While on maternity leave, try to get a stash of milk in the freezer to draw from when you return to work.
Take as much time as possible for maternity leave.
Don’t think about preparing for return to work for at least 3 weeks.
Rest, recover and rally your troops. They’ll feed you, while you feed your baby!
Know your lawful employee rights. Negotiate for an altered return to work or school schedule so you can adjust. Find a comfortable private space at work and negotiate a pumping schedule once you know your milk production patterns.
Upon return to work, you will ideally pump enough milk at work today to satisfy your baby's needs while at daycare tomorrow. Click here to learn pumping skills.
While on maternity leave, try to build a stash of frozen milk, so that if you fail to pump enough milk today at work, you can draw from your freezer stash for daycare tomorrow. You’ll also need milk for the first day at daycare.
NOTE: Many moms produce “just enough” milk for their baby, so they can’t get ahead enough to stash milk in the freezer. Moms with a huge milk stash love to talk about it – but rest assured, there are just as many moms without a stash -- they just don’t mention it.
Ideally, you can exclusively breastfeed your baby for the first 3 weeks, and you won't need to pump or supplement. By 3 weeks, your milk supply is likely well established, so you can start building your frozen breastmilk stash.
The morning is the best time to pump extra milk, because your breasts are at their fullest. While you slept, extra energy made milk. So, after the first morning nursing session, pump both breasts until they're empty. Make sure your baby is completely fed (and full), before you feed the freezer ! Removing this extra milk might increase your supply, so you can keep freezing more milk until you return to work.
Introduce a bottle by 3-4 weeks
Three weeks is also a great time to start offering a practice bottle on a regular basis, perhaps once per week or daily. Whenever your baby drinks from a bottle, you will need to pump, to keep supply and demand in check. Learn about paced bottle feeding so your baby will be happy to return to breastfeeding after bottles.Note: If you are an over-producer, review the abundant milk supply article. In this case, you will pump a few ounces off before you nurse in the morning. This removes the skim foremilk, so that your baby gets a breakfast of all creamy hind milk.
Kay Anderson MD, IBCLC
5/23