pumping teachers

sweetpea2718 · July 2011

Any elementary teachers planning on pumping (or went back at the end of the year and pumped)? I think more of my anxiety about going back to work centers around the whole pumping/ making sure DS is going to get enough BM. I guess this is where the whole "moms making sure their kids are fed" thing stems from. My mom still worries if I don't eat enough

myst33 · July 2011

I am stressing about this as well. I teach in an elementary school and a high school every day. I usually do not have a morning prep and honestly don't know how I'm going to be able to pump more than once a day. Some days I have to travel between the 2 schools during lunch so I may not even be able to pump then. Plus,to was and dry all the components is going to take a lot of time.

LifetimeOfLove · July 2011

I went back at the end of the school day due to the fact that my district won't let you use more than 8 weeks of your sick days for maternity leave. Booooo.

Anyway, I had the special ed teacher in my room in the late morning so I took a quick break to pump when she was there. I pumped again in the afternoon during my prep.

I plan to continue to pump but I have no clue what my schedule will be. I may only be able to pump once a day, if that. I was stressed about this in the beginning but figured what will be will be. My supply started tanking a few weeks ago and I stressed over it. Once I took on my new motto, along with a little tea and oatmeal, my supply went back up. Most important thing is not to stress.

Also, if you are able to, build up a nice freezer stash. I have over 1,000 oz stored right now. I'm hoping that if I can't continue to pump at work, I at least have the freezer stash and I can still nurse 1st thing in the morning and at night when I'm home.

Good luck!

laura&ry · July 2011

Feeding is definitelystressing me out because of my super long 11-12 hour days. I think I'll have plenty of time to pump during the day. I'm worried about privacy though. And I'm really worried about having time to nurse before school and before she goes down for the night, as I'm not really looking to become an EP'er.

abp51008 · July 2011

I am super stressed about the whole pumping at work thing. I teach special needs in a classroom with 10 students with autism in grades k-5. I can't really just leave whenever to pump. Right now J is eating every 3 hours so I am going to have to pump 3 times before I get him. I have to speak to my principal to figure out what I can do. Luckily I will have 2 TAs but with the kids going to reg ed with the TAs scheduling is going to be tricky.

sweetpea2718 · July 2011

Right, I guess that's my main concern...I don't know if I'll be able to pump more than the guaranteed lunchtime pump (which will most likely be 11:30ish.) I'll drop DS off at the nanny at 8, so I'm going to try to adapt his schedule to where he's eating at around 7:30. He eats every 3 hours though

I know it's optimal to pump around the times he would be taking a bottle, but I just don't know if that's possible!

Maggee206 · July 2011

You can say that again....it is mostly the noise I am concerned about (I can work in the time....but that noise is soooooo obvious). My goal is to make it to October (6 months) anything after that is bonus!

Good luck.

gullterre · July 2011

It sound slike we are all in the same boat! I have to BE at work at 7am so I will have to get up at 5 to get myself and DS ready, AND feed him before we leave. My lunch is 20 minutes long and my planning is not until 1pm. I may ask for an aide to come into my room for 15 minutes or something since we have 84 minute blocks. We will see. I am trying not to worry and just remind myself that my supply will adjust to whatever. Tongue Tied

JordanB23 · July 2011

I went back and pumped at school for about 8 weeks at the end of the school year. Here is how I kept up my supply.

- wake up and pump before getting ready for work (5am usually)

- give lo a bottle of bf (whatever you have time for) before work

- pump around 9 ( have another teacher cover for about 10 minutes), don't stress about how much you get during the day.

-pump and eat lunch

-bf lo as soon as you get off and on demand in evening

-pump right before you go to bed.

The early morning and late night pumping helped me keep up supply and even store some. HTH.

avacura15 · July 2011

There is a law that states if an employer has more than 25 employees they must provide both time and a place for you to pump. The place is NOT the bathroom either. At my school they have sectioned off a corner in one of the teachers offices for us to pump. Its sort of private with a comfy chair.

EmandChris08 · July 2011

I'm a high school teacher. I had to go back in mid-May when DS was 8 weeks old, and worked through the last day of school (June 27), so I was able to get a sense of what it's like to pump at work. I know it's a little different for me since I teach HS and have planning periods, but I can relate to how you're feeling. I was really worried about what it would be like to pump at work. It wasn't as bad as I thought. I pumped in the nurse's office. They were always able to provide me a private place to pump and somewhere to store my stuff.

I think the hardest thing was having to use my planning periods to pump. I really didn't want to do any school related work at home because I wanted to enjoy time at home with LO, but I couldn't get much done while pumping either. THat part is tough.

ETA: I never had any problems running out of milk for LO. There always seemed to be just enough. I would definitely recommend building up a freezer stash now, though, just in case.

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