BF working moms

What did you bring to work and how did you handle transport of milk? Should I keep it in the medela bottles and bring it home in my portable cooler, or move it into bags. My concern is that it's going to be A LOT to bring back and forth and I don't know that I have enough bottles to hold it all. I usually feed Ryan in the morning and pump - and based on that I have a good supply (for example, he ate at 7AM this morning - probably not a full feeding b/c he spit up so I think he was full - but I got 7oz after I fed him). If I'm pumping 3-4x a day at work and not feeding him, I'd imagine I'd be getting at least that. So, on the low side, say 8oz- how can I commute with 32oz? Do you transfer into bags at work ? Do you have a scrub brush and drying rack at work?

Re: BF working moms

Unfortunately, I don't produce that much so I don't really have a storage problem. I have the PISA backpack and will just use the bottles and bottle cooler it comes with.

Re: BF working moms

I only had to pump once a day at work, so I would just pump into the medela bags and store them in an insulated bag in our refrigerator. I would use the medela wipes to clean off the parts, then, cleaned them when I got home.

eta I also have a huge supply and working never diminished it - when i went back I made the timing of my pumping right in the middle of work and I would still get a good amount
maybe you can slowly decrease the number of times you pump when you go back

Message edited 6/30/2008 8:49:18 AM.

Re: BF working moms

I had a huge supply as well and at first was pumping as soon as I got to wprk, at lunmch, then when I left. I just used the PIS bottles and cooler. I didn't use coolpacks (I used the fridge at work), so I was able to fit about 6 bottles if I needed to.

I will say though- after the first few weeks, I started to get lazy with the pumping at work and slowly moved to just pumping once during lunch. I didn't see a big drop in my supply though since I was still EBF at home and I only worked 3 days a week.

GL!

Re: BF working moms

Re: BF working moms

By the time DD was on solids, I wasn't pumping at ALL at work. In fact, I rarely pumped. We had a huge freezer stash by then and just tapped into that.

I wanted to pass along this website in case you haven't seen it- it was really helpful when I went back to work:

Workandpump.com

Good luck- you'll do just fine!!!

Re: BF working moms

Posted by Porrruss

By the time DD was on solids, I wasn't pumping at ALL at work. In fact, I rarely pumped. We had a huge freezer stash by then and just tapped into that.

I wanted to pass along this website in case you haven't seen it- it was really helpful when I went back to work:

Workandpump.com

Good luck- you'll do just fine!!!

Re: BF working moms

We started cereal at 6 months- and I was still pumping early in the morning and last thing at night.

I should have mentioned that I was only working 3 days a week at a local elementary school- so I was only away from her about 8 hours at a time. ALL my time at home with her was spent EBFing- no bottles unless it was a total emergency (like needing to get my hair done ).

By then though- she was taking about 4 bottles/feedings a day and none at night.

Re: BF working moms

I just use the medela bottles and cooler that came with the PIS. They acutally hold about 7oz each. I also have a large supply in the morning so even though I get 6oz in the morning after feeding DD, I rarely get that much in subsequent feedings. As the day goes on I get less and less. I pump 3x while at work and I have never had more milk than I could transport. I do have extra bottles so if worse came to worse, I would just not cool my last bottle and keep it somewhere where it will not spill since it can be at room temp for awhile.

I have multiple sets of the pumping materials because I hate cleaning them so much. I usually have to wash once and I just soak them for a bit, its probably not the best cleaning but I clean them again once I am home. To dry, I wipe them down with a papertowel and lay them out on an absorbent pad on my desk. They usually aren't 100% dry but good enough. HtH!

Re: BF working moms

I TOTALLY agree with PP about having multiple parts so as not to worry about cleaning them while at work. My PIS case was bursting at the seams from all the extra supplies....

Re: BF working moms

I bring the storage cooler & bottles that came with the pump. To clean parts I use the microwave sterilizer bags from Medela. I work P/T and my goal was to pump during the day at the same time that DD would normally eat. Never happened. I am so busy at work my 1 hour lunch break is 15 minutes, and I pump once a day, maybe twice.

My supply hasn't diminished noticeably.