Breastfeeding working moms HELP!

[monte3375]

I go back to work on 9/16, so one more week at home. Prior to a month ago, I could barely pump anything. Now, I seem to have enough to pump extra and feed.

So I started a freezer stash, but I had to use some of this during vacation. I have 79 oz frozen right now. My goal was 100 oz and that seemed like a huge goal. I only pumped during his morning nap most of this time.

The last two days I pumped in the morning 3 oz, afternoon, 5 oz during his nap and then another 3 oz after he went to bed.

Next week, I have some evening meetings, so my OH needs some pumped milk for those evenings.

My goal is to pump another 24 to freeze this upcoming week, this will be 103 oz froze before returning to work.

My daycare is only 1 block from work, so I plan to go feed him over my lunch hour on most days. There will definitely be days I cant though.

Questions:

Is 103 oz a good freezer stash...or should I work hard and pump more this last week at home?

How much should I have daycare feed him at a time? 3 oz or 4 oz?

I heard an average ate per 9 hour workday is about 12 oz.

My guy is a petite fella...

 

[ARuppe716]

I didn't really use a freezer stash so not sure there. I always read one ounce for every hour but its all trial and error. I sent extra the first few weeks until we figured out the best size bottle and number of bottles. Does your daycare have a freezer? Our school lets me keep a couple frozen bags there as a back up. I'm sure you'll do great and its so lucky you get to go over on your lunch breaks!

 

[monte3375]

I didn't really use a freezer stash so not sure there. I always read one ounce for every hour but its all trial and error. I sent extra the first few weeks until we figured out the best size bottle and number of bottles. Does your daycare have a freezer? Our school lets me keep a couple frozen bags there as a back up. I'm sure you'll do great and its so lucky you get to go over on your lunch breaks!

do you still breastfeed

 

[iwantabub]

I am back next week and don't have a large freezer stash at all...

Only enough for probably a day and a half of work...

Here your allowed pumping breaks by law so I am just gonna pump then refrigerate and use the next day.


I agree with pp to keep a couple of frozen ones at the place... My mum is looking after ds so I'm reli lucky.

 

[SarahBear]

I don't even have a freezer stash. I have had two instances of returning to work since Violet was born, as I had a month off recently. This last time, I pumped about 6 ounces and stuck it in the freezer and then pumped another 4 to 6 for the fridge. She didn't even take all the milk in the fridge. I just try to stay a day ahead on the milk and am pumping between 8 and 9 ounces at work. She took about 7 ounces the other day. The first time I returned to work, I had more in the fridge, but it had kind of gone bad which was sad . Anyway, the basic message here is I just stay a day ahead as I don't see the point in more and it also ensures that the milk is as fresh as it can be.

 

[monte3375]

I don't even have a freezer stash. I have had two instances of returning to work since Violet was born, as I had a month off recently. This last time, I pumped about 6 ounces and stuck it in the freezer and then pumped another 4 to 6 for the fridge. She didn't even take all the milk in the fridge. I just try to stay a day ahead on the milk and am pumping between 8 and 9 ounces at work. She took about 7 ounces the other day. The first time I returned to work, I had more in the fridge, but it had kind of gone bad which was sad . Anyway, the basic message here is I just stay a day ahead as I don't see the point in more and it also ensures that the milk is as fresh as it can be.

How much does she eat at daycare? Do you work full-time?

 

[SarahBear]

I work full time and she stays home with my husband. On a day where she's refusing a lot, she takes about 3 ounces. On a day when she's taking a more reasonable volume, she takes about 7 ounces. Before my break in work, she was taking about 4 ounces. It's not enough, but you can't force a baby to take a bottle... She would make up for it at the end of the day and at night.

 

[Cat lady]

Hun, that is a fab stash! You have more than enough there, you will probably find, baby will not feed a great deal during the day (More during growth spurts) and will feed more from you in the morning and in the evenings. Try not to stress too much about how much they are or are not drinking, baby will not allow himself to starve.

I work full time, my long days are 8.30 - 7, my dd will generally only have about 5oz a day. But she will spend most of the evening attached to my boob.

When I first went back to work after having my first, I would pump 3 times a day, when lo got to 6 months, I cut it down to twice a day, at 9 months, once a day and at 12 months I stopped pumping during the day altogther. I will do the same with dd, I will still breastfeed when I am around but I will start to give cows milk then as well at a year. This was what I did with my ds and it worked really well for us. He carried on feeding until he was almost 2. I will continue to feed dd until she decides she doesnt want to any more.

Well done you for continuing to pump until you are doing it easily thats great. Most people give up at the first hurdle! Its not easy and can be boring but well done you. One extra tip I will give (Although Im sure you are probably already doing it) Make sure you date your bags in permanent marker and use the oldest ones first.
xxx

 

[monte3375]

Hun, that is a fab stash! You have more than enough there, you will probably find, baby will not feed a great deal during the day (More during growth spurts) and will feed more from you in the morning and in the evenings. Try not to stress too much about how much they are or are not drinking, baby will not allow himself to starve.

I work full time, my long days are 8.30 - 7, my dd will generally only have about 5oz a day. But she will spend most of the evening attached to my boob.

When I first went back to work after having my first, I would pump 3 times a day, when lo got to 6 months, I cut it down to twice a day, at 9 months, once a day and at 12 months I stopped pumping during the day altogther. I will do the same with dd, I will still breastfeed when I am around but I will start to give cows milk then as well at a year. This was what I did with my ds and it worked really well for us. He carried on feeding until he was almost 2. I will continue to feed dd until she decides she doesnt want to any more.

Well done you for continuing to pump until you are doing it easily thats great. Most people give up at the first hurdle! Its not easy and can be boring but well done you. One extra tip I will give (Although Im sure you are probably already doing it) Make sure you date your bags in permanent marker and use the oldest ones first.
xxx

will it be different for my LO bcuz he has been taking bottle from anyone? so will he eat well for her or no.

 

[scoobydrlp]

I work full time, and went back to work when LO was almost 12 weeks old. She took 3oz bottles every 3 hours or so at that time. A month or so later the daycare teacher told me she seemed like she was still hungry after finishing, so we went to 4oz bottles. It will probably be trial and error for you at the beginning.

As for your freezer stash, it's nice to have something to fall back on, and it sounds like you have a good supply there if you need it. The best advice I got was that you shouldn't depend on your freezer stash for day to day feeding. You need to be pumping as much and as often as your LO is eating while you're away each day. If you fall behind on pumping your supply will suffer. Again, it will be trial and error at first, but if your LO is taking a bottle every 3 hours then you should be pumping every 3 hours (you get the idea). Hope everything works out for you! Pumping at work can really be a pain in the butt, but it's worth it

 

[monte3375]

Thanks, I have a private office, so I hope it works. I hope my freezer stash will allow me to go longer with breastmilk when I decide that it is not working with schedule. I run a credit union and I hope my schedule will continue to allow breaks for pumping...we will see!

My goal was 6 months and maybe I can go longer than that.

 

[jd83]

I pumped when I went back to work, and had a pretty big freezer stash that I had saved up while on maternity leave (probably a few hundred ounces?) It's great that you have that much saved up! My son took 4-5 ounces at a time, so I always stored bags in those amounts.

Also, breastmilk changes as your baby grows and needs change, so make sure you are using the oldest milk first. Don't just keep it in the freezer for months for just in case. Keep rotating your stock by always using the oldest first. You will likely be pumping plenty for you lo throughout the day, so the extra you have in your freezer will be a good back up just in case you need it, or in case you have a supply dip from returning to work.

I found a good tip on pinterest for your freezer stock to keep it organized so that you are using the oldest first: Either use a box or a bag with a hole cut out of the bottom so that you take the milk on the bottom that is the oldest, and add the new bags on top. Or you can file them in the box sideways, which is what I did. I labelled each box with the date range so I knew which boxes to use first.

 

[monte3375]

I pumped when I went back to work, and had a pretty big freezer stash that I had saved up while on maternity leave (probably a few hundred ounces?) It's great that you have that much saved up! My son took 4-5 ounces at a time, so I always stored bags in those amounts.

Also, breastmilk changes as your baby grows and needs change, so make sure you are using the oldest milk first. Don't just keep it in the freezer for months for just in case. Keep rotating your stock by always using the oldest first. You will likely be pumping plenty for you lo throughout the day, so the extra you have in your freezer will be a good back up just in case you need it, or in case you have a supply dip from returning to work.

I found a good tip on pinterest for your freezer stock to keep it organized so that you are using the oldest first: Either use a box or a bag with a hole cut out of the bottom so that you take the milk on the bottom that is the oldest, and add the new bags on top. Or you can file them in the box sideways, which is what I did. I labelled each box with the date range so I knew which boxes to use first.

great tip!

 

[monte3375]

I also hope my pumping this week will create a greater need so when it goes down from just pumping and baby feeding less, the diminished flow will be just enough...if that makes sense

 

[jd83]

If you do have a supply dip, fenugreek and eating lots of oatmeal helped me

 

[monte3375]

If you do have a supply dip, fenugreek and eating lots of oatmeal helped me

Ok thanks!

 

[scoobydrlp]

All great advice, hope everything works out for you!