Working mamas - pumping advice please!

[blake12336]

It's my first day back at work on Wednesday (eeek!) and I have finally worked out how many bottles LO is going to need and sorted my breaks with my manager.

I will be pumping twice a day at 11 and 3, whereas LO will have a bottle at 9 and 1 - is this okay? Or do I need to pump at exactly the same times as LO is feeding? I will be feeding him before work at 7.30/8ish and after work at 5/6ish.

Also, what do you do with your pump after the first feed? Do you take spare parts or wash it or keep it in the fridge etc? What is easiest? How do you keep your pump parts etc discreet?

There is a fridge available for me to keep stuff in, however, it is usually quite full.

Any tips would be helpful and very much appreciated thankyou!

 

[monte3375]

I go back 9/15 and I am wondering how you figured out how much your LO eats at each feeding so you know you have enough breastmilk to feed?

We are going to Grandmas in 10 days and I am going to pump so she can feed him twice a day for him to get used to it, but I have no idea how much he eats each feeding.

Today, I tried pumping and gave him 2 oz I pumped and then had him eat from me.

I dont think he knows when to stop after bottle feeding. He explosion poops after and it us green/yellow pasty poop.

How much will you pump for him.

My baby will be 12 weeks in two weeks.

 

[blake12336]

I go back 9/15 and I am wondering how you figured out how much your LO eats at each feeding so you know you have enough breastmilk to feed?

We are going to Grandmas in 10 days and I am going to pump so she can feed him twice a day for him to get used to it, but I have no idea how much he eats each feeding.

Today, I tried pumping and gave him 2 oz I pumped and then had him eat from me.

I dont think he knows when to stop after bottle feeding. He explosion poops after and it us green/yellow pasty poop.

How much will you pump for him.

My baby will be 12 weeks in two weeks.

To be honest it was trial and error, we started giving LO 2/3 ounces, which was enough for him up until about 4/5 months, and once he seemed to be wanting more I upped it to 5/6 ounces, which he never finished so he now has 4/5 ounces at 8 months old.

Also, before LO started nursery, I kept a diary for a week of his feeds, naptimes etc to see if I could recognise a pattern, and to see if he was feeding at around the same times which he was, and then I just went from there

With the green poop it could be that you're not pumping for long enough so your LO is only getting the foremilk and not enough hindmilk?

Hope you work it out

 

[MommyJogger]

That sounds fine! You don't need to pump at exactly the same time. Mine was given bottles on demand and I never had any clue when he was fed until the end of the day and it varied every day.
I have three sets of flanges and pump thrice at work. When I get done with a session, I throw the parts in a wet bag I keep especially for pump parts. That goes in the fridge. Then I take it out when I pump again and throw the second set in. Then third set. I empty it at home and throw the wet bag in the wash with the clothes-- no one will know what's in there because the wet bag isn't see-through, but I know some women just use ziplock freezer bags. It's not necessary to keep it refrigerated, but I don't personally like the smell at the end of the day if I don't. You can't smell it through the wet bag, though, so you can keep it at your desk without smelling it at all. It's easier for me to just wash them when I'm done with them when I have a sink available but sometimes work takes me into a field where there is no sink at all.
Your milk can be made discreet by keeping it in a cooler/thermal bag in the fridge.
Another tip I like to give is that if there's no lock on your pumping room at work, have a "Do not enter/disturb" sign printed out before you go in that first day. Some people have no sense of what a closed door might mean.

 

[MommyJogger]

The average daily bm intake is 25-30 oz. If you count the # of times a baby nurses during the day, you can get an estimate of how many oz they're averaging per feed. But lots of babies take different amounts at different times of day, so it can still be pretty hit and miss. I think the average baby will take about 4oz/bottle. At least that's what I've seen on here and at my breastfeeding support group.

 

[blake12336]

That sounds fine! You don't need to pump at exactly the same time. Mine was given bottles on demand and I never had any clue when he was fed until the end of the day and it varied every day.
I have three sets of flanges and pump thrice at work. When I get done with a session, I throw the parts in a wet bag I keep especially for pump parts. That goes in the fridge. Then I take it out when I pump again and throw the second set in. Then third set. I empty it at home and throw the wet bag in the wash with the clothes-- no one will know what's in there because the wet bag isn't see-through, but I know some women just use ziplock freezer bags. It's not necessary to keep it refrigerated, but I don't personally like the smell at the end of the day if I don't. You can't smell it through the wet bag, though, so you can keep it at your desk without smelling it at all. It's easier for me to just wash them when I'm done with them when I have a sink available but sometimes work takes me into a field where there is no sink at all.
Your milk can be made discreet by keeping it in a cooler/thermal bag in the fridge.
Another tip I like to give is that if there's no lock on your pumping room at work, have a "Do not enter/disturb" sign printed out before you go in that first day. Some people have no sense of what a closed door might mean.

I also feed on demand, however, he seems to have set up his own routine so I am now following that as it also makes it easier at nursery for him

I don't have spare parts for my pump, so would it be okay to stick it in the fridge after the first feed and use it for the second feed, or should I wash it/sterilise it before the second feed? It would be possible at work but I only have limited time to pump.

I actually work in a nursery and there isn't a spare room for me to pump in so my set times are in the staff room(first feed) when noone will be in there and managers office(secondfeed) once she has gone home! But a sign is a good idea

 

[MommyJogger]

I don't have spare parts for my pump, so would it be okay to stick it in the fridge after the first feed and use it for the second feed, or should I wash it/sterilise it before the second feed? It would be possible at work but I only have limited time to pump.

That's a really, really good question. From what I've read, you can add 'fresh' milk to refrigerated as long as the volume of fresh milk isn't high enough to appreciably warm up the refrigerated milk. But the milk from the second pumping session would definitely be enough to warm up the droplets left. Personally, I would probably do it myself if I knew the milk were going to be used the next day, but I wouldn't do it if the milk were going to be frozen for a stash. But I'm pretty strict on my frozen milk hygiene standards. It would be safer to ask a lactation consultant about that one. Perhaps it would be safer to very quickly rinse/dry the parts and then refrigerate? You wouldn't need to sterilize, but I don't really feel confident enough to give you a straight answer about re-use of used pump accessories.

 

[blake12336]

Thanks for the advice Mommyjogger! I think I will give my local lactation consultant a call today

 

[SarahBear]

When I first returned to work, it was as a substitute instructional assistant in special education classrooms. This meant that from day to day, I didn't know what my schedule would be like or when my breaks would be. I would just have to check with the classroom teacher each morning to let them know I needed to pump and I would check in about when my breaks were and if they had a funky schedule, they would accommodate for me to some degree. The moral of the story is, pumping isn't an exact science. As long as you have some time between pumping sessions and don't go too long (because you could get uncomfortable or leak), you're good. Your body will probably get used to the new pumping schedule and those times will become ideal for pumping. Then on your days off, your body's "supply" will react to the demand from your baby and give your baby what he needs. As for the parts, my pump has a cooler compartment and after the first pumping session, I put the parts in the cooler for the second pumping session.

 

[CatherineK]

I pump three times a day when working, and always use the same parts, just stick them in a bag in the fridge. I did that for both my sons and never had an issue. The time does not have to coincide with your babies bottles, but it's best to pump at least as much as she/he drinks each day. And breast fed babies, on average, drink 1 to 1.5 ounces for every hour away from mom, mine always took between 10-13 ounces on average for nine hours away.

 

[seaweed eater]

I pump twice during most work days. I have only one set of parts, and I take it apart after each time (I've found it important to do this every time so stuff doesn't grow in there...) and rinse it thoroughly in hot water and then store at room temp. Then I sterilize at home.

I also keep the milk at room temp once I'm done since I generally make it home within 6 hours of pumping to put it in the fridge. I don't know if this is rational -- I have a cooler bag with an ice pack, but I know that cooling it destroys some of its resilience so I'm more wary of cooling and then re-warming than of leaving it out at room temp for a while. So I try to minimize the number of times its temperature changes, even if that means leaving it out for longer. Within reason, of course.

 

[wanting2010]

You don't have to pump at exactly the same times LO will be eating. Babies need about 1-1.5 oz of milk per hour that you're away. I've found that to be pretty accurate with my LO in the 2.5 months that I've been back to work. I work 12 hour shifts, so I nurse my son around 5:45, drop him off at 6:30, pump at 9:30, 12:30, and 4, and then I get home and nurse him around 7:30-8. He usually takes 4 or 5 4 oz bottles while I'm gone, and I pump 22 oz on average.

I keep my pump parts in the fridge between pumping sessions. I found that cleaning them each time was too time consuming and IMO not necessary. I give them a good wash each night. I stick the parts in a ziploc bag in a lunch bag that I also store my pumped milk in. This has been working out really well for me with no problems!