Des Moines Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
I need help from moms who BF/pump
I will be returning to work at the beginning of May to finish out the school year (4 weeks). I will then be off for the summer and return to work in August. This was a similar setup to what I had after maternity leave with Ella. I plan to pump at work but because of my schedule as a teacher I will only be able to pump once a day but am guessing I will probably be missing 3 feedings of Brody's (7 AM-4 PM). I am trying to estimate how many oz he will be taking a day at that time (3 months old) so that I can figure out how big of a freezer stash I will need. If history repeats itself, I will only get 5-6 oz max when pumping at school each day. I am guessing he will maybe eat 3-4 oz 3 times while he is at daycare- does that sound right? So if I err on the high side that could be up to 12 oz a day that he will need and I will only be pumping half of that. So for 20 days of daycare does 120 oz of frozen milk or so sound like it will be enough? (20 days x 6 oz that I won't pump at work) It is hard to find time to pump right now with two little ones needing my attention so I really just want to have enough for what I need for those four weeks back at work. I don't anticipate needing any frozen milk when I am off for the summer and plan to wean before I go back in August. Any thoughts?
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Re: I need help from moms who BF/pump
If he is sleeping longer at night now (and you are up for it), can you wake up to pump. I did this a few times before I went back to build a stash.
Also, pump after you feed him in the morning. I thought I would only be able to pump once a day at work (I teach, too), but was able to sneak in three sessions. Here's what I did: right when I got to school, I pumped for 5-10 minutes... this would get me 2-3 oz, then I pumped (or went to nurse him) at lunch and right after school (this was the most I got- 4 to 5 oz). Not sure if this is possible for you, but just thought I would throw it out there.
Good luck. Pumping is HARD work!
I also stressed about how much I needed to freeze before I went back to work with DD2. The best thing I ever did was rent the baby scale from Mercy Lactation Boutique. I think it was approx $20 for a weekly rental. For 3 or 4 days, I would weigh DD right before and then right after on the scale for most of her daily feedings. I wrote down the times and amounts for those few days so I knew pretty much what she would need.
As far as pumping extra, I would pump an hour after her first mid-morning feeding. For her, she would nurse at 6 and then again at 9. Then she usually went down for a morning nap around 10 so that's when I would pump while she was in the swing.
For us, we kept DD1 in daycare while I was home with DD2 (trying to keep her schedule as consistent as possible) so I wasn't trying to juggle her activities while I was pumping. Since you'll have the older LO home with you while you're pumping, maybe make a routine of it being color time for her, or even story time. With a good hands free bra, you can read and/or color with her while you pump.
It's hard to say how much he will take. Maya never took more than 4-5oz from a bottle at any age. Cameron started taking 6oz between 3-4 months old and still is.
It's so hard to pump with 2 kids around. With Maya I was really good about pumping after every morning nursing session to build a stash. I had a good amount when I went back to work. I also pumped every night before I went to bed. The combination gave us enough of a stash to make it to 1 year. It's been SO much harder this time. I didn't pump much on maternity leave because I was scrambling to get Maya ready for school and before I knew it, it was time for him to eat again so I rarely got that pumping session in. And pumping before bed? Yeah, I'm just too tired for that!
Good luck!