Pumping at work has been a real challenge for me and my supply has taken a hit. I'm trying not to get discouraged though.
How long were you able to make BFing/pumping work?
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I pumped until 11.5 months, when we started on whole milk. I had a TINY freezer stash (like, 30 oz) that I used to make mixed bottles, but my son took to milk like a champ so I didn't have to mix for long.
It can be SO hard! I had supply issues too, and I know how frustrating it can be to find the time in your day to pump regularly (plus work stress, etc doesn't help!). -
I pumped for about 13 months. LO is 16 months and we BF morning and night. But we had always supplemented from the start so on particularly bad pump days I would give more formula. Although usually I was lucky to have one frozen bag. Yup just one..
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I pumped at work until LO turned 1. My supply would go up and down based on stress and constant struggles with clogged ducts. And meetings messed up my schedule, too. I just had to be really diligent and I finally got into a groove.
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I stopped pumping at 11 months.
I am still BFing at 16 months. I WOHM 25-30 hours a week and WAH about 10 hours a week.
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I'm at 9 months right now. It IS hard and I have my own office, sink, and supportive boss.
One thing that has really helped me is to store my pump parts in the fridge between sessions so I don't have to wash parts at work. I wash them every night in the dishwasher. After the first session, I consolidate the milk into one container and then screw one used bottle and one new bottle back on. Then I put them in a ziplock bag inside an opaque bag (that you can't see through) and put the bottle of milk and pump parts in the fridge. I repeat this each time.
ETA: I had major supply issues. I worked VERY hard to exclusively BF (including pumped milk) until 6 mo, but after that I started with some formula. My supply then got worse and I started taking domperidome. That helped a lot and I could maybe drop the formula if I woke up in the night to pump, but I'm too burned out (w/ pumping) so I'm combo feeding.
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@rahlyrah: I pumped until 11 months, still nursing 2x a day at 12.5 months
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Almost to 8 mo - I EP
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I'm at 6.5 months and still going!
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@rahlyrah: my supply has taken a hit too
I think it's definitely harder for us to pump because our schedules are so inflexible. I'm going to make lactation cookies this weekend and pray they help!
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@swedishfish: I went from 4-5 oz a session to like 2.5 a session. It is so frustrating! I give up my lunch to pump but I really can't give up my planning. I get up once at night to pump and and contemplating adding another night session. I am so burned out though from the kiddos that I really don't want to lose that much sleep!
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@rahlyrah: that happened to me too, around 7 months... I got up at 3 am every night to pump for a LONG time to help make up for it. I would breast feed in the AM and pump afterwards while brushing my teeth/doing makeup. Have you tried the mothers tea by Yogi? My coworkers and I drank a ton of it and it seemed to help. Plus oatmeal, lots of water, etc. lack of sleep depleted my supply (so did my period) so maybe don't add another one at night just yet!
I applaud your commitment!!
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Still going strong at 10 months! It is hard, but somehow, I'm still making it work. Good luck!
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@rahlyrah: My supply has always been terrible, so I'm "lucky" (?!?) to not worry too much about how much I get with each session. I bought a manual pump to pump whenever I get a spare 10 minutes. My schedule doesn't have lunch or breaks, so I actually find the manual pump more convenient because I can use it anywhere. I just haul around a small soft cooler with zip-locks and capped bottles. (The Ameda Cool n' Carry...on Amazon.)
I'm having trouble keeping DH from eating my lactation cookies, lol!
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I think I pumped for 16 months and then breastfed for a little more than 2 years.
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I made it to 10 months... I stopped my one pump a day thinking I could still nurse morning/night - but I ended up drying up.
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For the ladies who lasted several months, how often did you pump?
B is only 3 months and I'd ideally like to make it to a year but my realistic goal is 6 months. I pump at 6am, 7:45am, 12:30pm, 5:15pm (breastfeed), around 8pm, and around 3 am. On the weekends I usually just BF.
I don't know what I'm doing wrong that my supply has taken such a hit. Maybe because my job is high stress (teaching emotionally disturbed/mood disorder middle school kids).
I am going to start drinking tea and taking more milk plus again. Hopefully that will help!
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Still going at 9.5 months. Supply issues the whole time, but every ounce counts. Plan to keep it up until she's one. 76 more days....not that I'm counting
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I didn't! Stopped right when I went to work
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@rahlyrah: from months 3-6 I nursed/pumped a total of 6x a day
Month 7 I went down to 4x a day. My supply held steady at first but now (9.5 months) my supply is starting to decline. But she's eating lots of solids and drinking less milk so I guess it is just falling in lineSo two pumps at work, 2 at home (6am and 9pm). I'll probably stick with that schedule to the end. -
@rahlyrah: I started off pumping once at night and 2x a work, I was already giving up my lunch to pump. If I added another session I would stay late which meant having o give LO more milk. Which is counter productive!
On a really good day I would get 5oz per side which didn't happen often. Most days I pumped enough for 2 bottles then supplemented one bottle of formula. There was a brief one month period where I pumped enough for all her intake. I was so ecstatic!!
If I remember correctly around a year my pumping output really started dropping. My one session I would barely get 2-3 ounces for weeks. So I finally dropped that session when LO was a year I believe. That's when we started introducing cow's milk. Finally around 13 months I was barely getting anything in my last remaining session so I admitted defeat and stopped. Had my output been more I would have kept going.I pumped 2x a day for 13months, through 4 jobs, 1 layoffs and two bathrooms. I'm extremely proud and lucky to have gotten that far.
You should be proud of where you have gotten too! Everyone of our bodies are so different. Some are blessed with a great supply and some with a oversupply. So don't compare yourself to others,
I found drinking water helped the most and so did more milk plus. Watching videos of LO will sometimes help. The more I stressed about pumping the less effective I was, I also found massaging my boobs afterwards to be so helpful. Towards the end my breasts were just not responding to the pump any more,Best of luck to you!!
Waking at night never worked for me bc she didn't STTN till 7.5 months, and even after that never consistently, I had too big of a fear of her waking up and I was empty.
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I went to about 8 months. My LO was a NiCU baby so I pumped from the very beginning so I was sick of the pump after 8 months of pumping. I BF about another month before we weaned.
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From 3-6 mo, I was pumping/nursing a lot. Nursing at 6am, pumping at 7am, pumping 10am, 1pm, 4pm, nursing at 7pm, pumping at 11pm or 12am, sometimes pumping at 2am, nursing at 4am. Well, it seemed like a lot, but my lactation consultant said that really, 8x a day is best (to be pumping or nursing). After 6 mo, she started sometimes sleeping through the night and then a started also supplementing, so my supply went down. I stopped pumping at home and just pumped 3x at work and the nursed 3-4x at home. Sometimes now I only pump 2x at work, and nurse 3-4x, but it's best if I still do 3. I hardly get anything though... if I pump 3x, I get 6-9oz total... if I pump 2x, I get 3-7. Really only enough for one daycare bottle... so she gets 3 bottles at daycare, 2 are formula and one is breastmilk... but then she is nursing 3-4x at home, so I'm okay with it.
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I teach too and when I started back at work when my son was 3 months I pumped 4x a day. I was getting about 15oz. When I was stressed about anything at all it went way down. I stopped working while I pumped and only did things that relaxed me (like surf hellobee).
Also, it took a few weeks to get my supply up where I wanted/needed it (I'd pump a little longer each session to tell my body I needed more). I drank an insane amount of water (I think we teachers are bad at this), took More Milk Plus (it works!), and ate oatmeal bars every morning.
Just do the best you can. My pediatrician told me that, if I didn't mind a little reverse cycling, I could send him to daycare with less and he'd make up for it when we were together. -
@rahlyrah: the "rule" is 8 times until 3 months because your supply is still being established. But I know that is really difficult. I dropped to 7 at about 10 weeks and slowly dropped from there.
I agree that more time can make up for number of sessions. I was never able to go under 30 minutes and got almost up to an hour when I was trying to make 1x a day still work (at home). (Didn't last long at that.)
I EP'd for 11 months, but only had to do it at work (I teach too) for 6 weeks.
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@rahlyrah: I know stress has a huge effect on my supply - also lack of sleep. I wonder if you'll see an increase once you've had a chance to settle back in a bit more?
I'm still pumping twice a day at 13.5 months pp, and usually get 8-10 ounces per day, maybe 12 on a really great day.
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