Just Returned to work...needhelp ASAP..new mommy!

[AniahsMommy422]

Hi, I recently returned to work..actually today is my first week back and my baby is 7 weeks old. This week she is staying with her my friend and then next week she is going to start daycare. I am pumping at work but i would like to know how much i should be pumping how often..etc. i did pump at home but i never pumped to have bottles for a whole day...just some so her daddy could feed her when i was running an errand or really tired.

The daycare center wont prepare her bottles so i have to have the milk already in them so im wondering how many bottles should i send with her. She will be there from 8am to around 545pm. I guess im asking this because i feed on demand and never really had a schedule with her.

She was a pretty big baby at birth..9.2

Please help.

[momto3boys]

When I pump at work during a normal 9-10 hour day for me, what I do is I try to feed my DS before I leave the house. I have had supply issues in the past, so I also pump either right before I leave the house or in the car on the way to work (using a hands-free easy expressions bustier to hold the horns). I pump at 9AM, 12 Noon, and 3PM. Then, I exclusively breastfeed my son all evening long. If he goes to bed fairly early, I usually try to pump before bedtime.

Right now my DS is going through a growth spurt or 4 month wakeful period or something...and he is getting up at night to eat every 3-4 hours. But, when he was sleeping through the night, I would also wake up at around 1AM to pump. This was only because of my supply issues though and I don't think most women wake up in the middle of the night to pump.

When I pump, I usually pump for about 15 minutes. I tend to have a second let down somewhere around 12 minutes, so when that is done I stop.

There is a calculator on Kellymom that will tell you how much milk your baby needs. I guess it depends on how you want to store the milk (bags or bottles) and what bottles you want to use to feed the baby. I am a physician and I have to take call overnight and be away for long hours (like 32 hours), so to simplify things for me so I don't have 10 little bottles to carry around, many times when I am on call I will pump into 9 ounce bottles. My baby doesn't take this much at a time, but then my husband just uses our other bottles and pours the milk into them.

Or, sometimes I pump into bags because now I have more of an oversupply. I freeze those bags in 4 ounce increments, although my baby is almost 5 months old. You could probably do closer to 3 ounce increments if you have too much milk and are freezing some.

Another technique that I also use is to pump into the Medela bottles and then my husband just changes the lid to a bottle nipple. I usually pump 4 ounces into those because he takes about 4 ounces at a time. But, like I said, your baby is smaller and so maybe you could try Kellymom to see if you can get an estimate of how much she needs per bottle.

I think I've heard them say that you probably make about an ounce an hour and then you have to figure how many times in a day she eats and divide 24 by that to figure out the amount per bottle.

Hopefully this is more helpful than confusing to you :)

Lara

[Maret00]

I have worked at day cares just so you know make the bottles smaller and a lot of them if she doesnt eat them they will dump them after an hour. I will also bring them a pamplant on how to care for breastmilk because most daycares dont know squat about breastmilk unfortuntly most moms who take there kids give formula. But I didnt have a scheule with my son and I pumped every 3 to 4 hours just because I didnt have an office and would do it in my bosses. I them had to supplument with forumla. If you have an office or something better I would pump ever 2 to 3 hours.

[kellyjoinky]

I too just returned to work, my daughter was born on 4/1/09.

She goes to daycare, gets there around 7:50, and I am there to pick her up at 5:10. Here is what I do. She eats around every three to four hours, so I pump at work every three hours from the time she last nursed in the morning. Sometimes she will skip a feeding through the night, so I will pump right after I last nurse her in the morning to empty out my boobs.

I send three or four bottles with 4 or so ounces in them to daycare every day. If she last nursed at 5 in the morning, then i send 4 that day, since she will probably eat at 8, 11, 2, 5, i get there right about 5, but i would rather them have too much milk than to run out. Also some days she is just hungrier and will eat more often than three hours. If she last nursed at 6 then i only send three bottles, since she will probably eat at 9, 12, 3, and then I will nurse her at 6 at home.

I talk to the daycare worker, to see how she is eating, to see if I am sending too much or too little milk in the bottles. I try to have just a little extra in the bottle, that way i know she is getting enough. If she starts drinking the entire bottle then i know i probably need to add another ounce or half an ounce to each bottle. If she is only drinking half a bottle then i need to make more bottles with less in them.

Try not to stress about it and realize they will be throwing away some milk in the beginning until you get it figured out. Once you figure out how much she is drinking at one setting then you will be able to fix your bottles and adjust as she changes.

Too bad our boob-o-meter doesn't tell us how much they are drinking, we need to get a digital scale on those things, haha.

[whitnessforhim]

Here is a great link on how to calculate how much baby will need while you are away:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html

I'll also suggest looking into using a breastfeeding friendly method of feeding baby: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/alternative-feeding.html

Or be mindful of:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bottle-feeding.html

Every women is so different so how often you HAVE to pump and how MUCH you will get when you pump will vary. I suggest to start pumping 3 times a day at this age, nursing in the morning before you leave for work and at night when you get home. Once you get use to a routine you'll better understand your body and things will get easier and less stressful. What I always try to keep in mind is that I want to be pumping pretty much any time baby is getting a bottle while you are away. I also found it helpful to pump at the same time every day.

You will do fine momma! Just like anything else it will take some time to get into a good routine.