings/nights. It was great and worked really well

DD1 was 6 months when I went back to work, and DD2 8 months

With both mine I returned to work at six months, 3dpw. I built up a bit of stock in freezer in the weeks before then I bf morning and evening for both, plus for DC2 I was still bfing twice a night. I pumped with manual pump once a day in my lunch hour in locked meeting room for DC1. For DC2 they had a room set aside for resting for pregnant women or those with medical issues or expressing which was great (very big firm) until they started redevelopment of site and it disappeared with no notice but after a week of using disabled toilet (yuk!) they did find me a lockable room with blinds on a nearby site. Kept up the pumping for about 3 months. To start with most milk thrown away as both were bottle refusers but both eventually realised it was that or nothing when at nursery. Had to use some formula for months 11-12 as supply reduced a bit - but still kept up bf on days off and in morning / evening until 14 months when both decided they weren't interested any more.

So absolutely doable to keep them EBF but if it starts getting tricky then you can add in a bit of formula and still keep bf when you aren't at work.

Thanks very much for the overnight replies, all really helpful

DS is nearly 10 months and we never got him to have milk from a bottle. He's been with his dad for about 9 hours in the day Monday to Friday for 2 months now, and he feeds in the morning, when I get back (I get the biggest smile when I get home), at bedtime and a few times overnight. During the day he has some water from a cup, and he's on 3 (small) meals and seems to be doing well. I worry sometimes that he could do with more milk because I notice he will feed more at the weekend when I'm there but I think he's just adapted to a different way of doing things during the week.

Also in the early days I was quite uncomfortable/full by the end of the day unless I expressed a bit, but it's fine now and not uncomfortable at all.

DS1 Reverse Cycled for a while when I returned to work. Refused the expressed milk all day at nursery, then fed non stop from me getting in until bedtime. He started waking at night to feed again too. No idea what changed, buyr after a couple of weeks he just clicked and started taking the bottles. He did drink water though and was starting solids so I wasn't too worried.

Practically, work allowed me breaks to express and I had the key to the first aid room plus a fridge to store milk. This is a legal requirement IIRC. I had to try andanage my workload to fit expressing into my day, which wasn't always easy - especially if I had to travel off site for the day for meetings and training.

I continued bf my ds2 after going back to work when he was a year old. I was offered a private room to pump which I could lock behind me. I found it a challenge as I was on 15th floor and room they offered was on ground floor. I was pumping and dumping as my ds2 was established on a bottle and cows milk by then. So it was just to ease the engorgement. I ended up pumping in the loos as it was too disruptive to go 15 floors down. Also my boobs hurt during the day so I didn't mange that well. I am still bf-Ing and ds2 is nearly two. I feed morning and night and at weekends on demand. Supply still flowing and boobs still hurt a bit during the day but I don't pump at work any more.

I went back full time when both mine were 6 months. I used to express at lunch or nip home and feed (baby at home with DH) till they were around 1 year. Otherwise they drank from a sippy cup, either expressed milk or water. I worried about it a lot with my first but really it was fine, they fed a lot at night but I breastfed DC1 till 2.7 with no problems with supply etc.

I've returned a few times, once with a 9 month old. I managed once a day. I used a Medela cool bag with a specially shaped ice pack which kept the milk really cold. I could also put the pump parts in a zip lock bag on the other side of the ice pack element, so it was there in case I did need to pump twice any time. I recommend packing a muslin or something for catching any drips #glamour. Sorry for lack of paragraphs here, my phone is refusing to do any. 🙄 I did buy special pump wipes to use but I don't think I used them much! Good luck . Oh and take your phone or something if you can, as looking at photos/videos of the baby can help with letdown.