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I am a SAHM but my good friend works out of the home and she is pumping and breastfeeding very successfully! If you want to do it, and you stick your mind to it, you can!

My LO will be six months next week and is EBF and I've been back at work since 12 weeks. I have no plans to stop pumping anytime soon. I have no supply issues, my own office, and the work I do is computer based so I can work right through pumping so I have a very easy time of it. I don't love pumping but it's worth it for me for the benefits to LO, and I do love nursing when we're together.

Also a WOHM and have successfully EBF 8 months and still going.

I highly recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Milk-Memos-Business-Babies/dp/1585425443

It's written by a couple working moms that met while pumping at IBM.

My other suggestion to build a freezer stash while you are on maternity leave. It's much less stressful to pump when you know that you still have milk to feed LO if you hit a rough patch.

Good luck!

I'm a breast feeding mentor for our local hospital (studying to be an IBCLC) and it's very possible. The stats are low for those who stick with it, and usually it has to do with the work environment. If you have a supportive employer thats half the battle.

I see the biggest struggles with supply. It can be hard to maintain supply with pumping as your LO gets older. It's best to pump often in order to maintain. For instance I have a client who for the first 2 months only pumped 4x per day. By her 3rd month her supply tanked and she wasn't able to pump more than 10oz per day (24 minimum required). So sticking to 2-3 hours is best.

Good luck!!

With my first I went back at 10 weeks and never had to supplement! I even went away for like 5 or 6 days when he was like 7 months old. I haven't gone back to work yet but I hope to avoid supplementing this time too.

I went back to work when LO was 2.5 months and she is 8 months now. I plan to breastfeed for 1 year to 18 months or until she self weans. I began pumping while on maternity leave and built up a nice little freezer stash in case I had issues with pumping at work.

The issues I've run into are not being able to pump 3x a day like I should because of meetings and work and dealing with ower output and clogged ducts. If I miss a session at work I ve learned that I need to make it up at home to keep my supply up. I wear outfits that are more conducive to quick access for pumping, have 2 sets of flanges and pump parts, a back up manual pump in my desk drawer, keep my flanges and bottles in the fridge, and use quick clean wipes.

I haven't had to supplement and I feel like I've got things covered until we are ready to stop. Ignore the book, you can do it.

I worked full time With a half hour commute and made it EBF ( no formula) for a year. I also had several business trips away from little one in that time.

The best thing for me was having a freezer stash before I went back. I had 100 ounces.

Luckily I didn't Even have to take any more milk or fenugreek or anything. Just ate a lot of protein and drank water.

I went back to work full time at 8 weeks post partum and was able to successfully breastfeed my son until he was 9 months old. Sure there were hurdles to get over but it is totally do-able. I chose a daycare that was close to my work and went every day at lunch to nurse my son until he was 7 months old. It really helped me keep my milk supply up by having that extra nursing session with him. I also switched to a hospital grade pump because I always had trouble pumping and needed the more effective pump. My best advice is this: schedule enough pumping sessions per day to match what your baby would nurse, even if you are getting more milk out than you think you need. I didn't do that and the only reason I stopped breastfeeding my son is my supply tanked and no matter what I did I couldn't get it back up because I simply wasn't pumping often enough (3 sessions per day and nursing the rest of the time just wasn't enough for me but is plenty for other people). I thought this article (http://www.mowica.org/uploadfiles/files/MohrbacherMagicNumber2011.pdf) was a great help but I didn't see it until after I'd weaned my son. Overall, prioritizing breastfeeding/pumping is what it comes down to for me. My office manager was also pumping when I was but she was a super milk producer so she got by with 2 pumping sessions per day no problem. You have no idea what your body is going to do so try to take a deep breath and take it as it comes.

I've been exclusively pumping for about 3.5 months now (I exclusively nursed for the first 8 weeks or so, then tried nursing at home and pumping at work, but eventually just went to exclusive pumping) and haven't had any problems. The packing up the pump and washing pump parts is annoying but it's part of my routine now so I don't mind it at all. (actually going to blog about this soon! as soon as I get all the pictures of all my setups!) Haven't had a problem with supply at all-- it's been consistent from the beginning. Actually it's starting to go up a bit right now. I have no idea why! Maybe because I'm getting more sleep?

It is absolutely possible. We are going on 20 months of breastfeeding and I have worked out of home since 10 weeks PP. I stopped pumping at work just after he turned a year old and we are starting to wean now. I want to cut him off at 2 so we can have another little one.

I think shear determination was one reason we made it. He has MSPI and I wasn't going to pay $30 for a can of formula. It was also a control issue I could control what I ate and what he had.

I did have some supply issues, but they were because of bad habits I had when he was first born. Best thing I did was hook up with La Leche League and I went to the meetings I could while on maternity leave. They have been so helpful in our struggles. After changing jobs at 9 months I was able to attend all of the meetings and it has been fantastic!

Things I found that made it easier, seeing my baby often and clusterfeeding like crazy when we were together. I let him comfort nurse etc all weekend and all evening (ultimately all night as we co-slept). Another thing is after pumping if you refrigerate the parts, you don't have to clean them. I only cleaned them at night (I would wipe them down with a burp cloth after using them. I would keep as much of my pump hooked up as possible to keep pumping times to a minimum. I had the luxury (I know it isn't always possible) to see him and nurse him at lunch time. In the mornings I would pump one side while nursing the other in football hold. I would get the most ounces at that one pumping session. Then I would put him on it and he would empty that side.

Occasionally I would have a 3rd pump a day (after lunch) to help production such as when I had my period or he was on a growth spurt. I bought a small single electric pump and occasionally if I wasn't going to see baby right away, I would use that to pump while driving or at night etc. That was awesome!

I went back to work at 9 weeks. I built up a HUGE freezer stash on maternity leave and during my first month or so back, when I was getting a ton from pumping and LO didn't eat it all. My supply really dropped around 5 months, and we started supplementing with formula a bit at 7 month, but I kept pumping till LO was 9 months old, and I continued to nurse at night and in the mornings till he was 11 months.
And I was able to do all that without feeling like I put all that much work into it- I was a little psycho about pumping for the first 3 or so months, but then I dropped to only pumping every 3-4 hours, and I never did supplements or anything, and I wasn't very good at staying hydrated.
I have my own office, so I'd just shut the door and continue to work while pumping. I also didn't spend too much time cleaning parts (I'd just rinse them out right away after the first use, and rinse + microwave after the second use of the day).
So I feel like with (relatively speaking) minimal work once I went back to the office, I managed to EBF past 6 months, and get at least some breastmilk to LO through 11 months.

My LO is 5 months old and I went back to work at 8 weeks and he hasn't had any formula yet. I think supplementing with formula is just around the corner though because my supply just can't keep up. I don't have a desk job, but I do have a private office to pump in.

My adivce is to build up your freezer stash as much as possible before going back. My LO had weight gain issues (secondary to tongue tie) so I had to use my precious pumped milk to supplement him at the beginning so had trouble building a stash before I went back. It seems like most people produce more than I do when pumping at work. I pump 2-3x at work depending on my day. I nurse him on one side right when I wake up and pump the other. I find that he doesn't need both sides usually at this time because I produce so much. If I give both sides, he just ends up spitting up a ton! I then feed him once more right before I leave for the day. Point is, its totally doable, just takes a little work!

@Bluebonnet: just started reading this book at your suggestion ans I'm loving it so far! I'm going back to work around the middle of February and I know I will be using this book as a reference for sure

You can do it; sounds like you have a supportive work environment which will help.

With DD I returned to work 8w PP to a hostile environment (the person who covered for me spent my leave trying to get me fired which didn't stop upon my return) this put undue stress on me and contributed some to supply issues. Despite this I pumped until she was 12m and nursed until she was 14m.

This time around my work environment has been much easier (person who covered this time couldn't have been happier to see me my first day back) and since I now have my own office I can work while pumping. DS is 15w and I've been back to work since he was 9w. I do take supplements and drink Mother's Milk & Raspberry Leaf Tea but he has only needed formula a couple of times whereas with DD she was supplemented with formula most of her first year.

@brownie: is the federal law only for companies of 50 employees or more? I work for a small company (less than 30) and I know a lot of federal laws don't apply.

@brownie: that's good to know. I had a lot of friends with trouble with smaller companies.
My work was, fortunately, very accomodating.

@highwire: thanks, just requested it from the library