Many women find ways to combine breast feeding and return to work.
Maintaining a breastfeeding routine throughout the process of returning to work, may facilitate the process of the expected change for your baby and for yourself emotionally as well as physically. Furthermore, breastfeeding prolongs the protection of baby, infant and mother’s health as long as it continues.
A baby/infant who stays in a daycare is considerably exposed to other children’s illnesses. He needs your milk and owing to it he will be more resistant to diseases.
Another significant fact – parents to nursing babies/infants miss less work days, and thus the baby, the family and the organization, all as one benefit.
With this concept in mind, many organizations throughout the world invest parts of their resources in creating a workplace friendly to the breastfeeding family.
Preliminary arrangement
- Talk with your employer regarding your intention to pump milk during work time.
- Explain your needs for privacy, for flexible work hours and for gradual progression as much as possible.
- It is advisable to begin the first day of work close to the weekend (on Wednesday or Thursday).
- You could consider working part time or combining work from home.
- As much as possible, it is recommended to enable a free work day in the middle of the week.
b. Getting organized at home
- Start pumping at least two three weeks before going back to work in order to get used to and to practice the pumping process and to collect the initial stock of milk.
- Make up your mind about the type of pump/pumping method: manual expressing/ manual pump/electric pump. An electric double pump can shorten the pumping time and make it more efficient.
- It is recommended to find a nanny or a friendly daycare that encourages and supports your purposes.
- You could suggest to the nanny to come with the baby for the breastfeeding or to go out for the breastfeeding if the daycare/nanny are nearby.
- It is well worth to consider finding a daycare which is close to the mother’s place of work rather than to the home, in order for the separation time to be shorter and to enable “quick visits”.
- Two three weeks prior to your return to work start offering your baby the bottle/cup (10 ml out of the pumped one-day supply will suffice) in order to get it used to the alternative feeding.
- It is highly advisable that the alternative feeding not be carried out by the mother.
It is to be expected of the baby to show some resistance to alternative feeding. Be tolerant of this normal adaptation process. Every baby has a different adaptation rhythm. Respect the refusal. Avoid pushing the bottle nipple into its mouth against its will and try again gently the next day.
Optimal conditions for pumping at the work place
- Find a quiet place (not in the toilet) that enables privacy, in which there are a comfortable chair and table, electrical socket, wash basin and running water, soap and paper towel for wiping your hands.
- Maintain the pumping process hygiene – especially at the work place.
- You should make sure a refrigerator is available there, and if this is not the case, you could use a cooler with dry ice.
How to pump and store milk at the work place?
- On the morning of the work day nurse your baby and try to pump the remaining supply. The remaining supply is the largest one of the day.
- The number of times you pump during the work day depends on the baby’s age, the frequency in which he sucks and in your ability to take time to pump. The more the baby grows – the lesser the frequency.
- In order to stimulate the secretion of the milk (which is sometimes suspended when mother and baby are separated) you could, before and during the pumping, massage the breasts and the nipples, shake the breasts, drink a hot beverage, imagine or look at the baby’s picture or to smell one of its used garments.
- The pumping at work may last 10-15 minutes. A double pump can be of great help to you.
- Pump the milk into clean glass or plastic containers, or into sealable bags made especially for storing mother milk.
- Write the pumping date on a sticker and fasten to the container or to the bag. This will make it easier for you to use the milk chronologically.
How to handle pumping and breastfeeding during a long working day:
- Morning breastfeeding
- Pumping for a few minutes before going to work
- Late morning pumping
- Noontime pumping
- Early afternoon pumping
- Breastfeeding on arriving at the daycare
- “Around the clock” breastfeeding until the morning
Weekends and holidays
On weekends and holidays it is possible and recommended to return to the normal nursing routine according to the baby’s demands and the Ministry of Health guidelines regarding serving solid foods, and to leave the pumping for working days only.
However, every single pumping that is added to the nursing routine in the course of these days will “enlarge” even more your milk supply for next week.
Methods of serving the pumped milk
Oftentimes the baby continues to cry and does not feel satisfied after a full meal of mother’s milk. The parents tend to think that there was not enough milk, but in fact, the reason for crying is that the milk flow from the bottle is too fast in contrast with the slower more measured flow of breastfeeding, which makes it easier to feel satisfied from an equal amount of milk.
In order to help in preventing these common situations, following are guidelines for encouraging feeding in a controlled and measured pace:
- Use a bottle nipple with the slowest flow that is available on the market, or feed from a cup;
- Slow and controlled feeding – you can pause the feeding once every five gulps and also take breaks during the feeding similar to the break between feeding from one side and the other.
- Move the baby up and feed it in a “semi sitting” position;
- Position the bottle horizontally (so that the bottle is “parallel” to the floor) and encourage active eating (to prevent fast flow).
How much pumped mother milk should be planned for one meal?
Controlled and slow feeding enables the baby to eat the amount it really needs. In this way the following formula will roughly express the amount needed for a meal:
150 ml X baby’s present body weight (in kg) divided by the number of meals (breast-feedings + feedings) per day.
This formula is appropriate for healthy, normal weight, full-term born children.
What should be expected of the behavior of a nursing baby that is separated from its mother?
The baby is expected to express its feelings towards the return to work process – in which partial separation from the mother takes place – by expressions of protest or sorrow. Empathy to and inclusion of these expressions will help decrease their intensity or their duration.
- There are babies who demonstrate a behavior that may ostensibly look like “regression” or temporary arrest of their development.
- There are those who cry or refuse to be breastfed when the mother returns home and wishes to breastfeed them. This does not necessarily show anger. It may well be that the baby is trying in its own way to “tell” you about the way he passed his day in your absence.
- There are babies who wish to cling and to suck more frequently in order to compensate themselves for the “lost time” during the night as well.
- It is important to remember that these reactions are understandable, expected and are evidence of a normal relation – and they are only temporary.
Tips for helping the working mother and the baby
- Upon your arrival at the daycare/nanny at the end of your work – nurse him first at the daycare. This will shorten the separation time. Thus you will also expose yourself to the daycare bacteria and your body will produce antibodies against them, with which you will immunize your baby by means of your milk.
- You can enclose a mother’s garment in the baby’s bag you bring to the daycare/nanny, so that he can smell it during feeding at the daycare or at the nanny’s.
- Find over the internet a support group for lactating mothers who have returned to work.
