Caregiver Tips from a Working and Breastfeeding Mom

I've been back to work for 10 weeks and I've learned some things along the way. If you are a breastfeeding mom going back to work, you've probably heard all the tips about how to continue breastfeeding by pumping at work. Unfortunately, lots of moms feel they have to wean their babies when they go back to work because they may feel like it's overwhelming to pump while at work. Most of the advice for working and pumping moms is around literally working and pumping while at work and not about how to educate your caregivers who watch your baby while you're at work. Ava is been exclusively breastfeed since she was born and at 4 1/2 months, many of her peers nationally are not (only 33% of babies in the US are exclusively breastfed by age 3-months according to the CDC). This means that most daycares have limited knowledge of caring for a breastfed baby. I have some tips that I hope will help you as you're navigating through this with your baby. Feel free to share yours!

Tips for Educating Your Baby's Caregivers:

• Handling breast milk: Warm breastmilk in warm water and gently swirl the milk to mix the layers of cream. It's important to gently swirl, NOT SHAKE the milk. Daycare caregivers are used to formula bottle preparation, which they shake to mix. I found some air bubbles in Ava's bottles and realized they didn't know not to shake the milk. There are living cells in breastmilk so the milk should be handled gently. My caregivers do a really good job about taking note of Ava's care needs and they have it printed on the board so anyone in the room that's filling in will see my care notes.
• Breastfeed your baby when you arrive at daycare or during lunch: I read this tip in the book Working Without Weaning (which I highly recommend for the practical tips), and she typically wants to nurse when I arrive. Breastfeeding when you arrive helps you reconnect with your baby after the separation and allows you to talk to your caregivers and ask them how the baby was that day. And the bonus is that you can add another breastfeeding to help you stay in sync with your baby's demand and pump less for daycare. My daycare is 30 minutes away from work so I couldn't swing the lunch feeding, but many working moms can do this and it works really well for mom and baby.
  
• Preferring to breastfeed and eating just enough at daycare: There are days when Ava is at daycare for 10 hours and only drink 2 bottles and a total of 6-7 oz. She holds out until I arrive and we breastfeed many days. Other days, she'll have about 11oz of milk from 4-5 bottles. When she's holding out at daycare, I've asked the caregivers to hold her while feeding (sometimes, they feed babies in the swing!) and I've brought in my shirt so she can have my smell nearby. That seems to work.
  
• Baby's "on-demand" feeding schedule: Ava's caregivers ask me a lot about how often she likes to eat. And truthfully, you can't compare bottle feeding to nursing because babies nurse for comfort in addition to thirst and hunger. I have no way of knowing how much she eats (in ounces) because without a scale, there's no way of measuring. And breastfeeding mothers find that feeding on-demand is the best for baby. I know her hunger cues and that how I know she's ready. It's like a 6th sense for breastfeeding moms. They just know and our bodies help us out because we feel full. I just ask the caregivers to feed her when she's sucking on her hands. They write down her feeding schedule and they're doing a great job of feeding on-demand. Ava eats some bottles at 3oz and another times only 1 oz. Even from a bottle, Ava does a good job at regulating her intake. Every day is different so it's unrealistic to day, feed her at 2pm, 4pm, etc.
• Keep extra frozen milk at daycare: The first week that I brought Ava to daycare a mom walked in and said "oh no, I forgot the baby's milk today. You'll have to use formula." I decided it would be a good idea to bring frozen bags of milk for the daycare freezer in case they run short on fresh milk for any reason. They've only used 2 bags in their stash, but it's a peace of mind to know that they always have it on-hand. Defrosted frozen milk has to be used within 24-hrs so it's good to keep smaller increments that you know your baby will eat.
  

My working and pumping schedule: I'm a very organized and efficient person so I integrate my pumping schedule with my work calendar and it's been working very well. I've been able to keep my milk supply healthy and strong in the past 10 weeks. I pump at work at 9am, 12pm, and 3pm, and often times bring my laptop and read work articles, do conference calls, or respond to emails on my iPhone. My coworkers are really supportive when we go to offsite meetings and help me by providing private places for me to pump.

Resources for Breastfeeding and Working Moms:

• Great article on Working Mothers on the Le Leche League website from Lactation Consultant, Kirsten Berggren, the author of Working Without Weaning.
• Guidelines on expressed breastmilk storage.