Breastfeeding/pumping advice & back to work

Hi,

I have to go back to work 6 weeks after I deliver my bub.

With my firstborn, I rented a hospital grade pump (Lactina) and was able to pump exclusively for 10 months. I lived close to where I worked so I could go home and pump every 4 hours. We've since moved and there is no way I could go home to pump.

If I pump exclusively, do you have any suggestion what I should do? I don't think carrying a hospital grade pump to work daily will work. I have to walk 10-15 minutes in the hot sun from the train station to get to work.

I have thought of breastfeeding directly and just pump when I'm away from bub (when I'm at work) but I also worry that breastfeeding will not work or that even if it did work, there is the issue with baby rejecting the bottle if she's used to the breast.

I will leave home at 8am and should be able to come home again by 5pm.

I'm hoping to get some input from working mothers.

Thanks.

My wife pumped exclusively. She went back to work after a few months with both little ones. She used a Medela Pump-in-Style with the optional battery pack at work. The pump is very small and fits in a small backpack (you can buy one as an accessory), and the battery pack lasts for weeks.


For storage, she had a little cooler bag which I think also came from Medela (may even have been part of the kit). It had an ice pack shaped so that bottles could fit in slots. That kept the milk cool for a good 10-12 hours. So her milk was nice and fresh even if the cooler bag sat on her desk all day.

Oooph that's going to be hard going back after 6 weeks! I've had 2 and each time had to go back to work after 10 weeks and that was tough as well.


With 1st born I rented a hopital grade pump (medela) and kept it in the office to avoid lumping it around and breast fed when I was at home, there was no confusion between bottle and breast. I did have supply issues as pumping did not produce all that was needed so I supplemented with formula. I think I pumped until around 7 or 8 months but was able to sustain breastfeeding when at home until around 11 months.


WIth #2 due to various issues essentially I have pumped all the time, so bub has had Express Breast Milk via the bottle. Supply has been much better this time around and only occassionally need to supplement with formula, now bub is 10 months old. I rented a hospital grade pump for the first 8 months since then I have been using a hand held (avent) pump which seems to be working fine.


Given the choice between the two options I'd follow the express at work and breast feed at home, otherwise you need to "create" additional time to pump as well as feeding the bub. Which particularly in the first few months with sleep deprivation etc is hard work.


Good luck and congratulations

"there is the issue with baby rejecting the bottle if she's used to the breast."


Agreed with locoloco on this one. Our #2 didn't seem to care. Our pediatrician at the time talked about "nipple confusion" with airquotes and one raised eyebrow. ;) That's not to say it doesn't happen, but perhaps is not as common as sometimes quoted.


Our #1 could not breastfeed due to a medical condition. #2 could but she kept falling asleep after five minutes, cozy and warm. Then she'd wake up again after an hour hungry. With the bottle she got a full meal instead. So actually my wife got more sleep with the bottle even counting expression time.

our #1 I also tried Medela Pump-in-style. it's easy to carry, like a school bag, with cooler bag inside. I pumped twice at work. and the pumping lasted for 7 months, until the week that I travelled in the mainland, and had no private place to pump.


our #2 I am going to do the same, but will try to keep breastfeeding a little longer.

Hi Gemma,


I went back to work when baby was three months old and pumped everyday - my baby was exclusively fed breast milk.


You should introduce the bottle for at least one feed a day at three weeks of age, so that baby gets used to taking milk from the bottle. They say don't do it any earlier because maybe the baby will reject your breast. And if you wait any later... well you'll be going to work when baby is six weeks!


I had a medela pump in style which was fantastic. I left it in the office so that I didn't have to carry it to work everyday. I bought two sets of funnels so that I didn't need to sterilise any equipment at the office, and I could pump twice a day at work.


I also pumped in the morning before I left for the office - I had to leave home at 8.30am. Sometimes, I would feed the baby on one side, and then pump milk on the other breast - either with a manual pump, or the electric. But manual pump was easier because it was not noisy and sometimes the baby would be distracted by the noise of the electric pump.


You can't pump exclusively, because your milk will run out in about a month. You need to feed the baby on your breast in order to maintain your milk supply. They say if you are pumping everyday at work, then whenever possible, you need to breastfeed your baby the other half of the time.


I had no problems with pumping daily and baby had no problems with taking bottle and breast.


My second baby is three months old. Last week, I went to the hair salon and left a bottle behind... but because we have never tried to give her the bottle before, she wouldn't drink it! But with the first child, when we gave her a bottle at three weeks to try, she was absolutely fine with it.


Read up on the internet on how to bottle feed a breastfed baby. It's a slightly different technique.


You'll be fine - don't get stressed about returning to work. Once you fall into a routine, it's easy. And you'll find that there'll be days that sometimes your milk is low - I think everyone has a milk supply that ebbs and flows. So just take special supplements or boil special soup (fish and papaya soup works wonders for me). As well, pumping in the morning after feeding the baby was good, because it was like getting "extra" milk. In other words, I wasn't pumping because I was missing a feed, but that milk in the morning was extra in case baby sometimes drank a lot!

"You can't pump exclusively, because your milk will run out in about a month. You need to feed the baby on your breast in order to maintain your milk supply."


That's not true. For example my wife pumped exclusively with two babies. 2x12 months. No problem. The breast doesn't know if it's a baby or a pump.

Wow... you mean your wife didn't breastfeed AT ALL and just pumped milk? Really??


That's amazing! I'm amazed because I had always read about how important it was to put the baby on the breast when you're pumping milk all the time... Well, if it's not true, then that's great! :-)

Yepp, all true! ;) She always had good flow. Never a problem. 10 minutes with the pump max and she'd filled the bottles.


#1 had a medical condition that made breastfeeding completely impossible. Only choice was bottle with a special nipple.


She did try to breastfeed for a couple of days with #2 but said child kept falling asleep five minutes into the feed, then waking up hungry an hour later. Bottle was way more efficient and mummy could get much needed sleep. ;)