For those who went back to work

thatgirlree24

I know there's a thread regarding back to work morning routine but my question is while you're back at work, who is caring for your LO? If you're using a daycare or babysitter, how did you make the transition to leave your LO with them? I go back in three weeks and this will be my first time leaving my 2 1/2 month old with a babysitter so I'm really nervous and want to make the transition as smooth as possible. So any tips, techniques, advice would be greatly appreciated!

dmendo01

Second this! I go back in 2 weeks and she will be 8 weeks. 

Gingermom15

I'm going back on Monday. I have to leave at 5 am and SO doesn't get home until 7:30 am, so my sister is staying and watching Henry overnight for me while I sleep. There's no way I can be up and down all night then wake up at 4 am and do a 12 hour shift. 

breezypip

I'm going back in a couple weeks when DD is 12 weeks and I'm very anxious about it. She will be at a daycare center. I'm mostly nervous about her eating situation since she is EBF and eats constantly all day long and I have no idea how she's going to adjust to only getting bottles during the day and how many bottles (oz) to send. Should I be doing something now to facilitate that? I plan on continuing to BF when I'm with her. Luckily she seems ok-ish taking a bottle, but still wants to BF not long after. So overwhelmed... Not to mention dealing with a new morning routine!

thatgirlree24

breezypip said:

I'm going back in a couple weeks when DD is 12 weeks and I'm very anxious about it. She will be at a daycare center. I'm mostly nervous about her eating situation since she is EBF and eats constantly all day long and I have no idea how she's going to adjust to only getting bottles during the day and how many bottles (oz) to send. Should I be doing something now to facilitate that? I plan on continuing to BF when I'm with her. Luckily she seems ok-ish taking a bottle, but still wants to BF not long after. So overwhelmed... Not to mention dealing with a new morning routine!

This.

I'm dealing with this situation now. He is ebf and always wants to comfort nurse even after getting a bottle which is only once in a blue. 

preggoandglowing

thatgirlree24 said:

breezypip said:

I'm going back in a couple weeks when DD is 12 weeks and I'm very anxious about it. She will be at a daycare center. I'm mostly nervous about her eating situation since she is EBF and eats constantly all day long and I have no idea how she's going to adjust to only getting bottles during the day and how many bottles (oz) to send. Should I be doing something now to facilitate that? I plan on continuing to BF when I'm with her. Luckily she seems ok-ish taking a bottle, but still wants to BF not long after. So overwhelmed... Not to mention dealing with a new morning routine!

This.

I'm dealing with this situation now. He is ebf and always wants to comfort nurse even after getting a bottle which is only once in a blue. 

What I've done with my LO is alternate every other feeding between BF and a bottle of pumped milk. She's very used to both now so that might help you ease your LO's rather than going cold turkey. 

amye02

@thatgirlree24 I started back to work Monday. My mom took 2 weeks off so I drop Jackson off @ her house. After next week he will be at daycare who I have been told will get him on a consistent schedule. As for feeding,  I wake up @ 6 to BF no matter when the last time he   ate was to start to get him used it. It worked Tuesday, this morning not so much. I think it's totally going to be about consistency

ATolentino89

It takes time to get into a routine but it will work itself out. My LO went from getting one bottle a day to the 3-4 he gets at daycare or with my mom or SO. Babies are resilient and pick up quick. Don't worry about how they want to nurse all the time as their behavior will be different with another person. They know its not mom giving them a bottle and they will drink it without question. They know moms not there to comfort nurse and will (in my LOs case) take a paci to comfort themselves. As long as when your with your LO you still ebf it will be fine. I have been doing it for 4 weeks now and all is well. 

ATolentino89

Oh and the average baby eats 25oz worth of breast milk in a day. I send my LO to daycare for an 8 hour day with 12oz and they have either a frozen 4oz bag or formula for a 4oz bottle as back up. 

ramfam2507

Nico is staying with my mom. I nurse him between 6-7. My mom has been giving him 4.5 ounces between 10-11 and 2-3. For his next feeding, I'm home to nurse him. 

I leave my mom enough for three feelings just in case and she says that he's doing very well with his bottles. 

He eats about six times a day and he's only getting a bottle twice a day so I'm not really worried. I know he'll be fine. 

Your LO will adapt, you'll be the one suffering the most! 

breezypip

@preggoandglowing that sounds like a great plan, but I don't know how I'd be able to pump enough for that many feedins. She eats so often that I've only been able to pump after her feed in the morning that is always followed by a long sleep. I'm building my stash very slowly unfortunately. 

navyblueladybug

I went back on Monday. On the days I work (I'm a part time nurse, but doing full time orientation for the next two months for my new job), DH works from home and when I'm off he goes into the office. He thought it would be easy but DD parties it up in the afternoon according to DH and he finds it hard to get work done between 2pm and 4pm. We usually only Swaddle her at night so it's her signal to go to sleep... Well, DH got so fed up with her shenanigans and wild flailing today that he swaddled her at 3pm just so he could get some work done! She was never this crazy for me, so he's either exaggerating (which he does often), or she just has to get used to him being around her for the whole day. 

preggoandglowing

breezypip said:

@preggoandglowing that sounds like a great plan, but I don't know how I'd be able to pump enough for that many feedins. She eats so often that I've only been able to pump after her feed in the morning that is always followed by a long sleep. I'm building my stash very slowly unfortunately. 

I was in the same boat. I supplement with formula only at night because otherwise I'd be up every hour. As much as I hated it, I gave DD formula for a whole day. It was the only way I was able to get ahead of her. So now whenever she drinks pumped milk or formula at night, I pump. I'm slowly getting ahead of her now to build a freezer stash. 

LogansLove

I went back last week , my LO is being watched by a trusted family friend so I feel a lot more at ease. I pump 2-3 times while I'm at work and then once at home either before or after work to make sure I have enough milk stored.  It was hard leaving her and I miss her daily but it's also nice to get a little me time 

thatgirlree24

Hey so I just wanna bring this post up again. For those exclusively breastfeeding--When you all went back to work how many ounces did you pump for your LO & what did they eat throughout the day?

pupsicle23

@thatgirlree24 I haven't gone back yet, so I can't offer my experience, but the most recent posts in the breastfeeding thread touch on this. 

Also,  I went to a baby weigh group and weighed DD before and after feeding her, and it was enlightening. I'm going to go a couple more times to see how consistent she is before I go back. 

ramfam2507

I'm gone for about 9 hours and my LO will drink 9 oz. 4.5oz every four hours. 

While at work I'm pumping 12-14 of ounces. 

scientificunicorns

thatgirlree24 said:

Hey so I just wanna bring this post up again. For those exclusively breastfeeding--When you all went back to work how many ounces did you pump for your LO & what did they eat throughout the day?

I'm gone 8-4. Baby eats 10-12 oz. I pump 14-16 oz. 

ATolentino89

I'm gone from 8:30-6-30. I pump 3x a day and get 12-14oz. LO drinks 4-3oz bottles while he is away from me and I have a stash for 4oz of formula in his bag in case. 

ATolentino89

@thatgirlree24 be sure about the schedule of your daycare. They feed my LO every two hours hence the smaller quantities of milk per bottle. Before I realized they were scheduling his feedings (which I specifically told them not to do but that's another story) they wasted a lot of milk and called me at work for more

LMPOY

I went back to work on Friday. LO drinks 12 oz when I'm gone, however I have only been able to pump a total of 9 oz!! Looks like I'll be pumping after every bf session.. Hopefully my supply will increase or I will get more used to the pump!

Peanut1128

My baby is a beast. I left 18oz of milk his first day and they told me he wanted more. I always leave 20oz now and backup formula and a bottle which he sometimes uses. I exclusively pumped for the first two months of his life so I had a good guage on what he was eating. Maybe test doing a day of bottles at home if your not sure. My son eats about 35oz of milk a day at 13 weeks old.

thatgirlree24

Peanut1128 said:

My baby is a beast. I left 18oz of milk his first day and they told me he wanted more. I always leave 20oz now and backup formula and a bottle which he sometimes uses. I exclusively pumped for the first two months of his life so I had a good guage on what he was eating. Maybe test doing a day of bottles at home if your not sure. My son eats about 35oz of milk a day at 13 weeks old.

Good to know. I have about 50oz saved so far so I hope that's enough and I can continue to meet his demands as he grows (pumping at work) My problem is I can really only get a decent amount from the pump if I'm engorged & my breasts don't leak anymore. 

2winterbabies

DH and I knew when DD arrived we wanted to work opposite schedules and get maybe one specific day off just to spend with family. We were able to achieve this by DH finding a morning job instead of working at night which is what my position requires most of the time. So when DH goes to work in the morning I have the kids and when he comes home I go to work.

I loved daycare when I first had DS. The center I chose was called "Kindercare" and they did an excellent job in my area. But now with 2 kids, daycare is just too expensive for me especially with an infant and I do have some trust issues (thanks to the news) with strangers just taking care of my child. I would prefer a relative did. That's why DH and I had the talk about what to do about childcare and avoiding the costs of it. This ended up working perfectly for us.

thatgirlree24

Yeah that makes sense @2winterbabies. My only concern with that is never really seeing my SO. Unfortunately I barely see him as it is and his job is late night, he gets home at 2:00am. Luckily it's part time for now but he's too tired to care for LO in the morning since he gets home so late so that's why he'll be going to daycare. I have two others in the same daycare as well so it's not like I'm not familiar with them. I just hate not being able to care for LO all day. Part of me wishes I never had to go back to work. The two oldest in daycare started there at 9mos and 2yrs old.   

caketimes

Pumping question for working moms, I'd post in the BF feed but it seems more about logistics than actual pumping.

Did your work provide you with space to pump? If so, was it private? I am being told that I have to arrange the use of my office with my office mate (who has no boundaries, but that's another story). 

Also, for storage, are you provided a clean space in a fridge? Or do you have to bring a cooler? I work in a school and they have offered me the science fridge (gross). If you're using a cooler, do you put your pumping parts in it too? What kind of cooler do you use?

Thanks! 

breezypip

I start work tomorrow, but my job has a room specifically for pumping mothers. It has cozy chairs in it, but no refrigerator. In going to see if I can request they add one since this is a new room and I think they just overlooked that. My boss has a private refrigerator in her office that she said I can use, but my pump also has a cooler section if need be. I'm lucky that my job is supportive of pumping mothers.

christiel14

I'm thankful my husband and I work different shifts. We have it worked out that I work three days a week and so he has his weekend on two of my days at work and the third day my mom watches baby during the 2 hour overlap. We don't have any full days off together, but we get some time together 6 days of the week which is more than we used to have. Baby eats between 10 and 12oz when im gone from 6 to 4 and I typically pump 16oz. I used to pump more but my supply seems to be changing as baby has starting sleeping through the night and my body is adjusting to the new schedule.

At work they provide a room that used to be a hairdressers room for pumping but we have to schedule when we want to use it as there are three of us that need the room. And I just use the staff fridge and put the bottles and pump parts in a lunch box in there.

ATolentino89

caketimes said:

Did your work provide you with space to pump? If so, was it private? I am being told that I have to arrange the use of my office with my office mate (who has no boundaries, but that's another story). 



Thanks! 

So before I went back to work I looked up the Fair Labor Standards Act and printed the "break time for nursing mothers" card that stated that I had the rights to a room with privacy and no intrusions etc. I have to pump in the office kitchen but I have curtains and a lock on the door and since there is only two of us it's not an issue. 

preggoandglowing

I haven't returned to work yet but I work for a large company. We moved to a brand new building last year so we have a dedicated pumping room with a reclining chair, sink, door lock, etc. The problem for me is there were at least 3 other pregnant girls (that I know of) at the same time as me and we all pretty much work the same hours so will probably want to pump at the same time. They were due before me so I'm at a disadvantage since they're returning before me.  

LaceyH13

We have multiple breastfeeders/pumped at work and we set up a makeshift "wall" with a bed sheet so more than one of us could use it at one time. Sometimes it is fun to have somebody to chat with.

mltarrio

I work at a Univeristy and they have dedicated "lactation stations". It is my first day back today and I am sitting in one right now. Unfortunately the closest one is a block away from my building and is a converted bathroom stall. Someone did a #2 while I was pumping in here this morning. Needless to say I will be looking for an alternative arrangement. I am dedicated to pumping and breastfeeding the baby for six months, but I didn't realize what a production it would be to pump at work! Dragging me supplies around and coordinating the timing is a hassle and it's only my first day. I hope it will get easier.

momotheflyinglemur

I went back part time 2 weeks ago. Today, I started back full time. It was really tough leaving, I have to be honest. Even with my aunt as the one staying home to take care of Odie, I struggled. The first day I was extremely anxious, to the point where my stomach ached. But then I pumped the first time and it ebbed a little. Then, every time after that it was better. My aunt sends me and SO pictures throughout the day which also makes things much easier.

 I don't ever think that leaving will be easy. But I just have to keep reminding myself to adjust to new normal.

thatgirlree24

I went back to work yesterday (2/29) it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. My SO watched the baby and I made frequent calls to check on him. My job has a privacy room and you let them know what times you want and how long you think you'll need and they set it up for you. I was able to pump 16oz altogether for an 8hr work period. Not sure if that's good or not as this was my first full day from baby. While I was gone I asked my SO to keep track of baby's feedings throughout the day so I could estimate how much frozen milk to send to daycare when he starts today. I think today will be harder than yesterday since he'll be officially in daycare. Good luck to the rest of the ladies starting back as well. My advice is to check on the baby as much as you can/feel the need to. Pics throughout the day is another cool option. 

Eta: the privacy room does have a fridge but since I want to keep my milk frozen, I'm using  the big refrigerators by the vending machines near my work station. I always label the storage bags with my name, date & time & how many ounces and keep them in a plastic bag and I'll be taking them out of the freezer every day at the end of my shift.

Gingermom15

We are provided with two lactation stations, each with a Symphony and one with an Ameda elite. However, my hospital currently has over 5,000 employees so two rooms isn't realistic. Most times I have to go to the postpartum ward, borrow a pump and use a room in peds. We are on our own with storing but none of my co-workers seem to mind the breastmilk in the break room fridge. Or at least they know better than to complain about it to me

caketimes

Going back today was hard. I cried last night, re calculated the cost of staying home to be sure I need to go back (I do) and cried some more. As I drove to work, I promised myself I wouldn't cry. And I didn't! For 30 seconds when I walked into work. Then, all bets were off. 

Pumping seems to to be a game of logistics and efficiency. I store my milk cooler and pumping parts two floors above my pumping space... The stairs are counting as my workout. I am working on figuring out the fastest method of pumping from how to pack my bag to the order in which I assemble and disassemble the pump. For now that effort and face time keep the tears at bay. 

Good luck to all returning moms, it's a rough time. 

pupsicle23

How do you working moms get anything done?  I'll be gone 10.5-11 hours each day.  Luckily,  I should have an hour or so with DD in the evenings.  But I am worried that I'll be exhausted.  I stopped by school the other day to drop off something with DH. Four of my students had just walked out of class. One of then was getting bandaged for punching a wall.  I love them,  but I really don't see myself being productive when I get home.  I'll just want to snuggle with DD and go to bed at,  like,  8. 

mltarrio

I have been back at work now for a week and a half and it is really hard. I get a few hours with the baby in the morning by waking up really early. I try to squeeze in a workout then too if I can swing it. The evenings are rough. Of course I want to snuggle with the baby, but I also have to make dinner, do the dishes, and wash and sterilize all the parts from the pump, the bottles she drinks out of all day, then refill the bottles for the next day, then wash and sterilize the bottles I pumped into. Then I pack my lunch and lay out clothes for the next day. All the while the baby is wanting to be fed every hour once I get home because she missed her mama and drinking from the tap. Honestly it is exhausting. I look forward to the weekends so much more now, because I have time to snuggle the girl and feed her without all the pumping and dishes. For me it is all about organization and diligence. 

thatgirlree24

@mhuber223 it's hard being away from LO for 10-12hrs a day but as a mother of three, I know it's only because I have to work to provide. SOs income would not be enough. Depending on the hours I work ( I pump usually every 2-3hrs) I have been getting a pretty good amt - from 15-20oz. I do have a disadvantage bc of really only having one breast that fills up with milk but so far so good! I get home around 7pm at times and when I pick up LO and his brothers from daycare, he is almost always sleeping so I'll pump again and then feed him from breast when he wakes a few hrs later. It's definitely an anxious feeling to be away from your baby all day especially if you work full time but it will all work itself out in the end. 

spottedginger

@mltarrio I feel you. The bottle and pump washing, bottle making, putting out clothes, etc. is wearing me down, too. It isn't the pumping itself it is all of the things that come with being back to work and getting yourself and baby ready for each day. 

littlebitmom

This was my first full week back. I am the veteran teacher in my grade level and came back to the newest team member thinking she was the boss and making all the calls. The whole dynamic of my team of 6 has changed. Really sad as others have complained to me about it.  Don't quite know what to do as I have enough to deal with already and I've never been one to like to be in charge but I don't like not having my thoughts even listened to...