If you’re here congratulations on continuing your breastfeeding journey and returning back to work. It’s not easy but totally worth it! Everyone’s struggles are different but it’s almost inevitable that you will face some challenges along the way, stay strong. If it’s something you really want to continue doing for your baby, then I believe you can do it!
Before I get to my schedule I want to define working mom, in this context I’m talking about the mom who works away from her home and her baby for an extended period of time. Moms who aren’t able to feed on demand throughout the day (or night in my case).
My hope is that if you’re returning to work, and plan to breastfeed that I can provide some insight and advice to keep you motivated on your breastfeeding journey.
My daughter is 6 months, and I returned back to work when she was 10 weeks. Since returning to work, we have been doing a combination of breastfeeding and breast milk in the bottle.
There are many different reasons that I choose to breastfeed my daughter, but remember fed is best, so make the best decision for you and your baby.
They type of schedule that you establish is going to vary depending on what hours you work and what your work day looks like. I find it works best to stay consistent, and although my work day can vary each shift I try to pump around the same time.
MY PUMPING SCHEDULE
I work nights, 4 nights a week, 10 hour shifts. My shift starts at 7:45 pm and ends at 6 am.
Before I leave I pump a bottle, either using my spectra pump or my hand pump (pump selection could use a whole post on its own, so I will do that). The bottle I pump I leave out for her for my husband to put her to bed.
I was given the advice to pump every time you would feed your baby. Korbin eats on demand and we don’t have a strict a schedule for when she eats, so that wasn’t practical for me. What worked better for me was pumping every 4-5 hours.
Once I’m at work my first pump session is between 11 & 12 pm. I typically pump 3-4 ounces per breast, but occasionally it is lower or higher.
My next pump session is between 3 & 4 am, depending on when the first one is.
When I get home if Korbin is not up she will be shortly. I put my milk up, wash all her bottles from the night before and pumping parts and then shower and feed Korbin.
If my schedule is off and I have to pump late I still always try and make sure that I still have two pump sessions. Mainly because it’s uncomfortable but also because I do not want my supply to drop.
If I’m off and my husband is with Korbin then I will leave a bottle or two in the fridge. I usually sleep from about 7 or 8, until noon. He will also bring her to me to eat during that time, and if I’m lucky we get a morning nap together.
If I’m not off then we have someone who watches Korbin from 8am-2pm. At 8 am I go to bed. I wake up at 10:30 to feed Korbin, and then go back to bed until about 2.
MY BREASTFEEDING SCHEDULE
I touched on it earlier in this post, but we don’t really have a schedule for breastfeeding. Korbin tells me when she’s hungry and I feed her.
There are certain times a day when I know she will want to eat, like nap time and bedtime. But besides that I just feed on demand.
She typically goes to bed around 8. She sometimes wakes up around midnight to eat (but she doesn’t always wake up to eat at this time). Then between 2-3.
She has been waking up at 5. And at that time I usually take her to our bed and we sleep until 7:30.
This is a typically night for us. But even as I’m writing this post things have changed. For the past few days she wakes up every time we lay her in her crib. But stays asleep in our bed, so she’s been in our bed.
I really try not to stress over sleeping or eating. She is healthy and she eats when she is hungry and sleeps when she is tired.
AM & PM MILK
I never knew there was a difference between AM & PM milk prior to breastfeeding. But since I work overnight it was worth doing a little research , and by research I mean reading other mommy blogs and quick chats with the pediatrician.
If you didn’t already know our bodies are amazing and produce different milk at different times of day. The milk you produce in the morning helps you baby wake-up and the milk you produce at night help your baby go to sleep. That is SO cool to me! But also confusing when your days and nights are always mixed up. When you work over night this is super important.
Up until recently I was labeling my milk before midnight PM and my milk after midnight AM. And I would leave PM milk for Korbin. But after a little trial and error I don’t think that’s the correct way to do it. You should label your milk bags with the time you pumped and feed it to your baby at the same time when you’re gone.
For example, my pump session between 3-4am should still be PM milk because she will still be asleep for at least 4 more hours after she has that bottle. I hope that makes sense.
My research has also told me that if your baby occasionally has bottles then AM & PM milk might not make a huge difference. But since Korbin has bottles 4 nights a week throughout the week, we noticed that it did make a huge difference.
There really is no magic pill when it comes to breastfeeding, pumping and scheduling all of it. You will eventually get into a routine and figure out what works best for you and your baby.
But when I was looking for some resources to help me for pumping at work, on third shift, there were literally none. I know I’m not the only one who works overnight and may have some questions, so even if I help just one mama then it was worth the time of creating this blog.
If you have any questions leave them below, or send me an email at the wifeychat@gmail.com. And if you have any advice for us working moms please leave it below.
xo
