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Why aren't you optimistic about pumping at work?? How many times a day can you pump when you are back?? I do 3x a day with my 4 month old. 4x would be better but I just can't.

I would introduce a bottle on the early side. We have had a terrible time getting this LO to take a bottle, I started at 8ish weeks, but not diligently and he refused for a month. The Lanishoh mOmma was the only bottle he would take. My older LO had no problems tho, and we used the Medela bottles, started him around 7/8 weeks too.

Pumping in the morning while home was the best time since you make the most milk. So I'd pump 1hr after nursing. I wasn't great this time about a stash but whatever you can do will be great!

@DesertDreams88: screw them! Ha. But seriously, it's short term, it is the law, it will be fine. When I pump I usually have my computer and I can do some stuff while in there. I've also gotten pretty fast, I can be done in 12 minutes or so, and if you make a lot and have a stash you will be set! I don't make a ton so it's a struggle but I try not to stress! I'm ok with supplementing though.

For my first child I was in almost your exact situation (teacher, back at 14 weeks but only for a few months, not terribly supportive admin)
I started pumping randomly around a month, which is when we introduced a bottle. I pumped in the early evening because I could count on my son being asleep at that time & not wanting to nurse. I EBF, so we did bottles sparingly (for date night, etc). I had barely any stash before work - about 2 days worth (30ish oz?).
For this baby, I plan to start pumping regularly at 4 weeks to build a bigger stash (I also have a large supply & want to take advantage of it). I'm going back to work at 8 weeks this time though. i think I'll do mornings on the weekends & evenings on weekdays (because my husband will be home to be a set of hands).

My advice on pumping at work - screw your admins. If breastfeeding is important to you, it's okay to make it a priority. Look up the exact laws in AZ & check your districts policies for any information so you can know your rights. Have a meeting/conversation before you return to work to share what you think the best plan will be and ask for your admin's input. Be flexible. I thought pumping during planning times would be best, but I was missing some meetings & my principal hated that. I told her I was fine going to the meetings if she could find someone to cover my class during a different part of the day. I also got a car adaptor for my pump & pumped on the commute to & from work (and was still able to feed my son right when I got home - boobs are amazing!)

What was your pumping routine ages 0-3mo, if also still trying to EBF or BF as much as possible? I pumped for 15 minutes after the first feed in the morning usually got about 3oz
When did you start pumping? I visited an LC around 4 weeks and she taught me how to use my pump and put me on a schedule to build a stash and get baby used to bottle
When did you fit in your pump sessions? I see a lot of posts about morning pumping. When trying to teach baby to use the bottle I would pump in the AM and put those three oz in the fridge when hubs got home he would feed her an evening bottle with the milk from the morning then I would pump and freeze those ounces. If baby was sleeping well i would pump right before bed, if she nursed and didnt have the bottle from hubs
When did you introduce a bottle? 4-5 weeks
How much of a stash is a good size? you will need at least 20-24 oz on your first day of work
Is there anything you would've done differently? For some reason I would only have her nurse on one side at a time (usually she fell asleep before we'd get to the other boob) I think my supply suffered because of that. I also wish i had focused more on building a stash while i was home

I would experiment with pumping times of day. A lot of women have the most supply of milk first thing in the morning, so they will pump after that morning feed and freeze the excess. But some moms I know found that their babies had their longest stretch of sleep between the evening and MOTN feed, so they were super engorged at 2-3am. Those moms then started setting alarms to pump at that time even after their baby was sleeping through because it was when they collected the most milk. If baby was waking at 5am then it would be a bottle feed of whatever was pumped at 2am and the excess would be frozen, etc.

I would introduce a bottle pretty quickly because sometimes it can take time to find the right one (we went through 4 because DS had reflux). We started with the bottle before bedtime that DH did and then we added the first morning bottle that DH would also handle. I would pump during those feedings until I was completely empty so I would be comfortable at night and first thing in the morning. DS was usually up all night screaming (colic/reflux) so I couldn't really find time to pump MOTN most of the time unless I was painfully engorged.

The other thing is that your body will adjust to whatever consistent schedule you give it, so I would try to pump at those times you expect to be able to pump when you return to work. By 12 weeks your supply is usually established so you'll likely be at peak production. After that point you can find your "magic number" of pumps during the day where you can roughly get the same amount of milk even if you have less overall pumps or minutes at the pump.

I had low supply so I'm jealous of moms who can pump a bottle in 15 minutes. I could never pump less than 30 minutes in the early days and even after I settled at my magic number, I was still pumping like 24 minutes per session.