Pumping tips..very confused

[Dia0624]

Hi everyone,

This maybe a silly question but I need some tips for pumping when I return to work. My child is 2.5 weeks old and currently I'm breastfeeding on demand every 2 hours or so. I will be returning to work mid January, and I'll be able to pump 2 or max 3 times while I am at work. My commute is about hour and half and as an accountant, there are certain days/weeks when I am absolutely swamped that I don't think I'll even be able to leave my desk to pump at my leasure. My goal is to pump maybe at 4 in the morning, nurse around 6 ish before leaving for work, then pump when I get to work around 9:30/10, 12:30, 4 and hopefully be home by 7 to nurse directly. But with my work things won't work according to my schedule so how can I possibly do this? How and when can I train my body to not produce too much extra milk so my breast don't become engorged while at work if I can't pump that often?

I want to start pumping at 8 weeks and start storing milk. But will doing so tell my body that I need more milk?

would it make sense to introduce some formula at 8 weeks and pump according to my future work schedule to start preparing my body?

I'm so confused and I don't know how to go about this. Please help!!

Thanks!!

 

[Dia0624]

Bump!

 

[Dia0624]

Thanks but my question is not about using a pump but more about how/when to train my body to pump at the right times when I return to work.

 

[mrshan]

My LO is 5 wks. Chances are, your feedings will spread out as baby's tummy gets bigger and your LO eats more at once. My on-demand feedings are about every 3 hours now.

I've started slowly stockpiling milk in the freezer this week, by pumping on one side when he's feeding on the other side first thing in the morning. Usually, both sides are full or almost engorged because he doesn't suck as vigorously at night when he's sleepy. Rather than suffer until he's hungry enough to empty both sides, I pump some to save for later.

My advice is to not worry about it yet. As far as your body over-producing while you're pumping and feeding, I don't think it would be a problem to pump once a day. Some women just have an oversupply no matter what, and there's not much you can do about it.

I haven't noticed a crazy increase in production since I started pumping for one session a day. I don't think you'll need to switch over to formula and switch to a pumping schedule, but that's just from my experience.

GL!

 

[babe2ooo]

u want to have a pumping routin then your body will get used to producting that much milk everyday. you might not get much to start with but stick with it and u will. If there are some days you cant pump your milk might slow down. so u need to keep the pumping up as much as u can.

 

[gingmg]

Hi. I remember feeling overwhelmed and confused as well about pumping at work and had similar questions as yours. I can tell you what has worked for me, but I promise you will find your own rhythm of what works for you and once you get into the routine it won't feel so overwhelming anymore. My son is a year old now and our breastfeeding relationship is still going strong. I have been back at work since he was 12 weeks and we have never needed to supplement with formula.

I started pumping every morning around 4 or 5 weeks to build up a freezer stash. The time varied a bit but I made sure to do it everyday. I would pump anywhere between 1-3 ounces at a time depending on whether I had just fed him or not. It felt slow, but soon enough I had a nice freezer supply. I also had my spouse give him a bottle a couple times a week to make sure he would still take one. I always pumped while he was having his bottle and since this pumping session was in place of a feeding, I would easily get 3-4 ounces to add to the freezer. By the time I went back to work, I had a lot of milk stored up. Once I went back to work, I only pumped while at work and stopped pumping extra.

I work 3 twelve hour shifts a week with a long commute on either end. Most often I try to pump 3 times a shift, which works out to be roughly every 4 hours. I'm an ICU nurse so you can imagine there are plenty of times I literally can't walk away from what I am doing. On shifts like that, I just do my best and pump when I can. There have been plenty of shifts I've only pumped once sometimes ending up with blocked ducts by the end, but luckily more often than not, I can somehow find the time to pump at least twice if not three times a shift. I usually bring home exactly how many ounces I need for my next shift. If I have more than a few days off in a row, I freeze the milk I bring home and make the bottles with my freezer stash in order to keep the milk rotated so it doesn't go bad.

Even when I've had busy shifts and can't pump a lot, I haven't noticed my overall supply to be affected. Sometimes if I work multiple days in a row, I will notice that I bring home a little less milk on that last day, so I just nurse more on my days off and its right back to normal the next time I work. I try to nurse right before I leave the house and its almost the first thing I do when I get home, and its worked out really well.

Your baby is still so new and your supply hasn't finished regulating yet. Once it does, you will find you won't get engorged as easily. Sure when you are pumping extra to build a freezer stash, you are signaling your body to produce more milk, but once you have what you need in the freezer, you wont need to pump extra- just while you are separted from your baby. Pretty quickly, your body will adjust to what your baby's needs are and only produce just enough. As long as you pump when you can at work, I think you will find its not that bad, even if some days you can pump more often than others.

You'll find your rhythm and it won't feel so overwhelming anymore. Hope I answered some of your questions.