Breastfeeding and working

You don’t have to wean your baby early just because you’re going back to work. In fact this is a very good reason to carry on breastfeeding. Your baby will miss you when you aren’t there and breastfeeding will satisfy her need to be close to you. However, a certain amount of organisation is called for. It is important to tell your employer early on that you intend to carry on breastfeeding. Ask whether it will be possible to breastfeed at your workplace or to leave the workplace in order to breastfeed or whether you can work from home or express breast milk at your workplace.

If you want to express breast milk it is useful to start with pumping three weeks before you go back to work so that you can build up a small store of milk. You can hire or buy a pump. The Ardo Calypso-To-Go is a very quiet breastpump that you can use at your workplace; it also allows cooled storage and safe transport of the breast milk back home.

If you have difficulty expressing enough breast milk, try arranging your morning feeds so that you breastfeed on one side and pump from the other side at the same time.
The baby needs time to get used to the bottle; this may take several attempts. A baby often drinks better if she is given the bottle by her father, a babysitter or a grandparent.
Breastfeed your baby before you leave the house even if it is not her usual feed time.
Be careful to wear clothes that allow you to pump discreetly.
You should plan to allow about 30 minutes for getting the pump ready, expressing and then cleaning the pumpsets.
For mums who have been breastfeeding exclusively it is sensible to pump every 3 to 4 hours to maintain milk production. The frequency of pumping falls off after other foods have been introduced at around 6 months.
During the night and on days when you don’t go to work you can carry on breastfeeding your baby when she’s hungry.

Breastfeeding and leisure time

Being a mum is a 24-hour job but try to find time for yourself as well. For your own well-being, and your baby’s too, finding time for yourself, short rests and regular leisure activities are hugely important. If you have a store of expressed milk you can be sure that your baby will still be getting breast milk even when you’re out, perhaps from her dad.