Breastfeeding when you're Returning to Work

One of our members has written in to ask for some advice in preparing for her return to work next week. At the moment her baby is 9 months old, and she will be returning to work 2 days a week. Although her employer is supportive of breastfeeding, there are no available room for expressing in. Our resident lactation consultant, Katie James, IBCLC, has given us some great advice in our expert interview.

How to prepare for returning to work

There are a number of things you can do to make it easier for yourself when you return to work.

1. Communicate your needs with your employer

All women in Australia have the right to nurse their baby or express for their baby at work. It is your employer’s role to provide this for you; however you will need to help them understand what your requirements are.

We recommend that 1 – 2 months prior to returning to work, when you confirm with your employer or HR representative about when you will be returning to work, you also communicate your requirements for breastfeeding or expressing. This will help ensure both you and your employer will be prepared and on board.

The information to include might be:

• How often and how long you need to express (e.g. 2 times a day for approximately 20 minutes each)
• What kind of space you need (e.g. a private room with a lockable door, or some mechanism to prevent anyone walking in)
• Storage requirements (e.g. if you need storage space in the fridge, or a separate fridge, or that you will bring your own cool bag and you don’t need a fridge)
• Follow this up with a phone call or meeting to discuss with your employer closer to your start date.

2. Organising a private lockable space for pumping your milk

In this particular instance, our member has told us that although the employer is supportive of breastfeeding, there simply aren’t any rooms available except for the toilets. It is worth noting that you don’t have to have a dedicated room for expressing. It could simply be a meeting room or spare office that is booked for you for your pumping times (e.g. 10am and 2pm for 20 minutes each). A toilet obviously is not an ideal place to nurse, however when you’ve established a good milk supply, your body will go on producing that amount of milk, even when you’re at work.

So when you normally would feed, your breasts are expecting you to feed and may become quite full and uncomfortable. You may then need to express your milk for your own comfort, particularly if you have a long day at work. This is also dependent on how old your baby is when you return to work. If they are 3 months and fully dependent on breast milk, or they could be 9 months when only half of the baby’s intake is breast milk, or much later at 18 months or 2 years when your milk supply is much easier to manipulate, and baby isn’t solely reliant on breast milk.

3.The ins and outs of pumping for work days

Hand Expressing vs using a Breast Pump

You may not need to buy a breast pump. Some women find that hand expressing is very efficient, and have no need for a breast pump. Other women find it difficult to express without a pump. You will need to experiment and trial a few different methods to find out what works for you. Some other tips for pumping are here. 

Single vs double pump

There are many different types of breast pumps available on the market. The first decision you will need to make is whether you need a single or double pump. The research has found that double pumps stimulate your let downs much more efficiently, and you will be able to express 80% of your milk in 8 to 10 minutes, on average, which is much quicker. Research has also shown that milk produced with a double pump has more nutrients. So if you’re going to be pumping a lot, a double pump will probably be worth the investment.

If you’re not planning to pump very often, and time isn’t an issue, then a single pump may be sufficient.

Different breast pumps – which one to choose?

When deciding on a pump, make sure you talk to someone about how often you are planning to use it as pumps all have very different motors. Some pumps are designed for occasional use and will last for only 6 to 12 months, while others are designed for daily use, and still others are designed for 6 to 12 uses a day and will last for a very long time. This is usually the reason for the differences in price.

When should I express?

If you have time before starting work, ideally a month before, then we recommend pumping every now and again to get used to the pump, and also to build up a stash of milk in your freezer. We have some storage guidelines here. This will help reduce your stress about having milk for your baby when you’re away, and gives you an opportunity to get used to expressing and storing breast milk. If you’re expressing every now and again in preparation for returning to work, you may find mornings are best for expressing, as that is usually when your milk is most abundant.

Then once you start work, you will probably notice you breasts filling up at those times when you would normally nurse your baby, so express at those times. On your work days then you would nurse before work, express at the times you would normally nurse your baby while you’re at work (and store this milk for future work days), and then nurse your baby when you get home.

We don’t recommend regularly pumping including your days off as this may result in an increased milk supply as your body interprets the extra expressing sessions as a request for more milk.

4. Beware duct blockages and mastitis!

If you are breastfeeding normally on the days you’re not at work, and then not expressing at work, you may be at risk for blocked ducts which may lead to mastitis. Ideally you will take off some milk and do an expression, even if it has to be in the toilet, to help avoid this situation.

Signs of early mastitis are often a red pink area on your breast, or an area that feels quite tender. You might even be able to feel the blockage, you might feel a pea sized lump or bigger. If it’s developing further you may start to feel quite unwell, or experience flu like symptoms. In this case you need to immediately seek medical help from GP, maternal child health nurse, lactation consultant or similar.

Don’t stop breastfeeding, as draining your breasts is the key part of the treatment for blocked ducts and mastitis. For more information on Mastitis including signs, symptoms and treatment, please read this blog.

5. Your baby is very adaptable!

When you return to work, you may find your baby starts reverse cycling. This is where your baby forgoes feeding during the day, and makes up for it at night. Babies are very adaptable, and some babies have a very strong preference to take their milk straight from the source so to speak! Of course, breastfeeding isn’t just about the milk, it’s also about cuddles, love, comfort and bonding so it makes sense that your baby wants to wait for you!

Some babies will eat solids as normal while you’re at work, and not take much milk from a bottle. We have some tips for introducing your baby to a bottle here. They will wait until you get home and then will want to feed in the evening and perhaps one or two times through the night. It’s their way of saying “I’ve missed you mum!”

Many mums enjoy the extra snuggle time and the extra feeds through the evening because they’ve missed their babies. Many mums may find that they really enjoy being back at work with their colleagues, but they’ve really missed their babies! If this is becoming a problem for you, there are several options including bed sharing to help you nurse through the night but still getting enough sleep, or you can also look at suggested methods of helping babies to sleep or be calm without breastfeeding. From personal experience, it may also be good to avoid looking at the time during the night as you may feel more stressed about night time nursing if you can see what the time is!

You might also enjoy:

Work clothes you can breastfeed in>

Lactation Cookies & Breastfeeding Tea>