Going back to work

Hi Everyone,

I have been home with my babes for the last year and am getting ready to go back to work on April 1st when my fellas will be 14 months. I have been BFing them and loving the special time with them, not to mention the health benefits. I would really like to keep BFing when I go back and need some advice on how to do that. So, my questions are:

For you pumping mommas, when did you stop pumping @ work? They still nurse several times a day now so should I be planning on pumping at work or not because they will be over a year? If I don't pump at work, will I be able to nurse during the day on the weekends or will I have no supply?

For those of you with babes 12-14 months, when do you nurse them if you work a day job? Morning and before bed? Weekends any time?

Also, they are not night weaned and one of my guys can wake as often as 3 times a night and the other 1-2 times (yup, i'm tired). That will be hard to manage when I go back to work but I hate the idea of night weaning when I won't see them during the day. Though I think I have to or I just won't be able to function. For those of you who night weaned, how did you do it gently? Is it possible to wean down to one nurse/night instead to still have some snuggles?

As you can probably tell, I feel very sad about going back to work though I am hugely grateful for the time I have had wit hmy boys at home. If you have any thoughts or experience on any of my questions I'd appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,

Amy

 

My twinkies are still under 1 so I'm still pumping for them at work. I stopped pumping for Vivi at work at a little bit over a year (somewhere between 12 and 14 months maybe? it's all a little fuzzy). I am likely to do the same with the twins and phase in cows milk while I start the process of weaning off the pump and burning through the freezer stash. So it will probably take some time. On the weekends, I kept the same nursing sessions as during the week and gave her milk in a sippy.

We had a 3 nursing session schedule - first thing in the morning before I left for work, as soon as I got home from work, and right before bed. Honestly, that's not all that different from the nursing sessions that I actually have with the twins now. The only difference is that I nurse the twins during the day on the weekends. You can always nurse them more frequently on the weekends if you like.

Night weaning, I'm not a lot of help with. My girls always figured out a way to start sleeping mostly through on their own. It was never before I went back to work but I didn't actively push them towards it either. (Those first couple of months back to work with the twins were hellish but survivable.)

I will say this, when I did eventually have to wean Vivi totally the hardest session for me to drop was not the morning or bedtime feeding but the one when I got home from work and I'm certain it will be the same with the twinkies. Since I don't have much choice in working or not, there is nothing like the feeling when I walk in the door and my girls hold up their arms, ready for snuggles. :wub:

 

I pumped at work as long as I nursed, dropping down to one pumping session by 15 months or so. This one pumping session was during my lunch hour, easy to organize and it fit into our nursing schedule because I usually nursed them at home at naptime. My supply needed the pumping session (I often struggled with supply issues) - even 4 days at home with more nursing sessions after my 3 office days were not enough to regain my supply if I did not pump. Whether you can go on nursing them on demand on the weekends with fewer or no pumping sessions at work will depend on your body.

On my work days I nursed early morning (5am), wake-up (6.30 am), dream-feed (10-11 pm - I worked very long days so was not often home for bed-time). On my days at home I nursed on demand, typically adding at least a midday nap-time and a bed-time nursing session, plus little comforting nursing sessions on demand. We weaned around 18 months, my supply just dropped and I was not able to re-establish it.

I had to night-wean one twin 3 months after I went back to work, when she was 12 months old. The other twin was STTN (6 hours, sometimes more) from an earlier age, but DD nursed every 2-3 hours until I night-weaned. We decided to give her a chance to adjust to my going back to work for a few months, but after 3 months I was so exhausted we had to change something. We co-slept with the babies, so lots of snuggeling to make up for my being away during the day was guaranteed even without nursing. DS who was STTN would shift in his sleep when I came to bed to cuddle really close, but would not wake or want to nurse until maybe 5 am.

What we did to night-wean was to drop one nursing session after the other. So, for example if she nursed at 11 pm, 2 am, 4 am and 6.30 am I would nurse her at 11 pm and then leave the bedroom to sleep somewhere else. All wakenings were DH's responsibility until 4 am (or close to 4 am). He did offer a bottle in the beginning and quickly watered it down. It took about 4 weeks to drop one session completely and have DD decide waking up for dad and water was not worth it. Then I moved back to the big bed. This method worked well, but it was hard on DH. We figured that since I had dealt with all night-time demands from birth and would deal with them again after the night-weaning, he could bear a month or two with some night-time duties (I still did the dream-feed and the early morning feed as long as they wanted that).

 

I don't have any advice as to pumping at work but wanted to throw out there...
Nursing at night (after 1am) is one of the cues for your body to increase (or at least continue) supply. When you have supply issues it is one of the things you can do to increase production. That said, i don't think i could work and do night feeding.

I hope your transition back to work is a smooth one.

 

My twins are only 8 months old and I still pump a lot at work, nurse through the night and work full time. With my older DD I stopped pumping at work at 12 months. We still nursed on demand on weekends and evenings and didn't night wean until she was about 18 months (when she was finally ready). I looked at it as our bonding time. We coslept so it wasn't that big a deal to roll over and feed her. My supply wasnt affected. She adjusted fine to food and water in a sippy through the day although still won't drink cows milk at age 3. I plan on doing the same thing with the twins.
I don't have much help with night weaning. If was hard and she relied on nursing to sleep until she was almost two when I cut her off cold turkey.

 

I don't have a pump so I've never pumped.
I went back to work when my twins were a year, and I continued to breastfeed them until they were 15 months old--they also got supplements since birth. While I was working I bfeed them in the evenings and on the weekends.
With my singleton, I went back to work when he was seven and a half months old. He would never take a bottle but was on solids and would drink a little from a cup by then. He reversed cycled, taking in most of his milk over night (we coslept to facilitate this). I'd nurse him when ever I could, in the morning, in the car before going into daycare, in the car as soon as he came out of daycare in the evening and on demand on weekends or any other day off.

He's still nursing, I've been trying to wean him since he was two, but I want him to be ready.

I think you will be fine without pumping. If you want to pump to have expressed milk to give them in bottles when you are gone--you can do that. But if you'd rather not, your supply should be fine, it will adjust.

 

Mine are only 7 mos old and not night weaned, so I can't offer help with those things, but I've been back at work since they were 3 mos old and just wanted to offer you some encouragement. It's a HARD transition, but it really does get easier. And I think pumping helps -- I like thinking about them when I'm there at my desk, knowing I'm giving them something yummy to eat for the next day. Pumping is a pain in so many ways, but also a nice way to stop and think about your sweet ones. Good luck!!

 

I wouldn't pump if I was going back at a year. Most loathsome task ever. Love breastfeeding. Hate pumping.

I just stopped pumping during the day and my twins are 10 months, but they are supplemented with formula and they love their solid foods. I went back at 12 weeks and have had some supply issues with regards to pumping (so mine have always had some formula a day since I went back). My son is on a nursing strike for the most part right now and only nursing 1-2 times a day. My daughter is still nursing regularly, but not as frequently as I would have expected at 10 months (based on their boob addicted older brother!).

You might find that you could use a hand pump or learn how to hand express for the first week or so back to ensure you don't get engorged if you haven't gone 8-9 hours without nursing before. Your supply will adjust quickly.

The fact that they are not night weaned will go a long way in helping you maintain your milk supply for nursing while at home and when you're ready to night wean, well, there are plenty of moms who continue to only nurse a couple of times a day (morning/evening). Your body will adjust to what you need and how often you nurse.

When you nurse after you're back at work will depend on your babies. My first son would nurse at every opportunity and HAD to nurse upon waking and as soon as we got home in the evening (then alllllll night long). My twins are fickle. For example, yesterday, my DD nursed at 4 a.m. and decided she didn't want to nurse before I left for work, leaving me hanging for the day. Then neither one of them wanted to nurse when I got home until bedtime and then just my DD and my DS refused! And I had to pump one side because no one had used it in 18 hours!