- Pregnancy
- Baby & Toddler
- Parents
- Getting Pregnant
- Baby Names
- Product Reviews
-
Registry
- Community
-
More
Want a personalized experience?
Download the free app
Working Moms
teacupkat
member
Intro: long commute moms come in
teacupkat
member
in Working Moms
Hi there! I am a FTM. My little girl is 9 1/2 weeks! I cannot believe how fast the time went. I feel like I was just walking out my work's door waiting for my babe to arrive. I return to work tomorrow. Eep! I'm not upset, I am actually very excited. I love my job, most days, it can be VERY stressful as I work in the wedding industry. I love my LO but being home with her has try clarified for myself that SAH is just not for me. I also love how socialized my LO will be at daycare. I am going to miss her very much, but as I have read on here multiple times, it just makes the time we spend together more meaningful. 
My LO is EBF. I hope and pray pumping at work goes well for me. I think this is the part I am most stressed about.
Now, I have a hour commute. I'm curious if any moms with long commutes and pumped have any advice on timing. I currently wake up with LO at 4:30. Sometimes she sleeps another 2 hours, sometimes more. I have to be out the door by 7:00am. I plan on nursing LO when I pick her up from daycare as DH will do drop off.
Any advice would be great! Thank you
My LO is EBF. I hope and pray pumping at work goes well for me. I think this is the part I am most stressed about.
Now, I have a hour commute. I'm curious if any moms with long commutes and pumped have any advice on timing. I currently wake up with LO at 4:30. Sometimes she sleeps another 2 hours, sometimes more. I have to be out the door by 7:00am. I plan on nursing LO when I pick her up from daycare as DH will do drop off.
Any advice would be great! Thank you
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Intro: long commute moms come in
Good luck with your return to work!
When DS was little, DH and I had a similar arrangement in that I would leave early and DH would drop DS off at DC in the morning. So I would BF when he woke up early and then put him back to sleep. I would usually leave before he got up for the day. When he got to DC, he would have a bottle. I pumped 2x/day at work, around mid-morning and mid-afternoon, similar to the PP, and then nurse DS when I got him home from DC. I rarely pumped at work 3 times/day. Usually only 2X.
TBH, I could not keep up with his supply after the first couple of months, so I did supplement with formula. I started by mixing formula in with his BM in his bottles during the day. Whenever we were at home, I exclusively nursed him. I had built up a pretty good stash for him while on ML, so i was able to stretch out the amount of time he got BM for a while.
I also EBF and plan to pump at work, hoping it works out.
I'll be checking all the responses for advice.
This morning I nursed LO at 7:00 right before we left- I do drop off. I plan to pump 2-3 times at work. I was told it might be good to start with 3 times a day and then be able to cut back to 2 times and get the same total amount.
I'll nurse right when I get home if LO is hungry- otherwise ill pump.
That's my plan- I'll update if its working out or not!
I keep thinking I may need to add in a pumping session at night after LO is in bed. Ugh. All of this already has me feeling exhausted/anxious. I guess I just shouldn't put too much pressure on myself.
Sorry for all the babble. I'm trying to work everything out in my head.
No need to apologize. It is a lot to think about. I felt so much pressure to keep up with my DS too so I get it. But in the end, stressing about it is just a waste of energy as you can only make your body do so much. And if you supplement with formula your LO will still be ok.
I hated pumping, so I could only take so much of it. I was lucky in that my DS was pretty flexible about going back and forth between bottles and nursing, and BM and formula, so I'd say by the time he was about 6 months, he was getting all formula during the day and I was able to nurse him first thing in the am and in the evenings during the week and on weekends. During the day he got formula. This was after a few months of mixed formula/BM during the day.
So do what you can but don't stress too much about all of this. There is only so much you can control.
DS usually wakes up sometimes between 4-6 to nurse, then I put him back down. I wake him up at 7, nurse again then get him ready for daycare. If I'm working a 7 hour day I pump at 11:30 and 3. If I work a 9 hour day I'll pump at 11, 2 & 5.
He usually has a bottle about an hour before I pick him up, so I don't have time to pump when I get home. I nurse him about an hour and a half later and end up doing a pump at night before bed. I do end up a pump behind on some days, but this is what I can do with my commute/work schedule.
Thank you all for answering! It is really making me feel slightly less pressure to try and keep up with it all and just learning to be flexible about it.
Wake LO to feed at 7:00 (leave for DC drop off by 7:30)
Pump at work at 11:00 and 4:00
Get home at 7:00 nurse LO (or pump if she just ate)
Nurse on demand rest of night
This means I need to get a second pump for home ( don't want to lug the large one back and forth!) I'm thinking a small single manual.
FWIW I was able to produce about 16 ounces during my two pump sessions= 4 bottles for daycare the next day.
I hope I can keep my supply up, might need to do some supplementation with formula- I'm OK with that.
I'm a little stressed at how much time pumping takes during my work day- I don't want to stay any later so for me, if it comes down to it I'd rather go down to one pump session during the work day and more formula supplementation and still get home by 7:00 to spend time with my family.
GL
The hardest thing is time right now, it's so difficult to pull myself away from work and pump when I'm trying to get my billable hours in and still leave by 5.
I'm hoping it gets easier as I get into the routine!
Today has been slightly different. She didn't wake at 4:30, so I pumped instead. I've already noticed a change in my supply. I only pumped 4 and 4 so far at both my pump times. Yesterday I did 5 and 5. I'm hoping I can keep my levels up with the fenugreek and mothers milk tea. Total for all 3 pumps I did was 11 ounces, 3 ounces shy of what she actually ate at DC. Ugh. Pumping is really frustrating. I just don't know how long I will keep up with it. My job is very demanding of my attention. I'm taking about a hour and a half away from my desk, which doesn't seem like much to some, but it is in my case.
I keep telling myself it is only day two and it could get better and to not put too much pressure on myself. I have been trying to get into work earlier to make up for the time I take pumping but yesterday and today my train ran late. I suppose it is what it is.