Written by Wendy Wright, MBA, IBCLC Co-Owner Lactation Navigation – Workplace Lactation Consultants, LLC
The primary focus of my lactation practice is in the workplace. Why?
- Mothers are currently the fastest growing segment of the U.S. workforce.1
- In the past 20 years, the percentage of new mothers in the workforce has increased by more than 80%.2
- The current level of new mothers in the workforce is 60%.2
- As we have all witnessed, working outside the home negatively affects initiation and duration of breastfeeding.1
- One third of working mothers return to work within three months of the birth of their child and two thirds return within six months.1
The three questions I am most frequently asked are:
- How often should I pump once I return to work?
- How much milk will I need each day?
- How should I package milk and store for future use?
Below are my answers – understanding that each woman’s situation is unique and she may or may not be exclusively breastfeeding. For the purposes of this article, all women are working full time and exclusively breastfeeding!
How often should I pump once I return to work? Returning to work before your baby is six months old requires expressing milk approximately every three hours when separated. For example, for an 8-hour shift you will be separated from your baby for about 10 hours (work, lunch break, commute). Over the 10-hour period, it is recommended that you express milk three times. Some sample schedules may look like these below. Notice that I have added in morning (pre-work) and evening (post-work) expression sessions. These are to assure that mother has enough milk to provide for the time separated and also designed to keep supply high and the mother comfortable. Some mothers may find that they are able to breastfeeding their babies before they leave for work and right when they get home, making it unnecessary to pump before and after work. It really is what works best for the mother and baby.
Once your baby is taking well to solids, you may have the opportunity to reduce the number of pumping sessions each day. Remove the session that is the least productive for you. Each session should empty the breast – approximately 15 minutes pumping time.
How much milk will I need each day? Breastfed infants consume approximately one ounce (30ml) per hour when separated from their mother from age 6 weeks until age 6 months. So, if you are separated for 10 hours Monday – Friday, I recommend providing the caregiver with 10 – 12 ounces (300-365ml) of breastmilk, although some babies may need more. It is important to review appropriate feeding cues with caregivers so breastmilk is not offered at every cry, fuss or frustration. Remember, this is only one third of the milk the infant will consume each day – the rest of her consumption will be directly from the breast and she will take what she needs when you are back together. Many infants will reverse cycle feed thereby getting their primary calorie consumption in the evenings and nights. Mothers should be aware of this and welcome it as a terrific method for maintaining supply.
How should I package milk and store for future use? The method that seems to work best for the busy working mother is to start each week on Sunday night by removing 10 – 12 ounces (300-365ml) of frozen breastmilk from the freezer and thawing overnight in the refrigerator. Milk can then be packaged for the care provider in small bottles (2.5 ounces for example (74ml) for consumption throughout the day on Monday. The mother will then express milk on Monday. Monday’s milk will be stored in the refrigerator overnight and provided for baby on Tuesday. Tuesday’s expressed milk will again be stored overnight in the refrigerator and provided on Wednesday, etc. On Friday, milk is packaged in 1 and 2 ounce bags (30-60ml) and frozen, clearly labeled with the date. Using this pattern, the baby will only receive frozen breastmilk once each week and the freezer supply will be efficiently rotated. There is a tendency for less and less milk to be expressed as the stressful week progresses. Freezing in small packages will allow mom to pull one or two ounces from her freezer on Thursday or Friday if needed without having to defrost and potentially waste 5 ounces (148ml) of frozen breastmilk.
Additional information may be found on-line:
www.kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/bf-links-pumping/
Reassurance and support can make all the difference for these mothers. Encourage networking with other breastfeeding mothers at work and plenty of skin to skin time together when mother and baby are home.
References:
1. United States Breastfeeding Committee. Workplace breastfeeding support [issue paper]. Raleigh, NC: United States Breastfeeding Committee; 2002.
2. U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau. Employment status of women and men in 2008. Available at: http://www.dol.gov/wb/factsheets/Qf-ESWM08_txt.htm. Accessed May 15, 2009.
3. Society for Human Resource Management. 2007 Benefits Survey Report. Available at: http://www.shrm.org. Accessed April 17, 2008.
Wendy Wright, MBA, IBCLC
Wendy spent 15 years in the biotech industry in the Bay Area and worldwide prior to breaking out on her own and founding Lactation Navigation in 2007. Wendy has a B.S. in Health Services Administration from the University of Arizona and an MBA with a Marketing emphasis from the University of Cincinnati. Wendy’s daughter is twelve and her son is five. Both kids love to swim and enjoy bicycling. She is dreadfully fearful of spiders and enjoys spicy food any time of day. Lactation Navigation allows Wendy to combine skills learned in the corporate setting over the past 15 years with her love of breastfeeding. It allows her to spend time with her children and also with new mothers. It also encourages health and happiness for other families, and brings bottom-line profits to progressive companies.
Wonderful! Supportive, evidence-based, recognizes the hurdles working mothers (esp. in teh USA) must face and the supportive and informative role an IBCLC can offer. Thank you.
Appreciate the feedback! As you state, IBCLC’s can be of great assistance at this difficult time for breastfeeding mothers.
Generally a good article, and you have me on everything except this:
“Many infants will reverse cycle feed thereby getting their primary calorie consumption in the evenings and nights. Mothers should be aware of this and welcome it as a terrific method for maintaining supply.”
Ha! Most of us can’t be up all night nursing because we are WORKING DURING THE DAY. Thus the need for pumping.
Erica, That’s not an opinion or a suggestion. It’s true that most babies begin nursing more when mommy is home, which happens to be in the evenings and nights. The more frequent stimulation of nursing in a new pattern is probably what saves milk supply. When a mom calls to tell me she’s been back to work for 3 weeks and suddenly her pumping sessions are not as productive, the first question is always “How often is the baby waking at night to feed?” Most moms’ milk supplies cannot hold well when mom pumps during the day and then tries to pump during the night and bottlefeed. Realistically, when would she actually be nursing? The point here is that going back to work or school is NOT the end of breastfeeding (unless mom chooses for it to be.) The new pattern of their lives becomes this: when mommy is away, I get bottles, and when mommy is back we nurse whenever I want. This new pattern allows baby to still control/influence/stimulate milk supply in the way he needs to. The communication of breastfeeding is interrupted when mom has to be away for one or more feedings per day, but breastfeeding is preserved by baby’s new communication signals such as waking/nursing more frequently at night and for varying durations all the time. Many recent studies have confirmed that waking to nurse at night is less stressful and less fatiguing on mom than getting up to bottlefeed and/or pump. Anyone whose milk supply has ever been pump-dependent for any amount of time knows they would much rather wake to breastfeed than to sit with that machine in the dark and wait for it to be over.
What strategies might a working mother use to ensure adequate sleep at night while breastfeeding, besides cosleeping or bedside cosleeping units? I’m not a working mother anymore, but I think this would be an important subject to address. My guess is that in addition to finding time to pump at work, this is probably the biggest obstacle to continued breastfeeding by working moms. I was exclusively pumping due to circumstances with my first birth so that unfortunately didn’t last too long. I had trouble finding time to pump due to the nature of my job, and couldn’t be up all night pumping either (baby never latched), and then I got pregnant again six months later.
If your baby is in bed with you, you aren’t waking more to feed. Baby latches, you sleep… no one has to fully wake up… worked well for my 5 kids and being a working mom! Was MUCH easier than getting up at night to warm a bottle when the baby was already awake and crying, then after feeding took more time to settle back to sleep. (I did choose to sometimes supplement formula with my first baby (just because I didn’t know she was getting enough) and by 6 months my period was back and my milk supply was too low to provide enough milk for her. I weaned her since I had to leave her with daddy while I finished my last semester of nursing school out of state. Worst nights of my parenting life… I decided NO MORE FORMULA BOTTLES FOR MY BABIES! And the next 4 exclusively breast fed and only got bottles of breast milk when I was away from them. Enjoy your priviledge to sit down and relax with your baby as often as you can… soon they will be crawling, walking, asking for car keys and moving away to college and life!
Hi Erica – you are correct, staying up more in the night can be a challenge. This is usually a temporary situation. Some moms do like it to maintain supply and have more time with their baby – if short term – works out okay.
Loved the article and focus on working moms, which is hard to find, but agree with Erica that the night feeding comment seemed a bit unrealistic. Nothing I’ve found values sleep highly enough, especially for working moms who do not have the option to nap with baby during the day.
It may be true that night nursing is essential to maintain supply for a working mom who pumps during the day, but it doesn’t seem fair to place judgement about what is ideal in communicating that information. The author said earlier in the article that “It really is what works best for the mother and baby” and I wish that the same trust was placed in moms as they figure out how to deal with sleep and nighttime feeds.
What a great article to have on hand for so many women! Personally, I’ve pumped for all 5 of my kids while at work (3 of them full time) and never had to wake up so early and pump then. I’ve also managed to stretch out pumpings between up to 4 hours and still have enough that my babies never needed formula, nor did they start on solids at an early age. Occasionally, I had to pump a bit more at home, but since I was blessed with a short commute, nursing right before and right after work was feasible.
One key point not mentioned was the need for a good pump. While a hospital grade pump will be most effective, it’s overkill for most women, and very heavy and expensive. The double electric pumps on the market that are most effective seem to be the Medela Freestyle, Medela Pump in Style, or my personal favorite, the Ameda Purely Yours (all reviewed on my site; feel free to comment). Many women get lower-quality pumps because of expense and their pumping suffers. WIC offices may give pumps, but not all offices give the same ones, and sometimes women are handed ineffective ones.
In Texas the WIC contract is for the Ameda Purely Yours. If you are not going to be away from your baby on a regular basis (work or school), you may only get a manual pump from them. If your baby needs to stay in the hospital and you are a WIC mom who is providing breast milk for your new baby, you can borrow a hospital grade pump from WIC, like ASAP. YOu don’t have to wait until a monthly appt. Talk to their peer counselors for breast feeding support.
Thanks for this article that is sure to help many women! I was blessed with a short commute, so nursing right before and after work was doable. I was able to stretch out pumping to 3-4 hour increments and make enough milk to never have to supplement with formula or start solids before my baby was eating finger food.
One key point missing is the need for an effective pump. A hospital grade is the best but overkill for most women: it’s heavy and expensive. A good double electric like the Medela Pump n Style, Medela Freestyle, or Ameda Purely Yours (all reviewed on my site http://www.a-natural-birth.com/categories/nursing-and-baby-gear/baby-supplies/breast-pumps/ ) is key to maintaining a good supply and producing enough milk. Unfortunately, many women resort to buying the cheapest pump on the market, not realizing it makes a difference, or WIC provides them with a subpar pump (it depends on the office — some give out excellent choices). A hand pump may work, but is tiring for many and leads people to give up.
I wish the best of luck to anyone who needs to pump at work. It’s hard to keep track of the need and excuse yourself when necessary, but the benefits are priceless. I’m working part time now (switched from full time before I had my fourth), and am 6 months pumping for my EBF baby now.
Excellent point Leah – I should have mentioned the importance of a quality pump. Thanks for your comments.
(sorry for the duplicate posts, I logged in after I wrote my first one, and it didn’t give me a message that the post was submitted so I tried again…anyway, I’m bookmarking this site
)
I am currently BF an almost 7 month old that has been on solids for 3 weeks. I have noticed a decrease in my milk supply. I am fortunate enough to only have to pump one or two times while working (every 3 hours) and my schedule is close to schedule 3 above, including night feedings. I don’t pump at night though as above. Should I be doing this?
Thanks,
Brandi
HI Brandi – you most likely do not need to pump at night – now that you are starting solids, your 7 month old will slowly take less milk and get more calories from foods. Nursing exclusively on the weekends can boost supply after a busy work week. Good for you – sounds like it’s going really well.
I am donating milk to a friend who is only giving what I am able to share and give. So, she uses formula most of the time. I have a goal to provide enough milk for her baby each day, but so far only can get about 8 oz to her since I am nursing my 7 week old full time (she has a 3 week old adopted child). Is it realistic or possible for me to provide much more milk for her baby?
Thanks for this post! I think it is really important to show new moms that pumping at work is very doable for most women and that there’s no need to stop breastfeeding when you’re returning to work. I recently wrote this blog post about my experience.
thank you so much, I want to go back to work but did not have a clue about how to feed my baby. I was seriously considering putting him on formula.
Great information. Thanks so much for posting I’m sharing @Tender Times Doula on Facebook.
HI Elaine, thanks for sharing on Facebook – it is important that we get the word out about working and pumping.
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Thanks for putting this info out there Wendy! So much breastfeeding advice assumes that mom and baby are together during the day, yet as you explain there are more and more working mamas who need support as well.
Do you have any articles written about pumping beyond the one year mark? My babe is 11m and still drinking 15+oz of pumped milk while i am at work. It is getting harder to keep up my supply, but i am committed to sticking with it as long as i can.
I also want to emphasize how critical a supportive employer is to successful pumping. I’ve needed flexibility to adjust my pumping schedule to be responsive to the always changing demand/supply relationship with my growing babe.
Thanks again for the great article!
I haven’t found any articles but I’m still pumping at work and by baby is almost 22 months old. I figure that if I weren’t working 60+ hrs per week, he’d be on the boob on demand, and I don’t want to deprive him of that. I’m retiring the pump till the next baby once he turns two, but I will continue to nurse him when I’m around.
Hi Working Mama Wendy – Good for you – 11 months and going strong! I do not have any articles written for pumping moms beyond one year – good suggestion to write one. Many women begin offering cow’s milk at one year and stop pumping at work. Baby nurses in the morning, evening, night and weekends and mom no longer needs to pump. Best of both worlds if you are interested in offering cow’s milk at one year of age. Again – great work, congratulations on your success with breastfeeding.
I never breastfeed and our children are very smart and never get sick?
I’ve got 9 week old twins, and after 6 weeks of tears from not latching, we moved to pumping and combo feeding. I pump 5-6 times per day (they eat 5x per day), and regularly produce 30-35 oz, which is increasing. Any tips for the pumper who does not nurse? Each kiddo is taking 25-28 oz per day, so they get a little over half of their food from mother’s milk. And while I’d love to produce enough for both, I feel like a dairy cow as it is, and am taking enough fenugreek to put Mrs Butterworth to shame.
Hi Sarah – you are doing a terrific job. I’m so sorry for your six weeks of tears – you should be proud of the milk you are providing. Continue pumping and with frequent breast drainage and milk removal – your supply may continue to increase. I don’t want to place too much pressure on you BUT – more frequent milk removal is the key to greater supply. Any possibility you could pump eight times per day? Also, just want to make sure you are using a high quality double electric or hospital grade pump. Hand expression after each pumping session is also great to increasing supply – check out Dr. Jane Morton’s hand expression video on the Stanford website – women have seen tremendous output with had expression when added to their pumping routine. You are doing a great job and every ounce counts!
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On your sample schedules you have starting with pumping or breastfeeding, how long do you suggest pumping for before breastfeeding? I want to make sure that after I pump I can feed my child with enough of a supply.
HI Anna – If you can pump one hour before breastfeeding that would be great – but if your baby needs you before that time – go ahead and feed. It will empty your breasts very well and signal them to produce more milk. Baby will be fine too – he/she may not get quite as much as usual, so they will just come back for more a little sooner – overall there will be a positive result of more milk. All the best to you, -Wendy
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I can’t thank you enough for this! I’ve just started back to work two months after my first baby’s birth, and the experience has been stressful to say the least. Luckily, I only have to physically go to work twice a week (working at home the rest if the days), but pumping enough, providing enough milk, keeping up my supply, and ensuring a strong breastfeeding relationship with my little guy are major concerns. I have a lactation consultant but beyond my initial nursing struggles, she hasn’t supported me much in returning to work. I developed my own game plan based on what seemed logical, and found confirmation that I’m on track with your posting. This reinforcement really means a lot to me, and I’m feeling much more confident on my way to work today! Thank you!!
Hi Cate – So happy to hear of your success – it gets a little easier every day. I wish you all the best. -Wendy
Fantastic article. Too bad pediatricians mostly aren’t aware of this and discourage “allowing” night feeds after 4 months. What a shame.
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