Breastfeeding and Work

Hi! I had that problem a little later when trying to work and pump. My pediatrician recommended drinking a tea. I think it was called Mother's Milk or something? I wasn't good about drinking it. It wasn't very tasty but she also recommended I take a herbal supplement called fenugreek and this is suppose to increase the milk supply. You can get it at GNC. I hope it works!!

N.

You can try the tea called mother's milk.. also when you get home feed him plus pump as much as you can at work.. good luck

I noticed the same thing and eventually had to give up after 3 months. I think it only works if you can pump about 4 times a day and really find a quiet place to relax while you do it. Definitely dont try to work while you are pumping. I did start listening to audio books to try to relax and it seemed to help. Good luck.

Have you ever heard people talk about leaking heavily when they were in a store and heard another child cry? Its psychological, from what I've been told, so maybe try listening to a recording of you child or look at pictures before you start and during pumping. Not sure if it will work but its worth a try! Good Luck and God Bless!

Make sure you are in a relaxed setting when you do pump. Have a picture of the baby to look at or a recording of baby's voice. To increase supply, eat lots of oatmeal, drink Mothers Milk tea ( 3 cups/day), or take fenugreek, 3 capsules 3 x / day. Try pumping first thing in the morning when you have the most milk. At home, try cluster pumping - put on your favorite TV show or music,don't pay attention to the pump or bottle, pump 10 minutes on and 10 minutes off for 1 hour. At the end of the hour, see what you got.

There is a vitamin supplement that you can buy called Fenugreek. My lactation consultant recommended it when I went back to work and had the same problem. It nearly DOUBLED my milk supply and worked until my daughter was about 6 months and went through a growth spurt and I never could catch up to her needing 6 ounce feedings. But I felt fortunate to make it that long! Good luck!

I experienced that as well. Your body does adjust and realize that you're not feeding your baby at that time. Just continue to pump and try to use mind over matter. Sometimes the thought of your baby can make you release milk. Good luck!

I first congratulate you for trying to do this. I am a nurse and I also had to pump at work. I can tell you the best things to help you that are tried and true. Make sure you are still taking your prenatal vitamins and also the most important is to drink plenty of water. You need to be drinking at LEAST 2 liters a day. My lactation consultant gave me this tip dt I work in the er and would sometimes be too busy to eat much less pump and I started to drink and the milk did flow. LOL. Also the more that your baby is eating the more your body produces so when he is napping you need to add a pumping session so that you can train your body to make more milk to store at home. I think I was up to a month supply and my husband was like are you opening a dairy? Well I hope this does help you some and good luck with this.

Breast milk is produced by supply and demand. So pump as often as you can, breastfeed as often, too, or you will dry up. If your baby's care provider is close enough to your work, maybe you coud schedule your lunch break to include breast feeding. I had a friend do this and it helped keep her milk supply going for the year. Good luck with trying to keep your son on breast milk as long as possible. Being a new mom is so hard, especially when you need to return to work.

I had the same problem when I returned to work. Here's what I did and it helped my supply: I pumped every 2-3 hours everyday...and even on days home, I pumped if my baby drank from only one side. Also, I drank more water - I drink about 3-4 20z bottles of water a day - and I saw a huge difference. Also, I began taking fenugreek capsules - I got them from a GNC store - and took one tablet twice a day. With all these things, it still took me a few days to regain my supply. But it did help.

I was able to breatfeed both my daughters for their first year while working. I pumped both breast right before lunch everyday. And just one breast at 3:30. When I got off work, the breast I didn't pump was ready and full for nursing. I made sure I drank plenty of water everyday and ate lots of peanuts. The protein in them helps to produce a higher quality of milk.

I used a hand pump. You might want to change pumps if you are drinking plenty of water.

Wishing you all the best!!!

C.,
I too loved breastfeeding and did not supplement with formula. I breastfed my daughter until she was 12 months old and I went back to work when she was only 10 weeks old. You should be on a regular pumping schedule...I pumped at 10am and 2pm. Worked out great for me, but I had to make the time to pump. Your employer should be understanding and allow you the time to express. Good luck! D. H

I have several suggestions -

1. Try drinking "Mother's Milk". I am a doula/RN and I know of several mothers that have had luck with drinking that.

2. The pump is a different type of stimulation than the type that you get when the baby nurses. Try pumping your breast after he is completed nursing. This will hopefully drain your breasts of any remaining milk to help your reserve and we all know that the more you nurse, the more your milk supply increases. I am thinking that this extra time pumping after he has nursed will increase your supply.

3. Also, how many times are you pumping at work? You may need to increase that. Same reasoning applies.

4. The brand of pump matters. Have you considered renting a pump from either a hospital or a lactation consultant? I do not know which type you have but sometimes the general store bought ones simply do not work as well.

I am a huge fan of nursing and I really encourage mommy's to do it, but I am also a believer that moms are only human and cannot be supermom's at every thing. With that said, any amount of milk that you are able to give your son is wonderful. You have already given him the healthiest start in life. Be proud of that and don't set yourself up for extreme expectations if you can not pump as much as you desire.
Best of luck and happy engorgement!!! LOL!!!
K.

My daughter 8 months old and I have been pumping since she was 2 months old. I have been taking an herb (recommended to me by my doctor) called blessed thistle. It has really helped me keep up my milk supply. Also, at the beginning, I would try to pump once at night (I was lucky that my daughter was sleeping) and that helped me have a supply to freeze so I could use it when I didn't pump enough. My current goal is a year and I am beginning to worry that I won't make it. It is getting harder and harder. However, I just take it one day at a time. I wish you the very best of luck. It is a laborious task, but I am with you in that I don't want to supplement. Good luck to you. I hope this is helpful

I can so relate to you. Try to get as much skin to skin contact with your child at home as possible. Wear your baby in a sling to increase milk supply (in increases oxytocin, having your baby near you). Also on my website, I have a breastfeeding link that has a recipe for "Mama Jeeper's Lactation Bars"...they have Brewer's yeast and oatmeal in them, plus they're yummy. Here's the link to my website and then just click on "Breastfeeding"

www.heavenlyhold.com

Hope it gets better!

Hi C., I've been there. The electric pumps worked the best for me; in fact, they got me producing like "Moo-Moo Cow!" I made more than my baby could drink, so there was a lot of freezing going on. The milk also went down when I returned to work, but to keep it going I relied on advice I was given. I was told to keep a good sized photo in my travel pump bag, so while I pumped I culd look at the photo of my child. It's supposed to trigger/stimulate the let down process and allow the milk to flow more freely. Try to do a mental escape to what you're focusing on while you do it, and try to relax. Times at work may make this hard, but the point is to focus on your feeding-imagine yourself feeding your baby at home, and not being in your work enviroment. Keep your fluids up, keep eating healthy, even at those shortened, quickened work lunches. And definitely, make a point of breast feeding exclusively, each breast until after the point of empty, before and after work. In fact, before you suppliment at home with any bottle, first give your breast, when they're empty then give a bottle. Nothing stimulates the let down of milk better than your baby. Other than that, best of luck. Breastfeeding is one of the healthiest things you can provide for your baby, it will prove more challenging while working-BUT it can be done! =) You hang in there-
C.

You've gotten great advice. I definitely noticed a dip when I dropped a pumping session. For me pumping was the only thing that helped - Try pumping after nursing when you are home or adding a session before bed if your LO isn't nursing as much at night.

I loved my Madela pump in style, but have heard that the hospital grade pumps can make a difference.

Good luck. I hope you are successful, but if you need to supplement it is ok. Any breastmilk is better than none, and keeping your LO fed and happy is the most important thing.

If you are in Columbus please contact Debbie Miller or Jennifer Fletcher at Dr. Hospital. They are both lactation consultants and give exellent support. There is also a pumping working mothers group in town, that might be good support. I had a hard time pumping at work and really had to mentally focusing on nursing my son to get a good let down. Keep a photo near you. Also, try to drink a lot of mothers milk tea, you can find it at Lewis Jones, Country Life and Peachtree Natural, it really helped me.
I know you can do it, the more you pump, the more milk you get.
I will keep you in my thoghts, I never had to supplement and I hope you do not need to do that either. Also, while being home, I nursed on one side and pumped the other and froze that milk, I really think that boosted my milk supply.
Good Luck
Tina

C.,
Congratulations on working and pumping and nursing! I did it with my first and second, and I know the further you go between pumpings/nursings, the less your body produces. But also know that though supplementing is frowned upon by breastfeeding advocates, I wish I had been able to embrace the necessity without guilt, instead of working so hard to do the right thing and still feeling a failure. I'm now a mother of five and I realize that with my first I tried sooo hard to do what I read about and felt terrible when my supply wasn't enough for my baby. You sound like you have a real positive frame of mind, but just in case you have moments of doubt or sadness, remember that you are doing your best to care for your baby in the right way, and that supplementing may be just what he and you need to make each tiring day go by a little smoother. And if it reduces some of your stress, you will enjoy the nursings you do have more. Best of luck and enjoy your baby!
M.

I breastfed all 3 of my children...and loved it! When I went back to work part-time I noticed the same thing. Obviously stress and milk have a delicate relationship, but a lactation consultant told me to take Brewer's Yeast as a vitamin supplement. It really made a difference, plus you have to remember to stay hydrated with juice, milk and especially WATER. Good Luck!

Supply and demand. I went through this with all 3 of my children. Don't let it become a burden more than a pleasure. Pumping at work is definitely time consuming and stressful and if the demand isn't that high when you are away from your baby the only natural thing happens and you don't produce as much milk. I was only able to keep it up for about 3 months and then my children's demand was too great for me to continue only breastmilk. Don't have an aversion to formula there are some really great ones out there and let's face it, most babies in our country get formula at one time or another. You can still enjoy some breast feeding with your child, but don't be automatically say no to supplementing. Being at work and away from your baby is hard enough, don't make it harder on yourself than necessary.

I have gone through the same thing with both my daughters. My oldest is three and my youngest is one. I've never supplemented for either. It's hard, very hard, but I'll throw out some things that worked for me and hopefully they'll work for you.
I'm currently nursing my baby girl, and I have to also pump once at home in the morning before the baby wakes up just to get the precious two or more ounces that will keep her through the day. At times I've had to pump before I go to bed for the night.
I also drink Mother's Milk Tea (by Traditional Medicinals), but there are supplements you can take as well. The supplements never did anything for me, but I have friends who swear by them, so I think we're all different. The tea can be found in the organic food sections of Kroger (most likely Publix too) or at places like Whole Foods and Harry's.
I have a stressfull job, so I have to work to relax when I pump. I will have pictures of the baby that I look at when I pump...it really works for me! I'll also bring a magazine to read...to get my mind off work.
I hope something here helps you. I admire that you want to continue breastfeeding. Also, while I'm a huge supporter of breastfeeding exclusively, don't beat yourself up too much if nothing helps and you have to supplement.

I went back to work 6 weeks after my son was born and was able to continue giving him breastmilk until about 6 months later (I chose to stop after that). I made sure I breastfed at night and anytime I was home. I pumped milk at home and at work. It was very time-consuming, but my milk never dried up during that time. I think the key was to breastfeed whenever I could, even though it meant a lot less sleep. Good luck! =)

C., congrats on your new baby & on choosing to breast-feed him. I'm a R.N. and with more of the medical community could understand how important it is to support new mothers in their endevors to nurse. The suggestions that worked for me were to use natural supplements . Traditional Medicinals makes a tea that you can drink called "Mama's milk" to increase lactation, it tastes like licorice. Gaia herbs makes a capsule to take on a prn(as needed) basis labled "Lactate Support" and Brewers yeast in OJ or a drink of your choice about a tablespoon 2x's a day( it will make you more flatulent!)all work well and are between $5-15 in monthly cost. You can purchase any of these @ EarthFare or other natural food market. I hope this helps, I breastfed my daughter till she was almost 3years old and it does get easier, Good luck!

Hi, C.! I've read a lot of good advice and just wanted to add my 2 cents. Several people mentioned Fenugreek, and that worked wonders for me, too. My lactation consultant also recommended brewer's yeast. When I went to GNC to get these 2 supplements, the guy there said he was impressed, that few people knew about the COMBINATION of the two! You might check on this part, but if I remember correctly, I was taking 1-2 of each of them 3 times a day. It's a lot of pills, but within 12-24 hours I was engorged (which is bad when you're just starting nursing, but is a blessing when you're worried about drying up!:)) Best of luck, and keep up the good work! Try not to give up; the cuddling is WORTH IT!!!!

I experienced the same issue after returning to work and starting the "mini-pill". We had a visit with the lactation consultant at Kennestone which was helpful. Their advice was to pump 8-10times per day...which can be difficult at best when your working. She said to get the extra pumps in try watching tv for an hour, every time a commerical comes on turn on the pump when the commerical break is over turn it off. This will give your body the signal to increase production. You can also try mother's milk tea or supplement found at Whole Foods. I did both and still struggled. My OB then wrote a Rx for Reglan which is given to people with ulcers. However it triggers the hormone needed for milk production. You'll take 3 a day for 7 days then 2/day the next week and then 1/day for a week. Warning it will make you hungary!!! Most importantly you have to make sure you are getting enough calories and drinking lots of water. Hope this helps, best of luck!

I had the same problem. What helped me was to reduce stress, eat nutritious foods and snacks throughout the day, drink a lot of water (more than 8 glasses) and work 40 hours or less. My ob/gyn actually gave me a form stating that I was to work 40 hours or less per week. I hate to disagree with someone, but I have heard that it is best to stay away from peanut products while breastfeeding because it is believed that even that can trigger a peanut allergy. I say that it's better to be safe than sorry, but you might want to check into it for yourself.

The type of pump you use makes a big difference. Those little battery operated pumps you get at the drug store just don't do it, plus they hurt. Either rent or buy a Medela or Ameda pump. You also have more milk in the morning than any other time of day. You may be able to pump sometime after the baby feeds but before you go to work. In my opinion, pumping at work has a psychological effect that makes it harder to do. The previous suggestion to bring a picture of your baby and doing anything you can to relax and think about your baby is a good one.

It might help to take a look at where and how you pump. Can you pump someplace private? Do you have pictures of your son with you? What about one of his blankets or clothes to smell? I find all of those things to be helpful, plus I make sure to drink plenty of water while I am pumping. I try to concentrate on pumping and think about nursing my son in person, instead of reading emails or trying to do other work while I am pumping. Keep it up though, regardless of how much you pump, because every little bit is of benefit to him.

Try sleep-sharing, also. My baby girl does a LOT of nursing at night to sort of recharge her mommy battery at night and it helps keep my supply up.

At work, I drink Mother's Milk Tea by Traditional Medicinals. It contains Fenugreek which is an herb and natural supplement. (Pill forms of fenugreek can be found at most health foods stores like GNC) Also, I have a picture of my baby, a quiet place to go pump, and I try to imagine hearing her cute little baby noises. Somewhat of a meditation on baby, make it your own little ritual. I pump every two hours. Don't wait until you feel "Full" to pump. Keep your cycle going. I also pump once in the morning before we head out the door so she has fresh squeezed mommy juice first thing.

On weekends, if he's sleeping, pump, if he's happily playing somewhere, pump. (Use those memories during the work week to relax and help yourself let down.) Feed him on demand and let him sleep in your arms.

Yes, it is hard work to maintain a breastfeeding relationship while working, but it can be done. And it is so worth the benefits for both mom and baby to keep it going. Good Luck. And remember, it's all about supply and demand.

C.,
I am doing the same thing and hope mine doesn't dry up too. Just pump as much as you can during the day and then at night pump every 1 1/2 hours or right after you breastfeed. This should at least keep you from drying up. My doctor recommended this to me. You may be a little engorged during the day, but relieved at night and you'll be able to provide for your infant.