Going back to work would like pumping advice/suggestions

[Hopeful18]

Hi Ladies! Everyone has always been so wonderful and helpful I thought I would ask

My LO will be just over 3 months when I go back to work in 2 weeks. She is EBF and I want to keep it that way. I have a great pump that I've used and it works wonderfully. She will drink from a bottle so I'm not worried about any of that. I'm just wondering about a few things and was hoping some women with experience pumping at work would be able to help.

What do you do with the milk after you pump it at work? Do you have to put it somewhere cold right away or do you wait until you get home?

If you have to keep it cold, how do you do that? cooler or ice packs?

How did you figure out how much milk to leave with the sitter?

I have an office that locks, but others have a key... how do you let people know not to interrupt?

And I will take any other advice or suggestions that may help!

Thank you

 

[missk1989]

Do you not have a fridge at work? This would be ideal really as it can only be at room temp for a few hours. A cooler box would work well. At 3 months my lo took about 4 oz a feed so depends how often he feeds. As for letting people know I would make a sign saying 'please knock I may be pumping" and just generally make people aware that if they just walk in they will have to be prepared to see you in the act. As long as you are comfortable that is.

 

[scoobydrlp]

What do you do with the milk after you pump it at work? I have a Playtex "minifridge" cooler bag, keeps milk cold for about 7 hours

Do you have to put it somewhere cold right away or do you wait until you get home? Ideally you would put it somewhere cold right away, although sometimes I forget and it stays at room temperature for an hour or two before I put it in the cooler bag.


How did you figure out how much milk to leave with the sitter? I was giving LO one bottle per day before I went back to work to get her used to them and we found that she took around 4oz per feed, and at that time she was eating around every 3 hours. So I sent enough to cover that plus one extra bottle just in case.

I have an office that locks, but others have a key... how do you let people know not to interrupt? We made a sign to hang on the door that says please do not disturb. Everyone knows when the sign is up that's what's going on.

And I will take any other advice or suggestions that may help! Don't try to get away with minimal pumping sessions while at work. You should really try and pump as often as your LO is eating. If you don't keep up with it you will run into a supply issue and it is REALLY hard to get it back once it's decreased. Also, if you have a freezer stash at home, don't rely on it for day to day use. You need to be pumping enough each day to send to the sitter/daycare the following day. If you're not pumping enough to do so then you will run into supply issues.

Good luck! It takes dedication to keep with it once you've gone back to work, but if it's important to you then you can make it happen!