Heading back to work

Hi all,

My sweet little boy and girl are 9 weeks old, and I'm heading back to work in 3 weeks. After A LOT of effort (and encouragement here!!) they are both good nursers. I do supplement them with formula too; I would guess my boy gets just over half of his food from breast milk and my girl around 75% of hers, but it's always hard to know when you're nursing. They each tend to take 3 bottles a day, around 4 oz each, though my baby girl often doesn't want the third bottle.

I would like to keep up breastfeeding for a couple more months if I can. Pumping shouldn't be too tricky with my job, and I may be able to drive to my sister's house most days at lunch to nurse them (she's their nanny, which is awesome!!!).

My questions are:
1. My supply will drop some, right? Since the pump is less efficient than the babies? How quickly does this happen?
2. How often should I plan on pumping? I nurse them now every 2-3 hrs during the day (plus whenever they want to comfort nurse) and each time they wake at night, which is irregular.
3. Even if I don't pump much, I should stick with it, right? I'm already ok with formula in addition to breast milk, and it isn't an all or nothing thing, right? They still get benefits even if I only pump a few ounces for each while I'm gone?
4. Right now they don't take any bottles at night; they only nurse. Will not nursing during the day, but pumping, drop my supply enough that I should plan on giving bottles at night too?
5. Finally, should I try to transition them to bottles only during the day over the next 3 weeks? Part of me thinks theyll do fine since they already take a few bottles each day and I should be able to nurse them at lunch most days, so no need to do anything different. Plus I like nursing them. But I don't want my first day at work to be a shock to their system.

Thanks in advance for the help! I'm defintely starting to get sad about going back to work, and really hope it's not the immediate end of nursing, which I've grown to love after a very rocky start. I don't know that I'll nurse to 6 months, but I like that as a goal, even if they're getting mostly formula at that point.

 

1. It depends. My body responded EXTREMELY well to the pump and I actually probably produce just as much with the pump as with them nursing. I know that is unusual so I'm probably not the best person to answer this question.

2. I nurse my girls every 1.5 - 2 hours during the day if I'm home (still on demand). When I'm at work, I try to pump about every 2.5 - 3 hours. So I feed the girls around 7 am, get to work at 8, pump a little before 10 am, pump around 12:30pm, pump around 2:45 pm and feed them as soon as I get home about 5 pm. The first week or so we had all evening nursing sessions until they got used to the rhythm. You may not have that issue since they are already familiar with bottles (mine weren't).

3. Whether to stick with pumping is up to you. You can always try to shift as much of their formula feeding into your working hours as possible so that you don't have to pump as much. It is not all or nothing. Every little bit helps - particularly their immune systems, since they will still get a boost from yours. Once my oldest could drink whole milk, I stopped pumping at work and nursed her in the evenings.

4. Not necessarily. I would see how things go. You don't necessarily produce the same amount of milk at different times of the day so you may still have plenty to go around at night even if you lose some during the day.

5. I doubt that's necessary. My two had a rough start of it because I didn't really introduce the bottle until about a week and a half before I went back to work. I recall my oldest daughter doing a little better with my work transition because we had introduced the bottle earlier.


Best of luck! It's definitely hard going back but the pumping part isn't all that bad if your employer is cooperative.

 

1. My supply did drop some, mostly because I could not pump as often as they nursed, but it usually picked up again over my days at home (I worked 3 days, sometimes 4 a week) when I was extra responsive to nursing cues.

2. My aim was to pump around the same time when they usually nursed, pumping at least twice, ideally 3 times per day at work.

3. For me, every bit of EBM was worth it, for their immune systems and to keep my supply up for my times at home. BFing is not all or nothing.

4. My babies showed some reverse cycling after I went back to work, so ended up wanting to nurse more often at night than before. As I seem to have a higher supply at night and in the mornings anyway (I think many women do) this boosted my night-time supply even more, so I never needed to supplement at night.

5. I would not think that is necessary, mine were fine with BFing from me and bottles from their caregiver. If they know bottles and take them, I think they will settle into the new rhythm quickly.

Mine were older than your babies when I went back to work, but for me pumping was totally worth it: It connected me to my babies while at work and it helped me continue BFing until they were 18 months.

 

1. My supply dropped a bit, but I also have supply problems to begin with so there's no reason to think you would have the same issues. Pumping 3 times a day was not the same for me as nursing during the day was (mine nurse a LOT).

2. I pump 3 times a day--9 a.m., 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. (about every 2.5-3 hours). I typically pump about 18 ounces a day total, which is a bit more than one baby eats (mine take about 16 oz while I'm away). We split the milk 50/50 during the day and then supplement with formula. (ETA: I take domperidone to keep my supply up, but, again, I have a known supply issue and known cause for it.)

3. I agree with previous posters that it is not all or nothing. I'm very pleased with how mixed feeding has gone with the twins. I feel they get loads of breast milk and the most formula they typically get is 8 oz a day (but some days they get 10-12 if I've had a bad pumping day).

4. I recommend nursing at night if you can swing it and only do bottles while you're at work. I find nursing easier than bottles and I like cuddling my babies in the evening and for night feeds since I miss them being away from them all day. I also do my best to nurse all weekend, but we do often give at least one 4-oz bottle of formula a day over the weekends.

5. Since they already take a few bottles a day there is not really any need to change things up until you go to work. Mine were only getting one 2-oz bottle a day during my maternity leave so I had my nanny start 2 weeks early and we gradually switched them over to 3 bottles a day during what would be my work day schedule (so I'd pump and she'd feed them). But that was a much more drastic change since they were rarely getting bottles whereas yours are taking bottles more frequently. The only thing you might consider is gradually leaving them with your sister in the week before you head back to work (like a couple of mornings before you go back so they get used to her in smaller increments before being there alone all day).

Good luck! I went back to work at 12 weeks this time and it was difficult. I miss my babies so much.

 

Oh, I wanted to say that I'm hoping to breastfeed mine until they are 18-24 months so I will pump for the first year and it's owrth it to me even though I loathe pumping. I pump weaned at 11 months with my first and continued to nurse him until I was 6 weeks pregnant with these two (he was about 21 months when he fully weaned).