So your maternity leave is almost over. You want to continuously breastfeed your baby though you are working. You know that you can pump at work. But how to prepare then? Today I will share with you how I prepare for it.

Just to give you a background, I do not have a lot of milk. My baby is not exclusively breastfed. He’s mixed fed with few servings of formula milk and mostly breastmilk. I have a very low milk supply so as much as I want to exclusively breatfeedmy baby, I cannot. But I’m not giving up. I’m giving my baby all breastmilks that I can squeeze out of my body!  I don’t totally surrender to giving him formula. I believe it’s better to give him, all breastmilks I can and so far, thanks to God, he’s 4 months now and was never sick.

So going back to preparation here it is. Start 2 to 4 weeks before you return to work. That way you can build up your milk stack and practice your pumping routine at home.

1. Purchase your pumping gear. Your pump, bottle to store milk, ice pack and thermal bag, and milkbag for storing frozen milk. If possible, purchase two sets so you always have a back up.

2. Build your milk stack. 2 to 4 weeks before going back to work, pump at least once a day. It’s okay if you have a very low output. Even if it’s just 1oz a day, in two weeks time, that’s 14oz! That’s enough milk to leave for your baby for a day or two. Build as much as you can. For me, I was able to build 16oz on my fridge contained in a milk bag at 2oz each.

3. Freeze your milk in a milkbag separated per servings, like 2oz each. That way, you will only thaw what you need avoiding spoilage. What I did is I would keep the first 1oz on the chiller and wait until I have the next 1oz of the following day. When both are cool, at same temperature, that’s the time I will combine them and put it in the freezer.

4. Train your baby to bottle feed. If possible, wait until your baby is one month old before you introduce the bottle. Try to feed him one bottle a day. If he refuse, stop. Then try it again next day, if he refuse, try to insist a little bit then stop. Next try again and prolong to insist the bottle. Eventually he will adapt. But make sure that bottle’s nipple is the one for newborns, slow flow and requires sucking. This way he will not prefer bottle over your breast.

5. Have a dry run at home. 1 week before returning to work. Practice your routine at home. This mean you will stop breastfeeding your baby during your office hours and pump the same time you would pump at the office. This way, you would get comfortable pumping and will be able to anticipate possible problems and resolve it before actually returning to work. This has been a difficult part for me. When I partially weaned him from breastfeeding, my baby would cry a lot since he get used to breastfeed before he naps. But this is necessary, eventually he adapts to our new routine.

So there. Hope this tips. Helps.  Feel free to leave me a comment for your inquiries. God bless moms!