Returning to Work While Breastfeeding – How to Keep Your Supply Up

So that I could go through those. And I saw ones that were duplicated and decided to pick those. So I've got. 10 really good, useful questions that we're going to go through and I'm going to give you my expert answer so that we can cover the topic of returning to work as a breastfeeding mom. So let's get started with question one.

How soon should I start pumping before returning to work? So, like many things, there is not a clear cut, black and white answer to this question. I would say it really depends on what your individual goals are when it comes to breastfeeding. If you're hoping to keep baby exclusively at the boob, for your first six weeks, let's say, then you probably don't want to start introducing pumping until after that.

So bottles are such a hot topic and we have so many companies spending like tens of thousands probably hundreds of thousands of dollars marketing a particular bottle for us moms and I hate to be the one to say this but I have clients who have babies who do Super awesome on the bottle that you can grab at the dollar general.

My own personal favorites, I would say, are definitely Dr. Brown's. I think those bottles work really, really well, the main reason being that they allow baby to get a lot of the nipple into their mouth, which is super duper important. Beyond that, I really like Thyseed. I think that's a great brand. I like, Phillips Avent.

I have a lot of clients who do really well with that one. And Momi is another bottle that I think is really cool. I've actually talked to their CEO because he's, somewhat local. The company's local to where I am in North Carolina. And I think they're all really great brands. I would say a lot of the times you might have to play around.

A lot of places online now sell combo packs so you can kind of try a lot of different bottles and see and you can get like three or four bottles in one set so that you don't have to really commit to a particular bottle until you see what it is your baby actually likes.

And clearly, That's not it. So it's very complicated. It's a very nuanced, multifaceted thing breast milk production is within our human bodies, which is super cool and also challenging. So I would say my best tips is supporting your nutrition, supporting your hydration, supporting your sleep, supporting your stress, and of course having frequent and effective milk removal, meaning that you're not going more than four hours between pumping sessions.

So we don't want to be. thinking, okay, we're going to pump every two hours and we're like a veterinary surgeon, which I have a client who is, and she can't pump every two hours. So we, in her case, we're like, we're going to pump every four hours and that's going to be realistic. And we're going to make hard stops and we're going to schedule and we're going to make everything make that work.

So making sure that, you know, what's realistic in your place of employment. And then working back from there is super duper helpful. And that's something I do with all of my clients when it comes to preparing for returning to work. Question 5. Are there any foods or drinks that can help boost my supply?

So short answer, no, I can't think of a specific food or drink, but does food and drink affect your supply? Heck yeah. So depending on your own unique nutrition goals and what you tolerate well, everyone's going to have a different answer.

Drinking tons of plain water, like a gym-bro, is not going to do you any good in terms of supporting your milk supply, because more than likely, it's just going to have you run into the bathroom every couple of minutes, and it's going to deplete your electrolytes and minerals within your body, which are super duper important.

So, hydrating with mineral rich liquids, water with electrolyte powder in it, I really love Redmond's Relight, that's my favorite, and I have tried, like, All of them. If you name one, I'm sure I've tried it. That's my favorite one. As nice, generous to your taste. A sprinkle of good quality sea salt in your water can be good if you don't think that's gross.

Personally, I like that a lot. I have a lot of clients who really enjoy that. Drinking mineral rich liquids like, fruit juices, coconut water, bone broth, all of those things are really, really awesome for supporting your hydration levels. From there, nutrition is super important. Eating enough. Now is not the time to be eating the amount of calories that your three year old needs.

So, yeah, you need a lot of calories. Making sure that you're getting a enough. Dietary fat. That's my number one thing that I see mom. Mama's struggle with is not having enough dietary fat. Our dietary fat, especially dietary fat coming from animal sources gives us enough cholesterol to build all the hormones that are so necessary to our ability to produce enough milk.

Beyond fat, protein is also super important. Bioavailable protein is really important and for most people, that's gonna come from animal products. I do have clients who are vegetarian or who don't eat beef or chicken for one reason or another. So don't fret if you're someone like that. Just make sure that you're eating enough bioavailable protein for your body size.

Obviously, we're not purists around here. I'm just talking about like if you're framing it from an optimal place. We want to be eating plenty of whole food based carbs. Things like fruit, root vegetables, whatever grains that work well for your body. , and eating enough of them. We want to make sure that we're enjoying eating also because we're going to digest our food a lot better.

when we're in a place of rest and digest. That's why we learned that back in like, middle school biology, because that's the type of state you want to be in. Enjoying your meals in a low stress as possible environment is so, so helpful for your supply, believe it or not.

I have a lot of moms who, they're using one bra at home and then when they return to work, they're using an entirely different bra. And if you haven't practiced with it at home, sometimes you can feel a little out of whack. So I would definitely suggest making sure that your pump fits well, both on your nipples and within whatever garment you're wearing at work.

That's super duper important. As far as environment goes, I would say try to create as relaxing of an environment as you can. So let's cut the lights down, let's make sure it's not freezing, let's have some cozy socks or a blanket, let's have a snack beforehand, let's take some nice deep cleansing breaths before we sit down to pump, have a picture of baby on hand.

That means a place to remove your milk. That's not the toilet No one should be hiding in the bathroom. It's all pumping unless that's like what you want to do If you want to pump in the bathroom That's fine. But your employer should allow you a space that is not the bathroom. So if you work in a place where you decide to pump in the bathroom, I have some teachers who they actually they're like, I'm going to pump in the staff toilet because it's the best place because there's people everywhere else.

So no shade there, but your employer definitely needs to accommodate you with a private place That's not the bathroom to remove your milk And they also need to accommodate you with reasonable breaks to do so and a place to store your milk so that's not really something that you should have to worry about because your employer should be making sure your workspace is friendly to lactating mamas.

So, if you ever have an issue, call the Labor Department of your city or county and or get in touch with me. I would be happy to help you navigate that. Question eight. How can I handle the emotional challenges of being away from my baby? So that is like the question of a lifetime, right?

It is so difficult to give you a straight answer that's going to make you feel better. Leaving your baby is probably going to be hard. I have some clients and they're like ecstatic to get back to work, but that is the rare bird and most of us are pretty devastated to leave our babies and get back to work, even if we love what we do.

school so that I could hopefully provide for us a good life, where I would be able to take good care of him and have a career that I liked and all those things. And had I let myself buy into all that guilt and shame around being separate from your baby to pursue education or career, we wouldn't be where we are now.

And I can say for certain, a hundred percent, without a doubt, my son would not be the person that he is and he would not have had all the opportunities that he ended up having because of my willingness to put him in daycare so that I could pursue a better life for the both of us. So just remember that it might be hard.

But it's worth it in most cases to pursue your dreams or return to your career or pursue education, whatever it is. And for those of you who are not happy about returning to work, that's valid. If you're like, I would much rather just be at home. I don't care. Like, screw this career. I don't, I don't even care about it that much.

No matter what, you are doing a damn good job and your baby is lucky to have you. So just keep your head up and know that this too shall pass and you are doing a great job. Question nine. What are some tips for building a freezer stash before returning to work? So, I'm sorry, but I'm just going to say this this way.

Work with me. I have so many moms who come to me in this weird space where they've, been following TikTok, recommendations or they've been doing this, that, and the third and they're all out of whack. Work with someone like me who understands how to help you effectively build a realistic and reasonable freezer stash for your breastfeeding goals.

So, I work with my clients to develop a reasonable plan based on their goals, what it is they're hoping to accomplish, when it is they're returning to work, what it is they do for work, all these different things. And it is so important for that to be nuanced and dialed in to your specific goals and situation.

So, sorry I don't have a very direct, like, broad answer. But it is super important to not mess around with your milk supply, especially in the beginning. It's super important to not buy into this, like, dairy cow esque, like, massive chest freezer full of milk.

Like, most women do not need that. You don't need that. And if it's what you produce naturally, that that's awesome. You're the type of mama who kept everyone else's babies alive when they didn't produce milk because you are naturally an overproducer. That's fantastic. That is a blessing. But we don't all need to be working towards that because we saw it on social media.

We want to make sure we're feeling comfortable with who our baby's going to be with. And that they seem like they're good with children, that they're safe. All of those things, obviously. From there, I would say making sure that baby knows how to drink from the bottle that you're going to send them to daycare with is key.

obviously of utmost importance. Practicing with that bottle before baby returns to work, making sure that they're fluent with it, that they're comfortable with it, that they take it well, super duper important. From there, I would say, understanding the feeding protocols, schedule, procedures, et cetera, of your child's, childcare center is also really important.

So I'd imagine that they've. even gotten more so. So, and all the clients that I've worked with, everyone seems to be really hip to breastfeeding babies and how to handle breast milk and the storage rules and all of those things. Because the last thing we want is to show up at daycare and them have like poured out an extra bottle because they were thinking about it like formula and all that stuff.

We don't want any of those things happening. So, making sure that they understand how to handle breast milk and breastfed babies, super duper important. From there, I would say, if you are going to continue to feed out the boob, which many moms totally do, completely doable to have baby on bottle and boob, for you to work, and have a career, go to school, what have you, and still be able to latch your baby at home, we want to make sure that we are latching baby frequently, like right when they get home with us, assuming, you know, schedules permitting, latching baby before we head off, to our work day and send them to daycare.

So it's really great to get into your own unique goals, understand your unique history, what, experiences you've had in terms of your supply, any considerations with your metabolic health, your hormonal health, any stress concerns, the environment that you're going to be returning to work in.

Because I have some moms who they're. an artist, let's say, and they work from home, and baby's gonna be home, and they'll have a nanny a few hours a week, and then I have other moms who, they're a, forklift operator, and they're gonna be out in a warehouse, and moving heavy machinery in a loud environment, and surrounded by dudes, and so their, their considerations are different, or I have yet another mom who's like a cardiac surgeon, and so she knows that she's gonna be in surgery.

And some moms that's exclusively breast milk, some moms it's breast milk and formula. And some moms it's donor milk and their breast milk. It really is all completely unique to you and what your goals are and that is my biggest Focus within my practice is to provide you the support that is unique to you So I hope you really enjoyed this episode. It has been so great to chat about this with you.