Working/pumping moms- what is your routine?

CarriMat

I have recently gone back to work and am pumping during the day and breastfeeding in the evening and morning. I have built up a pretty good stash of frozen breast milk. I am also pumping more everyday than my LO is eating. What is your routine and/or suggestions on milk usage. Do you use the oldest milk in the freezer first and keep freezing daily? Or do you use what you pump the day before and use your freezer stash as needed? Also, when you get milk out of the freezer to you just let it thaw in the fridge overnight? I am a first time mom and this is all new to me, so I'm just curious to what other moms are doing. I know there have probably been posts like this before, so sorry I didnt find any that were exactly what I was looking for. 

springbeduk2

Following!

Meg&Austin

Also a ftm but my schedule is as follows
Mila eats at 630. Drop her off at daycare at 720

Pump at 830/9
Pump at 1130
Pump at 2
Pick her up at 4 and usually feed when we get home at 430

Then we feed on demand all night, usually every hour

She is currently eating about 8 1/2 ounces during the day. I rotate every monday. So i freeze what i pump Friday and pull from the freezer on monday. Seems to work so far! Sunday around dinner time i pull the frozen milk out and put it in the fridge

sparklingdiamond

I breastfeed in the morning and then pump after he eats.

10:30- pump

1:30- pump

4:30- pump

Then I breastfeed when we get home and through the night.  Breastfeed on the weekends, but sometimes still pump in the mornings after he eats.

I send 4 4-oz bottles to daycare and he usually eats three.  I take the leftover bottle and send it the next day and mark it as the first one to use.  Then use whatever I pumped the previous day to fill the other 3 bottles.  I usually have some leftover at the end of the week, so I may keep 4 oz or so out and freeze the rest.  Then I pump in the mornings over the weekend and use that and the 4 oz I saved to make the bottles for Monday.

I haven't had to use any from the freezer yet.

danabsd

Not working currently but this was my schedule with Beb.  

4:00-4:30am: I pump, she does not eat.  I put 4-5 ozs in the fridge 4-5 ozs in the freezer.

6:30-7:00am: Wake up, get dressed, 5oz. I pump at work.

10:00-10:30am: 5 ozs at daycare. I pump at work.

12:30-1:00pm: 5 ozs at daycare. I pump at work.

3:30-4:00pm: Nurse

6:00-6:30pm: Nurse

7:30-8:00pm: 5 ozs from Dad.

STTN 

8:30-9:00pm: I pump, she does not eat.  I put 2-3 ozs in the fridge.

I mostly pumped to send to daycare.  If I had extra I would freeze it.  If I didn't produce enough we would thaw,  I quit the pump and boob at 12m, she had a BM/WCM cocktail for a couple months after using frozen milk.  

We thawed with hot water on demand.  

haylo33

I go back in 2 weeks so I need to figure out what I'm doing. To me, it makes sense to use frozen milk and freeze freshly pumped milk. I work 12 hour shifts so my plan is to thaw 10 oz (I freeze in 5oz increments) and send 2 oz of fresh milk so I don't have to thaw another bag and run the risk of not using it and having to throw it out. I also plan on giving the sitter a few bags frozen just in case.

Nikkipal82

I work 12 hour shifts, 7a-7:30p. Some days I have to be there at 6:30.

Wake up--5 or 5:30. Wake up beb, undress, change diaper. Nurse for as long as she will, since she is not taking bottles well and I want her to eat as much as possible.

Pump at work at 9-10ish.

Pump at 1-2ish.

Pump at 5-6ish.

I get home about 8pm. She nurses like crazy until bed.

So far I pump more than she drinks, so I just keep the milk I pumped in the fridge for the next day I work (DD stays home with DH or the sitter). If there's extra I freeze it. I've been wiping out pump parts with a Medela wipe and leaving the parts and the wipe in a freezer bag in my pump bag. I can usually use the wipe again for the whole day b/c it stays wet. I could rinse the parts, but I get annoyed when they're all wet for the next use. I am sure I will continue to tweak this process as LO and I adjust to my return to work. Good luck to you! Going back to work was probably the hardest thing I've done so far.

Nikkipal82

@haleighkay90 , have you tried pumping in the car? I don't know how long you are in the car, but it is worth a shot to make sure you get your sessions in. The first time I heard about this, I thought the person was insane, but apparently if you have a hands free nursing bra, a car adapter for your pump, and either a nursing cover or a loose tank top to put over everything, it's very manageable. I still haven't tried it, but I thought I'd mention it.

sarag0116

I nurse anywhere between 5 and 630 am. Pump both sides at 7 am. Then I pump at lunch at noon. Sometimes I pump one side before bed. I pump enough with that amount for daycare. I send 4 4 oz bottles and he's been taking 3. I have milk in the freezer and should rotate but I'm lazy. Using fresh is easier

Sam0905

MOTN feeding - nurse
7am - pump at home
9am, 12pm, 3pm - pump at work
5pm - nurse and/or give baby a bottle depending on how crabby he is.
7pm - pump

I have a huge freezer stash and have never pulled from it. I always use my day's pumped milk for the next day. Extra milk goes into the freezer.

scottipino

This is the third time around for me and I have done it a little different each time.  EP'ed with my first and did a combination of pumping and nursing with my second.  However, I was working 12-14 hour days at the time and sometimes did 28 hour shifts.  We did mainly pumping during that time and then nursed overnight because of how long my shifts were.  I have always had an oversupply when pumping so I end up freezing 6-12 ounces per day right now(at one point with DD2 was saving 30oz/day).  This is our current routine, DS typically eats 3 or 4-5 oz bottles while I am gone:

Feed DS sometime between 6-7:30am when he wakes up and then pump after- I make one fresh 5 oz bottle from him to eat in the morning so that the nanny doesn't have to heat it up

pump at work sometime between 9:30-11:30pm (whenever I can find time between patients)

pump again in the afternoon around 2:30-3:30pm

Make three 5oz bottles for the next day with what I pumped at work when I get home

Home around 5pm and nurse until he goes to bed, usually 1-2 sessions

Pump after he goes to bed and freeze whatever I have left over at the end of the day

On the weekends I always pump after he goes to bed and sometimes in the morning if I am too engorged.  I save enough over the weekend in the fridge to make Monday's bottles.

I never dip into my freezer stash until I am completely done pumping/nursing.  We have deep freezers that we store the milk in and it is said to be good 6months-1 year depending on where you read.  If you are using your freezer stash on a daily basis and then putting more back you end up spending a lot of money on freezer bags.  With my previous I always ended up stopping pumping before a year and used my freezer stash to get us to the 1 year mark.  I filled 2 deep freezers full of milk the second time around!

Marcella05

So happy to see what others are doing. I nurse DS on demand, which seems to be about every 2 hours on average. This will mean lots of pumping for me! I'm thinking of doing this:
5:30am - Nurse
6:30am - Nurse at daycare to top him off
8:30am - Pump
10:30am - Pump
12:30 - Nurse at daycare for the first week, switch to pump after
2:30pm - Pump
4:30pm - Nurse and on demand thereafter

gutsysneakers

Haven't gone back yet but thinking of this schedule:

5:30am - pump one breast
6:00am - nurse DD with other breast
The morning/early afternoon really depends on if I'm in court and whether they are trials but I'm thinking:
8:30am - pump
12:30pm - pump
3:30 pm - pump
5:30 pm - nurse and nurse on demand thereafter.

I have about 120 oz frozen and plan on pulling from that as needed so it doesn't go to waste. I don't have a deep freezer.

CarriMat

Thanks for the input. I was just curious to see how other moms were doing it. Right now my routine is to 

nurse 6-7am

pump 9:30 4-5oz

nurse at daycare - 12:30

Pump 3pm 4-5oz

Nurse on demand after 5. 

Husband Gives formula bottle 4oz  8:30-9pm while I pump

Pump again 10-11:30 depending on how late I stay up.

I think I'm going to continue to use freshly expressed milk to fill bottles for daycare and only break into my frozen stash when needed. It would save money on freezer bags and also is just more of a hassle to thaw and freeze everyday.  

Gigglefest

How much time do you actually spend pumping at work?

Sarac2288

Nurse baby at 4 or 5. Pump at 6 am start work at 7
Pump 845
Pump 11am
Pump 130pm
Home at 4 usually nurse within half hour

KBowen715

Nikkipal82 said:

@haleighkay90 , have you tried pumping in the car? I don't know how long you are in the car, but it is worth a shot to make sure you get your sessions in. The first time I heard about this, I thought the person was insane, but apparently if you have a hands free nursing bra, a car adapter for your pump, and either a nursing cover or a loose tank top to put over everything, it's very manageable. I still haven't tried it, but I thought I'd mention it.

I've done this!!! Awkward and I possibly flashed a few peeps, but meh. I got 4 oz out of it. Holla!

Xath

Current Schedule:

Baby wakes up/nurses between 4:30-5am

Pump in the car on the way to work 6am

Pump @ Work - 8:30, 11, 1:30

Pump in the car on the way home - 4:00

Nurse on demand at home

This is my ideal schedule anyway.  We've been so busy recently, I've been missing one of the work pumping sessions almost every day.

Right now I freeze everything I pump in 6oz increments.  Whatever is leftover becomes the bottle I leave for my husband to use once I've left for work.  We send frozen milk to daycare to rotate the stash.  We're still going through the milk I EP'd in the NICU, and it's frozen in their bottles so it takes up a lot more freezer space than what I'm pumping now.  Once we finish the NICU stash, I might start sending more fresh, but it's still worth it to rotate the freezer stash out.  

Something that saves me time during pumping sessions: Instead of washing the pump parts between sessions, I put them in a ziploc bag or tupperware and put them in the fridge with the milk.  

Marcella05

Fridge temps slow or stop the growth of bacteria, which is naturally occurring in our milk. I plan on rinsing, putting them in a gallon Ziplock bag and putting in the fridge between pumps (and wash at end of the day).

rc525

Question for you all, LO only feeds off one side.  When I pump during work, should I pump both sides?  Or just alternate like I would if I was feeding her?

apinkpelican

So this was my first week back and seems this is the schedule we'll be using:
6:45a feed LO
7:15a Pump at home after feeding. Take LO to DC and get to work by 8:30
9:45a Pump at work
12:45p Pump at work
3:45p Pump at work
5:45/6:00pm. Feed LO at home as needed.

So here is my thought after doing this a week.... OMG... How do you get any work done?! Btwn meetings and pumping I haven't gotten any actual work done. I share an office is I have to use a separate room 3 floors up. I'm also frustrated bc I barely get 3oz total at each session. I'm sending (4) 3oz bottles w LO each day and it's a stretch. I'm going to try some tricks to increase supply but I think I might start supplimenting one feeding a day with formula to build a back up supply of BM. I knew it would be a challenge but wow!

Nikkipal82

I have to share what I figured out today, because for me it's really a game changer. I pump three times in my shift (on a good day), and I have 4 bottles, which hold up to about 7oz each (if you fill them to the top). First pump, I pump into 2 clean bottles, then put them in the fridge in my cooler bag. Second pump, I pump into the other 2 clean bottles, and put those in the fridge as well. For my third pump, I combine the cooled milk into 2 bottles, and I use the other two bottles to pump into for my last pump. I have a lot of coworkers, and so I can't really put all of my parts in the fridge between pumping, but since my cooler bag is already in there, it's no problem to put the bottles in. I just clean the flanges with a wipe, which I reuse throughout the day, and I store those parts in my pump bag.