Pumping and Working

Every mom wants the best for their child, and breast milk is the best nutrition you can give your baby. However for a working mother, direct breastfeeding is not possible all the time. It's a challenged to continue to give you child breast milk even when you're away from him/her! Well breastfeeding is a huge challenged all and all, you need dedication and support from the people around you.

Among the challenges your going to face are;

Investing on a good Breast Pump. You can hand express as well and save you a couple of hundred bucks. But since you're probably tired because of all the work and chores, plus the lack of sleep, you might want to save all the extra energy by getting an electric breast pump. Saves you time and energy. I suggest you get the double pump to cut your pumping time in half. You might think that hospital grade pumps are expensive, but if you actually sum up all the expenses you'll incur if your going to give your baby formula, you'll find out that it's actually a good investment.

Proper Storage of Milk. Your milk will eat space on your fridge or freezer. Your milk container can be hard-sided plastics or glass container with tight fitting lids, disposable milk liners or bpa free bottles. I personally place my days worth of expressed milk on plastic milk containers (containing 2-3 oz of milk per container) and place them on a zip lock to avoid getting the sometimes off smell of my freezer. Here's a guideline on how long you can store your milk.

• at room temperature (66-72°F, 19-22°C) for up to 10 hours
• in a refrigerator (32-39°F, 0-4°C) for up to 8 days
  Store in the back of the refrigerator, not in the door.
• in a freezer compartment inside a refrigerator (variable temperature due to the door opening frequently) for up to 2 weeks
• in a freezer compartment with a separate door (variable temperature due to the door opening frequently) for up to 3 to 4 months.
• in a separate deep freeze (0°F, -19°C) for up to 6 months or longer.

Keeping your your milk supply up. Breast milk follows the law of supply and demand, so the keep up your milk supply you have to pump every 3-4 hours to simulates your baby's feeding time and directly nurse your baby whenever possible. It would also help to take supplements to up your milk supply.

Pumping at the work place. You may have to make some arrangements with your employer, because you need some things and support to be successful in pumping and working. You'll need a private space where you can pump, inside the bathroom is not acceptable. You'll need a refrigerator to place you milk while your still at the office, else you will have to bring with you a cooler. You'll need to take a break every 3 hours or so to express milk to keep up your supply. Talk to your employer and explain to them the benefits for both you, your baby and your work if you continue to provide breast milk for your baby...