First day back after mat leave

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I'm back in the office after my 12 weeks off snuggling my baby and changing a million diapers! Surprisingly, it's not that bad! I've been busy but not annoyingly so. Even found some time to pump.

One little thing so far... As I walked in this morning, the front desk lady says, "there's a student nurse waiting for you outside your office." Apparently my long-term sub scheduled me a student nurse for the day I return. Nope. I rescheduled with her for another day and sent her home lol.

Specializes in kids.

Welcome back!!

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Welcome Back! I came back from Maternity leave in November and found it to be a fairly smooth transition. Make sure your admin knows your rights in regards to pumping! I sent an email prior to return outlining what I needed from my school and they have been wonderful. I scheduled two 30 minute "breaks" for myself and then emailed all staff letting them know my office would be closed during that timeframe. I leave my office all together but have a walkie talkie in case of emergencies. Since I don't typically take a break at all it has been nice to have that "me time". Hope all continues to go smooth!

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The transition was super smooth for the first day. My sub nurse really did an awesome job!

I'm not sure how I am going to handle pumping... at home I would BF at 8, 11 and 2 (during school hours) - which are incredibly bad times to try to pump at school - first bell, lunch, and almost end-of-day. Yesterday I just locked my office and pumped around 11:30 and again at 2:30. I pumped about what I would have fed by breast, so that's good. My problem is that I take a long time to pump/nurse, so it was a balance between not being unavailable for too long and making sure i have enough food for my baby. I'm not anti-formula, but I'd be upset if my milk production decreased due to my job schedule.

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57 minutes ago, jnemartin said:

The transition was super smooth for the first day. My sub nurse really did an awesome job!

I'm not sure how I am going to handle pumping... at home I would BF at 8, 11 and 2 (during school hours) - which are incredibly bad times to try to pump at school - first bell, lunch, and almost end-of-day. Yesterday I just locked my office and pumped around 11:30 and again at 2:30. I pumped about what I would have fed by breast, so that's good. My problem is that I take a long time to pump/nurse, so it was a balance between not being unavailable for too long and making sure i have enough food for my baby. I'm not anti-formula, but I'd be upset if my milk production decreased due to my job schedule.

I hear you-finding the right "times" was certainly tricky but I just worked around when I typically see daily meds and diabetics. My pump times at work don't 100% match my feeding times at home but I have found that with those 2 pump sessions I do produce what my little guy consumes while he is away from me during the day. I'm not anti-formula either but it was/is really important for me that my baby is getting all my antibodies during this especially brutal illness season!

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Specializes in medsurg/school nurse.
On 1/28/2020 at 11:41 AM, jnemartin said:

The transition was super smooth for the first day. My sub nurse really did an awesome job!

I'm not sure how I am going to handle pumping... at home I would BF at 8, 11 and 2 (during school hours) - which are incredibly bad times to try to pump at school - first bell, lunch, and almost end-of-day. Yesterday I just locked my office and pumped around 11:30 and again at 2:30. I pumped about what I would have fed by breast, so that's good. My problem is that I take a long time to pump/nurse, so it was a balance between not being unavailable for too long and making sure i have enough food for my baby. I'm not anti-formula, but I'd be upset if my milk production decreased due to my job schedule.

even if you can't pump at those exact times just shoot for pumping as many times as your baby would feed and squeeze it in however you can.

breastfed my babes when I worked med surg and I would pump before my shift started and 2-3 during a 12hr shift and then sometimes if baby couldn't wait to feed until i got home i would pump again to make up for that feeding as well. my first babe i worked nights so it was a bit easier to manage since he didn't feed as much at night. second babe I worked dayshift and I had a much harder time but somehow it all worked. hopefully you have someone who is understanding and can cover non emergencies and non scheduled things while you are taking your pump breaks. having a freezer stash helped reduce my stress about not pumping enough a little. I knew I had backup if things got crazy busy but I still made it a priority to take my breaks. like you if it came to formula my baby being fed was most important but it was also very important to me to try to make it work.

have you seen the freemie? seems super discreet and might make life easier. no idea about cost.

Good Luck!

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I pumped the first couple of months into the school year (granted, my daughter was 9 months at the time, so she ate less frequently -- I pumped x2 a day). I just made it very clear with my office staff and administrators that I would need designated breaks during the day. I posted a schedule on my door of my break times and when it came time, I would shut the blinds and lock the door. They knew they could call me on my desk phone in case of an emergency and I would answer, but they were usually pretty good about leaving me be and handling things. I also purchased the Willow pump through my insurance which made things so much easier in regards to hands-free (so I could still get paperwork done while I pumped) and clean-up (there's only 2 parts). IF you can get one, I would highly recommend it!

Congratulations on your new bundle of joy and welcome back! ?

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Can you pick two times but pump longer and see if you can get an extra let-down? I was the WORST pumper- like I would pump for 30 minutes and get a TOTAL of 2 ounces (not per side but total). I saw a LC and she recommended trying 45 minutes for an extra let down and it def helped. She also told me I was using the wrong size phlanges on my pump (I had the Medela PIS). Changing that helped me get a bit more as well- and finally making sure I was really diligent about drinking my fluids. Oh- and for building up the stash- if you can do a pump after she goes to bed as close to bedtime for you as possible for a little extra.

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thank you guys for the tips! during mat leave i started subbing late night feedings with formula, and i was worried that coming back to work would just be too much to keep the milk supply up, given that I had already started subbing out 1-2 feedings with formula. Since Monday, I'm already seeing a dip (but also stress and adjustment, etc), so I'm going to try all the tips. I can't go back to BF/pumping in the middle of the night, it's way too stressful.

also - i did have quite a stash that I accumulated when she was really little. but then she had trouble growing (technically FTT!), so ped said I would have to BF and "top her off" with pumped milk or formula. so i ran through my backup supply and also probably dinged my production while i was at it... but it is what it is. She's a fat little butterball now.

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Specializes in OB.
18 hours ago, jnemartin said:

thank you guys for the tips! during mat leave i started subbing late night feedings with formula, and i was worried that coming back to work would just be too much to keep the milk supply up, given that I had already started subbing out 1-2 feedings with formula. Since Monday, I'm already seeing a dip (but also stress and adjustment, etc), so I'm going to try all the tips. I can't go back to BF/pumping in the middle of the night, it's way too stressful.

also - i did have quite a stash that I accumulated when she was really little. but then she had trouble growing (technically FTT!), so ped said I would have to BF and "top her off" with pumped milk or formula. so i ran through my backup supply and also probably dinged my production while i was at it... but it is what it is. She's a fat little butterball now.

Some other things you can try (if you haven't already) are eating lots of oatmeal, flaxseed, Mother's Milk tea/cookies/supplements, and I've also heard blue Gatorade?! Also stay SUPER well hydrated. Good luck!

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36 minutes ago, LibraSunCNM said:

Some other things you can try (if you haven't already) are eating lots of oatmeal, flaxseed, Mother's Milk tea/cookies/supplements, and I've also heard blue Gatorade?! Also stay SUPER well hydrated. Good luck!

I drink the Mothers Milk tea, but I have never seen a huge increase in production. the only direct link i've noticed is when I drink more than 1-2 glasses of wine, then my production goes down quite a bit (of course). usually I pump 3-5 oz per breast, per session and this week i'm pumping 3-5 total... just to give you an idea! And I don't feel "stressed"... I know it's just the transition.

I've never heard of the blue gatorade thing! That's wild. I'll have to look that up!

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