We are almost 10 months in over here. Into mamahood and into breastfeeding. And when you're a working mom, that comes with pumping...I am now confident that I know what I'm doing, that I can get enough milk to feed S, that I can stop being a milk nazi because our freezer is stashed. Now, if no one tells you about the difficulty of the early days of breastfeeding, then no one MINUS one person told you about pumping and the trials and tribulations. I've worked my ass off to make this work for S and for me, and not miss a beat at work. So far, so good. This post is long, beware, but if it helps one new mama know what to expect, it's worth it.
When S was 6 weeks old (SIX WEEKS- WAS I AN INSANE PERSON?!) I went back to work. Prior to that, around 3 weeks old, me and my trusty pump became friends. I got the Medela Pump in Style Advanced.
So here's a few things to start with. First of all, the settings are confusing. It says turn on and it will switch to "let down" mode after a few minutes unless you know you let down already and then just flip it. WHAT THE?! As a three week mom I had no clue what this meant. I had not been "feeling a let down". Just let the pump do it's thing is what I learned. But but but (!!!) unlike breastfeeding where you push through the pain in the first days, just turn the pump's setting down a bit if it hurts. Also, this bag looks infinitely cleaner than mine, which despite BEING cleaned weekly has milk spots on it now. A sign of it being very well loved. But let's talk about how this working mom thing works, okay?
Pre-1. Before you go out on maternity leave, figure out where you will pump when you return and see if you can block some time to do so, about 20 minutes 3x/day if at all possible. After awhile I dropped to twice a day for 10 minutes.
1. Practice. I prepared before I went back to work. I practiced. I stashed milk. I had enough to get through three entire days of work before I went back. Let this be heard: As long as you stay about two days ahead (for the days you get stuck at work late and need extra), you will probably be fine. Also, practice giving baby a bottle. The world of BF pros will tell you not to give baby a bottle early in life as to not give babe nipple confusion, but I had six weeks- seriously I was nuts- so I had to introduce sooner than later. One of my SAHM friends actually gave a bottle by two weeks and her little dude is a nursing champ. Listen to your gut- and your baby.
2. Don't expect the first days to go well. The first day you go back to work and you are crying in your car on the way there, don't expect pumping to go easy or well. I got less milk than usual the first week back. I was stressed, I was tired. I learned quickly though, and settling into the routine took about two weeks or so. I did what people said too. I brought pictures of S (and my awesome work hung a framed one of her in the room along with the other babies of new mamas), I listened to music, I browsed the internet. I did not "concentrate" on pumping enough. Oh also, I felt horrible nausea the first month or so when I pumped. I think it was a mix of dehydration and hormones. It passed eventually. [Oh, by the way, some people swear by the hands free pumping bras but I just figured out a way to rig my own... so not worth the $$ to me]
3. But do arm yourself! Mother's milk tea (I downed this!), TONS of waterade (half water, half gatorade), granola bars. Fenugreek pills-6 per day if you do it right. Make sure to eat. Especially early on when I was pumping 3x/day, I had to majorly up my calories. I know ladies, sad face when you want to lose those baby lbs, but worth it if you are commited to bf (and I was/am). I have a huge cup at work and a CASE of granola bars in my car so I can grab one on my way in each morning.
4. Have the supplies you need. I thought I'd use those medela tubes to freeze milk, but they are bulky and harder to fit in the freezer. I quickly switched to milk freezer bags. I've used Medela, Nuk, and Lansinoh. To be honest, I don't think it matters and now buy what's on sale. Anything we've defrosted has been good, so I assume they all do their double duty (two ziplocks) job.
What else? Let's see I usually just pump directly into the medela bottles with the screw on caps. I carry a small cooler (that came with my pump), a freezer pack, and throw the bottles in there once I'm finished. Oh also I combine the two bottles from each pump. Easier to carry. And, I have two sets of pump parts as well. Totally helps for washing each every night and having a second set ready to go! I suggest just getting this Medela accessory kit, which gives you the extras you need PLUS the quick clean microwave bags I'll mention in my cleaning routine.
I have extra medela bottle caps, too.
There are a lot more "things" I have, but for actually taking to the office with me, the medela bottles and caps, the bags in case you need extra storage, and the little medela freezer bag are all I really stash in my pumping bag (oh and the food and water too).
5. Have an easy routine. In the early days, exhaustion followed me into the house. And usually the number one thing I did was nurse. But after that, I put away my milk. If I was going to use it the next day, I just popped the bottles into the fridge. Our nanny/mymom/Jamie was able to just take it out, and put the whole bottle in warm water to heat it. They just had to pour into the bottles when S was ready to eat.
If it was a Friday (or these days when I work part time) and the milk wouldn't be used for a few days, into the Lansinoh Freezer Milk Storage Bags it goes. I date the bags and put the number of ounces first. Then I open the bags and put the entire top of the medela bottle into it to pour so I don't lose any. Because let's be honest, this stuff is LIQUID GOLD. J and my mom can attest to the fact that if you spill it I become a fire breathing dragon with spikes on it that could take out a whole town. IT'S THAT IMPORTANT to me.
Bags go in the freezer, oldest in the front, newest in the back.
Once I store the milk, I clean my pump parts and the bottles. Like I said before, I highly recommend two sets of pump parts (besides the tubing, just one set of those). It makes life easier. So right after I put my milk away, I rinse my pump parts and bottles with water and dish soap (just rinse, not wash well).
Then I toss all the parts into a medela steam clean bag. Add two ounces of water, microwave 90 seconds. Pour out extra water. Done. On days when our dishwasher is about to be run, I chose the "heavy" cycle and throw the bottles in there on santize.
After they are done, I toss them onto our Boon Grass drying rack. I suggest getting the lawn actually, it's a lot bigger. But ours works for this age since we are doing less bottles than in the newborn days.
Since I have two sets of pump parts (this is the third time I'm saying this... totally worth it) I just leave these to try and grab the other set from the cabinet. I throw them,medela bottles,and caps in my pumping bag the night before.
In the morning, all I do is throw the ice pack and freezer pack into my bag. Voila. Sounds like a ton of work, but total this routine takes under 10 minutes (I can usually put S in her high chair while doing this. When she was younger I asked my mom or the nanny to stick around for "just 5 minutes" allll the time so I could do this).
6. Organization. We have an entire shelf in our cabinet for my breastfeeding/pumping stuff. It is now a little out of control that we have so many bottles, caps, pump parts, etc. But it makes life easy because I know where to find things and am never searching for them.
There's the bowl of caps. Next to it is a mini tupperware container that holds pacifiers. We barely ever give them to S anymore, but in the first few months, these were a total key player, so they got their own home. I reach up, grab what I need, and we are good to go.
7. A word on freezer storage. First of all, print this out. It's Kelly Mom's guidelines on breastmilk storage and is super helpful. I was given a magnet of this at thehospital too. So... we do a few things to ensure my milk stays frozen and good. Our freezer goes below zero- and I often set it below zero. Sure, it takes longer to defrost other foods-but my milk is solid. We have lost our power for 24 hours and not had a single bit of milk start to melt. So you can store at that temp for up to a year- but we've tried to stick to the 6 month rule since technically we do open and close the freezer for other things. We keep it in the back of the freezer and in a separate area from everything else.
That being said, last week I think J gave S some milk from May (oh hello, 7 month old milk) and it smelled fine, she ate it, and she is totally fine. I guess you can be flexible. I mean, at this point, it's either use it or lose it anyway I think.
8. Extra things- bottles and manual pumps. We see tommee tippee bottles. They are the only ones that S really likes. But our niece loved the Comotomo natural bottle. And a lot of our friends also like the Playtex Drop Ins. It's worth it to try a few if baby doesn't seem to like one.
Also, I highly recommend getting a manual pump. I bought this Medela Harmony. It saved my life many days at 2 am after nursing S and still being full. I'd pump a few more ounces and throw in the fridge quickly in order to bulk up my stash. It was also great for things like pumping while playing with the baby post work, or on days when we were in the car and I didn't want to lug my big pump but knew S may nap through nursing time on a drive and we could give her a bottle when she woke up. I even pumped at three weddings with my manual pump.
So here we are, two point five months away from the one-year goal we set for breastfeeding. To be honest, I love nursing S now. She cuddles and is sweet and wonderful. But if I could stop pumping tomorrow, I'd be the happiest woman on earth. So who knows what lies ahead for our nursing relationship, but for pumping...the countdown is on.
P.S. Thus far, if I estimate how much time I have spent pumping over the past year it adds up to about 6,000-7,000 minutes, or 100 hours. That's just pumping and not breastfeeding! That is about two and a half weeks of full time work to get to where we are. I'll give myself a pat on the back for that.
Difficult, stressful and challenging? Yes. Time consuming? YES. But did it get easier everyday? Also a big resounding yes. Did I sometimes enjoy a 10 minute quiet break in my day to check facebook? Yes. And all this to say, it was worth every.single.second for my little one. And some days, some days I think... it is possible to work and be a mom and breastfeed. Go me.
0 comments:
Post a Comment