Pumping at work

[rachelsmom]

I am back to work and my daughter is 2 months old. I only want to feed her breast milk. She normally nurses every 2 hours and is keeping the same schedule with her bottles during the day. She normally eats around 3 ounces per feeding and she weighs about 11 pounds. I am afraid that I won't be able to pump enough milk when her feedings increase. How can I prevent supplementing with formula?

[KerrySmithIBCLC]

In your other post, I posted some suggestions on how to make sure she's not being overfed. If she's eating 3 oz. per feeding, am I right in calculating that she's getting 12-15 oz while you're gone? It's possible that she may be slightly overfed when she's given the bottle, which is common. Here is the link again on how to bottlefeed a breastfed baby so to ensure that she's not being overfed:

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bottle-feeding.html

When she starts taking more at a feeding, she will probably start to space her feedings out. So while she may take 4 oz. instead of 3 at a time, she won't need to eat every 2 hours, so she may still take in the same total amount of expressed milk during that period.

If you're finding that you're always running short, you may have to add another pumping session to your day. Sometimes pumping first thing in the morning when you get up, or nursing her one one side while pumping on the other, is helpful to get some extra pumped milk. Some women will pump at night after their baby goes to sleep.

I hope this is helpful for you!