Hey ladies, I am going to be having a baby boy in August and plan on breastfeeding. this will be our first child, and I have a couple questions.
Did any of you guys take a breastfeeding class? was it worth it?
Do you keep LO next to you (in a bassinet) for easy late night feedings?
Any advice for someone who will be going back to work after 8 wks maternity leave? as far as pumping at work, any advice you want to pass on would be greatly appreciated!
I don't know anyone who solely breastfed, so I am hoping you guys can help me out!

Firstly, congrats on your pregnancy! i'm still kind of a "newbie" as i've only been bf for 3.5 months but i'll do my best...

i didn't take any classes so can't attest to that, just did research online beforehand and got help from the nurses once i had her. i figured between the nurses and the hospitals lactation consultant there'd be no point, esp because in the classes you don't have your lo yet and the majority of problems see m to relate to your baby's latch.

def keep your baby in your room with you, whether bf or not! easiest AND safest! i believe 6 months is the recomendation.

as far as pumping, i'm a sahm so i rarely pump but i do know you should try to pump almost as often as you would if you were home feeding your lo, to keep your supply up. for ex: if your baby eats every 2 hrs, try to pump every 2 hours! make sure to get a little cooler and ice packs to keep the milk cool and transport it home to put in the fridge for your baby's caregiver to feed him the next day. any excess that won't be used within a few days should be frozen.

hope that helps, best of luck!

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it!

If you can try to find a La leche league in your area they will be able to give you lots of help and support. I would suggest going to a few meetups if possible so you get to know the leaders before hand and if you run into problems you can call them and they will likely come to your house and help you out. And you will be able to see breastfeeding in action.
And for sure keep LO close to you at night. It's sooo much easier if you don't have to get up out of bed to get them. And if your a fairly light sleeper then when you hear them moving around they will likely be ready for food and if you can feed them before they start to cry then its much easier on both of you.
As far as pumping am a SAHM so don't have do that regularly. I know you should take a picture with you to look at while pumping as that usually helps. And yeah you would need a fridge or somewhere to store it till you get home. And don't mix breastmilk of two different temperatures. So if you have some in the fridge and you have just pumped don't add it to the already cold milk. Put it in the fridge till its cold as well and then you can pour them into one bottle.

Thanks! I'll have to look that up. I am a light sleeper, so hopefully I will hear him before he cries, I'm sure dh would appreciate that!

oh oh i didn't know this - why?

You don't have to do this. I've mixed milk that's freshly pumped with milk in the fridge and had no issues at all. This is a common misconception

http://www.motherandchildhealth.com/...reastmilk.html

As for the OP's original question, many states now require workplaces to provide a clean, private area for breastfeeding mothers to pump milk. You will probably need to pump every 2-4 hours, depending on how frequently your baby will feed during the day.

It is very possible to continue BFing while returning to work! When you're starting out though, make sure you don't top up with formula. This is common advice in the USA and will just damage your supply.

We removed the side of Alex's crib and pushed it against our bed. He is still in our room. Cosleeping (bed sharing) saved our sanity. I second looking into LLL in Texas.

Good luck and we're here for you!

Since you are going back to work after 8 weeks, I'd recommend starting pumping once a day at around 3/4 weeks. Note that this is just my opinion - generally it is not recommended to pump so early, but you'll need to start a small stash before you go back to work and this will give your body a chance to learn to respond to the pump. I did not do this with DD1 and struggled to make her bottles on a day-by-day basis, pumping all hours of the weekend to make up the difference from what I couldn't pump at work. However, with DD2 I started pumping once a day from quite early on, and I think this boosted my supply a bit as well as provided a freezer stash, so it has been much less stressful this time around (and I still have quite a bit spare in the freezer now that she's 7 months old!).

I wish I had taken a breastfeeding class the first time around, because I knew nothing about breastfeeding. I was unprepared for the constant feeding, sore nipples, and normal weight loss. I was bullied into giving formula top-ups on days 2-4 before my milk came in, and then struggled with a somewhat low supply the whole year I BF her (but luckily never had to give any more formula after day 4 because by then I had done my own research and knew that was bad for supply). However, if you are planning to research and read up on your own, you likely don't need a class, but would be nice to identify a support group you could see afterward in case you need help with latching, etc.

Thanks ladies! I'm excited to start. My work does supply privacy signs to place on our exam room doors ( I work at a veterinary hospital.) I never thought to start early, but I see how it would be helpful to have an initial supply.