Working Mothers - how long were you able to EBF? Did your milk supply drop drastically after going back to work?

I feed DS and pump so often during maternity leave. I'm afraid my milk supply will drop once I go back to work after spending 4 months with DS.

Just curious how long working mothers were able to EBF.

I have a lot of milk stored already. I'm hoping I'll be able to have at least 2 months of frozen milk. I highly doubt I'll be able to make it to 1 year EBF.

I'm assuming the mothers who were able to EBF for a year were SAHMs?

Re: Working Mothers - how long were you able to EBF? Did your milk supply drop drastically after going back to work?

DS is 6 1/2 months old and is still EBF (he is getting solids now also). He has never had formula in his life. I hardly ever touch my frozen supply. If I don't pump enough at work, I make sure I pump once home.

I don't foresee needing to use formula at all. I make sure I pump twice while at work and nurse as much as I can when home.

Re: Working Mothers - how long were you able to EBF? Did your milk supply drop drastically after going back to work?

Because I could only pump once at work.....yes MY supply did drop I ended up having to stop at around 7 months for various reasons due to my working.

Re: Working Mothers - how long were you able to EBF? Did your milk supply drop drastically after going back to work?

I went back after almost 7 mo & my supply didn't drop at first. I would bf in the morning, pump once or twice at work & then bf again when I got home. Ds would cluster feed in the evenings & he was still waking at night to bf so that might be why I didn't have an issue.

Re: Working Mothers - how long were you able to EBF? Did your milk supply drop drastically after going back to work?

I EBF up until DS was 7 months old. I went back to work full time when he was 3 months old. I pumped 2 times a day. I found that my milk supply was starting to decrease just as i stopped, but I was pretty good for 7 months. I had to stop b/c I got sick and needed to take medication. I think i could have kept going - i wasn't drinking enough water - i also missed my lunch hour - i spent it pumping!

Re: Working Mothers - how long were you able to EBF? Did your milk supply drop drastically after going back to work?

With Madelyn, I went back to work (part time-2.5 days a week) at 9 weeks PP. With Eliza, I went back at 12 weeks and work 4 days a week.

I was/am still able to BF both. Currently what I pump while I'm at work + what I pump in the morning before work is enough to feed Eliza until I get home. We haven't even touched the freezer stash yet (I have a whole deep freeze FILLED with bags of milk).

When working and pumping you HAVE to be diligent to keep your supply up. I've been getting lazy and started dropping a pump session at work. My supply dipped a bit, but once I started pumping again, it came back.

My problem is that Eliza will NOT easily take bottles. She especially will NOT take a bottle from me- so I HAVE to keep my supply up for when I'm home with her alone.

Re: Working Mothers - how long were you able to EBF? Did your milk supply drop drastically after going back to work?

DS is almost 5 months. I've been back at work for a little over a month. I'd like to BF for at least 1 year. So far, I'm able to pump as much or more than what DS eats at daycare. I have my own office with a lock so it isn't too difficult to pump 2-3 times per day. However, I have late night meetings and travel a lot to see clients. I try to time my pumping sessions around the meetings, but I bought a car adapter for my pump just in case I need to use it.

Re: Working Mothers - how long were you able to EBF? Did your milk supply drop drastically after going back to work?

I BF for a year. (At 7 months I did introduce one bottle of formula here and there because of all my medical procedures.) At 10 months or so I stopped pumping because I no longer wanted to add to my freezer stash.

I work with all guys and was able to pump with no problems. (Even though my boss kept trying to get into the women's bathroom to catch a peak, but that's another story. )

There are many moms on here that BF past a year and work. I fianally gave up at a year because I was heading in for my third surgery and my body was done.

Re: Working Mothers - how long were you able to EBF? Did your milk supply drop drastically after going back to work?

I work FT, DS just turned 2 and we're still BFing. I never had to supplement with formula or cows milk. So no, not all moms that make to a year are SAHMs. (My mom also worked FT and BFed me and then my sister for 2 years each. She stayed home for a year with me. She returned to working after 3 months with my sister. She actually hand expressed for my sister because electric pumps were not available!)

I pumped until he was 20 months to provide expressed milk. Up to 1 year I pumped 3x a day, up to 16 months it was 2x a day and then I weaned to 1x day until the end. He cut down naturally from 3 bottles (then sippies) a day, to just getting it when I pick him up (for the ride home). (I didn't have to supplement with cow's milk because he was BFing enough.)

When AF returned, I would notice a decrease in supply, but it would come back. I stopped producing as much between 12 and 16 months. At the end I was probably getting 3 oz at the one session. One thing I did during the first year was make sure we BFed as much as possible when we were together.

Re: Working Mothers - how long were you able to EBF? Did your milk supply drop drastically after going back to work?

I am not a SAHM and was able to EBF both of my DS. With my first I went back to work when he was almost 10 months old so I pumped at work. With my second who just recently turned 1, I went back to work when he was 6 months old and pumped for 6 months. About a month before I went back to work, I started pumping a lot more and freezing so I had a pretty good stash. I would pump first thing in the morning, around 10:30 am and then again in the evening. I would nurse him before bed and he got pumped bottles at daycare.

HTH

It can be done.

Re: Working Mothers - how long were you able to EBF? Did your milk supply drop drastically after going back to work?

i had a different experience than the posters above because i was always a poor responder to the pump - could only get a few ounces with each session at most.

so when i went back to work (even though i pumped every 3-4 hours), my supply dropped steadily every day as the week went on. then i would go nuts to BF as much as possible over the weekends to bring the supply back up.

i went back to work when DS was 12 weeks and by the time he was about 5 months old it got to be too much. he started going on nursing strikes (typical for the age), so for a few weeks i wasn't able to do the weekend "power-nursing". my supply just never recovered so i started giving him formula. BEST thing i could have done for myself and for my family. it took the pressure off and allowed me to enjoy my life again!!

Re: Working Mothers - how long were you able to EBF? Did your milk supply drop drastically after going back to work?