How was your transition from exclusive breastfeeding to pumping during the day (return to work)?

[kat1986]

I have 6.5 month old baby. Up to now I was EBF and have started introducing solids this month. My baby drinks milk about 8 times a day, plus twice overnight. I’ll in a couple of months go back to work, and would like to already get prepared. I’ve pumped a little milk everyday (together with feeding the baby) and have about 3 L milk (about 100 oz). Then, I started to replace one feed by a bottle. It looks like it works BUT:

• My baby seems to drink only about 80 mL (2.7 oz) (I’m replacing the feed after the 90 min morning nap).
• I actually never got more than 90 mL (3 oz) in one pump. I managed to do a power pump yesterday, and I got 140 mL (4.7 oz).

I worry because I read about babies at this age drinking way bigger bottles. Also, I worry about the amount of milk that I pump, which is way less than what I read… if this is the case for me, it won’t work because I won’t be able to pump many times a day at work.

I’d love to hear about experiences about going back to work and pumping. Also, if there are others that pumped little milk in the beginning and managed to increase the amount of pumped milk per session. It’s really hard to make “experiments” with pumping when I breastfeed every 2h or so… Thanks!

 

[ammy]

@kat1986 My 5 month old baby drinks a 4.5 oz bottle every 3 hours while I am gone. When I'm home, she eats more often and I suspect isn't getting that much at a time.

I'm not able to pump enough at work for her needs, so I added a pump right before bed every night which does cover the gap and also allows me to freeze 2 bags a week usually.