Hey ladies. Hope you don’t mind a pregnant girl popping in. I really really really want to BF. I will be able to be out of work for 12 weeks. I work as a nurse in a really busy Intensive Care Unit in the city. I have a 30 minute commute and work 12 hour shifts. So I am typically gone for 14 hours when I work. I only work 3 days a week. Baby will have to be in day care while I work. OH will take baby to day care on his way to work. And pick baby up. He works normal 7-8 hr days. I also work every other weekend. So my mom will help him on the weekends.

I want to save my milk during the time that I am off. My mother BF me and was a member of the Le Leche League for a while. She says a hand pump is sufficient to get a good milk supply built up. That is all they had back then.

My concerns are:

1. Should I spend the money and get an expensive electric pump?

2. Work is soooo busy. Will it be possible to pump at work and then clean all the parts after each pump? I know they have to give me time to pump at work... it is the law. But I am very anal retentive about the care my sick patients receive. I do not want to neglect them. My patients are in life or death situations. (will my priorities change?)

3. Should I just get a good hand pump that is easy and quick to clean? Do they work?

4. Should I try to save my milk that i pump at work? Or should I just quickly express and go on.

5. If I just express a few times at work will I lose my milk supply?


I am the money maker in the family.... so not working full time isn’t an option.



Thank you thank you!

I'm not sure if all hospitals are the same, but my husband (and mother and mother-in-law, ha!) work at our local one, and the nursing mothers that work there are aloud to use the ones in the labor and delivery ward. I would check into that if I were you! I would love to have access to hospital grade pumps!

I can rent a pump from the hospital for $60 a month. But there is a separate Women’s hospital that houses Labor and Delivery. So there aren’t any mom baby supplies at the hospital i work at.

Get a good double electric pump. Ameda Purely Yours is my favorite and very easy to clean.

Yes, you should save anything you pump at work. You won't be able to build enough of a stash to last the rest of BF while you are off. It's easy to store and take home.

Yes, it is the law they provide you a time and private place to pump. Use that law. They need to accomodate the schedule and staffing so that you can do that and your patients aren't neglected. Period.

I was able to pump, store milk, and clean it all up in 10-20 minutes per session. It might take you as long as 20-30 minutes depending on your personal milk supply and let down speed. The double electric pump is CRUCIAL to this. With a double electric I pumped 7-12 oz at a time. If I used a hand pump for 20-25 minutes on one breast, I could get about 4 oz.

If you DON'T take the time to pump the proper amount at work, you WILL loose your supply and have to supplement. That's just the reality of it. So, you will need to determine your own priorities there. However, if your employer is doing their job, you shouldn't have to choose. Your patients should still recieve a high level of care WHILE you are pumping.

1. Should I spend the money and get an expensive electric pump? Yes, absolutely. Look on Amazon.com - I won't vouch for anything other than Ameda and Medela because those are the only ones I've used. I used a 2nd hand Ameda for the first 6 months and it did a really good job (considering it was also 12 years old), and just bought a single Medela (and I'm completely in love with it). Spend the money, I hesitated and in the end I spent it and am so happy. I don't know how the others work though, but if you're pumping multiple times a day you definitely want an electric one

2. Work is soooo busy. Will it be possible to pump at work and then clean all the parts after each pump? Prepare as much ahead of time as you can by washing your parts and preparing your pump in the morning. If I give it a good pumping session with my single pump (and a good pump cuts down on time), it takes me 30 mins for both breasts (yielding about 6 oz). If you have a double, even less time. As far as cleaning, you really only need to give them a good rinse after use and clean them thoroughly in the evenings, shouldn't take much time at all during the day.

3. Should I just get a good hand pump that is easy and quick to clean? Do they work? I wouldn't recommend it for multiple times a day, but I've never used a hand pump. I just know I pump 2-3 times a day and my hand would get crazy tired

4. Should I try to save my milk that i pump at work? Or should I just quickly express and go on. Umm...how will your baby eat if you don't save it? My baby eats what I pump at work (and from a small freezer stash) while I'm away from her...I'm not sure what else your LO will eat unless you're combi-feeding

5. If I just express a few times at work will I lose my milk supply? Absolutely. You have to pump every time your LO should have a feed. Especially if you don't have a great supply to begin with. I know my supply is decent and doesn't drop easily so I have a little give and take but I wouldn't mess around with it too much. I know my LO east 2-3 times while I'm gone (closer to 2). I pump around 11:30 am and then again around 3:30 pm usually (and 3 times a week I also feed LO when she's at daycare). If I didn't pump a full feeding or as much as possible #1 LO wouldn't have anything to eat and #2 my supply would drop because my body would think it didn't need to produce milk during that time. Its all about supply and demand.

Hope I was helpful. Good luck to you!

i used an ameda purely yours as well when i went back to the wards. i managed to pump (is a double) and clean up etc in 15-20min, and pumped 4-5 times in a 13hour shift.

1. Should I spend the money and get an expensive electric pump?
YES! especially if you're busy at work. Get a double electric pump. I have the Medela Pump in Style and it works great. Check your insurance, they ay pay for it. I had the midwives give me a prescription for a breast pump. I had it filled at a medical device store and they billed it as a medical device so insurance paid for it.

2. Work is soooo busy. Will it be possible to pump at work and then clean all the parts after each pump? I know they have to give me time to pump at work... it is the law. But I am very anal retentive about the care my sick patients receive. I do not want to neglect them. My patients are in life or death situations. (will my priorities change?)
Your patients will still be a priority but I can't believe how much my priorities changed once I became a mom! Make sure you pump as often as you need to. TigerLady is spot on! Another tip is to buy enough shields etc for the pump so you only have to wash once a day. You can store them in the fridge until the end of the day and then wash at home. That should shave a good few minutes off your time. Also if you can pump somewhere where you can leave your pump put together that helps too. I leave my pump plugged in and the hoses attached throughout the day. Also look at getting a hands-free pumping bra. They're awesome. I have the simple wishes and one from Medela. They both work great. I probably like the simple wishes one better.

3. Should I just get a good hand pump that is easy and quick to clean? Do they work?
I have one that works but if you're short on time you're going to want to be able to pump both breasts at once. I can get about the same amount of milk from either but the electric is much faster.

4. Should I try to save my milk that i pump at work? Or should I just quickly express and go on.
I would absolutely save the milk!

5. If I just express a few times at work will I lose my milk supply?
I would pump as many times as you would feed LO. When my LO was younger I pumped 4 times during the day and once after she went to bed. Now that she's older I'm pumping 3 times during the day only.

I am the money maker in the family.... so not working full time isn’t an option.
No need to compromise your family's finances to breastfeed! There are quite a few of us working moms on the board. I've been pumping at work for nearly 9 months now. Can't wait to be done but its a labor of love!

Good luck! It is doable to maintain breastfeeding while being a working mom!

This was helpful. i work 12 hours as a nurse's aid and i worry about my patients....i have to go back in april and im worried

I don't have much to add as the ladies above have covered it. I agree with everyone else, definitely get a double electric (hand pump doesn't work nearly as well for me), try to pump every 3 hours or so, and definitely save the milk! I'm using an Ameda Purely Yours and it has served me well as I pumped at work from the time DD1 was 9 weeks old until 1 year old, and now have been pumping at work again ever since DD2 was 9 weeks old. It's certainly do-able, but takes determination!