I originally posted this on the December 2011 board, but thought I would post here, as well, as you ladies might have a unique perspective.
I am in a situation where
there is absolutely no good place for me to pump once I return to work
after my eight week maternity leave. I work in a very modern building.
None of the offices have doors and all of the conference rooms are
glass. The two bathrooms on my floor are single unisex bathrooms and are
pretty much disgusting most of the time - not places where I'd be
comfortable pumping. Using facilities on another floor isn't an option
and the laws regarding providing a private non-bathroom place to pump
don't apply to my employer because we don't have 50 employees.
So,
as a result, I'm stuck in a situation where it really isn't practical
for me to pump once I return to work. I'm planning to either rent or
borrow a pump to use during my leave to save up as much milk as
possible, but I will probably stop BF at the end of my leave. As such,
I'm going to have to introduce formula at some point.
Re: XP: Stopping BF Upon Returning to Work (longish)
Can you pump in your car? Or is there something like a store room, etc?
That being said, if you do need to stop feeding during the daytime you can still BF part time. It's completely do-able. Just slowly introduce one bottle of formula during the daytime hours until you are using formula for day, and you can keep nursing in the morning and at night and probably even some on weekends during the day. If you pump right before you start work and right when you get done in your car or something you may even be able to only need to supplement a little.
As far as timing, I would do BM only until 6 weeks, then start the bottles of formula. I'd introduce a bottle of BM around 3-4 weeks.
BFing doesn't have to be all or nothing, many women mix it up and do both with success.
Pumping in my car isn't really feasible because (1) it is an outdoor parking lot and (2) Wisconsin winters make that less than an ideal situation. There is a small storage closet, but it's not big enough to set up a chair in there.
Sometimes it just doesn't work out. I tried and tried to make it work with DD1 and it stressed me out. I have a very similar office setup to what you describe, and although I managed to use a small bathroom, it was far from ideal. The second time around with DD2 I decided to quit before I returned to work and was happier.
I definitely recommend giving a bottle around 4 weeks old. You need to get your LO used to the bottle and formula before you go back to work, but still try to avoid nipple confusion early on.
A Little Bird and a Monkey Butt
If that is your plan I would start pumping the opposite site while LO eats at every feeding from day one. Vary sides and you should be able to build a neat stash. (I was able to have a 600 ounce freezer stash in about 6 weeks) In the meantime you don't have to STOP Bf'ing - you could BF in the morning and at night and maybe even sneak away once a day to pump in your car.( I sometimes hook up the pump while driving if I'm running late and it works just as well)
I currently pump in the Accounting Closet - and pumped in the Facilities Storage Room with DD1 until they created a pumping room because there suddenly was 4 of us.
Talk to HR and see if they CAN accommodate - they may not need to - but asking doesn't hurt! Also - realistically - you probably can get away with pumping 2x while you're gone...there has got to be a place.
I'm cheap - so that's my main motivation - BM is FREE...Formula starts costing you big time if you go full time... Best of luck either way!
I applaud you for being calm and matter of fact about the situation.
I can say one thing, we had only open conference space and one small single stall. DS refused formula once we left the hospital so I really was stuck. So I would sit in our open conference room and propped up a menu from a restaurant across the street as a 'privacy guard' my co workers for the most part. became very good about respecting my need for privacy and quiet.
You may be surprised at how accommodating people can be.