Breastfeeding and returning to work

I will be returning to work in 3 weeks when my girl is 6 months and I would like to continue breastfeeding. I would like to provide some expressed milk while I'm gone so I will need to pump at work during my lunch break. Does anyone have experience of this? Where do you do your pumping? I don't fancy doing it in the loos while people are doing their business around me but I don't think there is a dedicated area.

We don't have access to a fridge or microwave so I'm thinking I'll have to buy a mini fridge and steralise all the equipment before I leave home. Has anyone done this? I'm just trying to suss out what the whole process will involve. Thanks!

MaudL

Hi cuddle,
I was living in the US when I went back to work and by law employers are supposed to provide a room for pumping mothers. I'm not sure how it is here in Ireland so I can't help you there i'm afraid.
However I can tell you a bit about the logistics of it.
First, pumping only once on your lunchbreak will probably not be enough. It all depends on how much milk you produce obviously, but in my case I had to pump every three hours and would yield about 4oz each time.
I used the Medela PISA, and once I was done, I quickly wiped the flanges with the Medela wipes and put them inside a ziploc bag in the fridge with the freshly expressed milk. No need to wash/sterilize every time provided you can keep the parts in the fridge.
I would then thoroughly wash everything at night at home.

Another thing, going back to work, with all the stress that it entails, really decreased my supply, so I had to take herbal supplements to help with that.

I hope it helps, feel free to message any other questions.
Good luck, it is really great that you are doing that for your baby!

How Strange

cuddle I went back to work 2 weeks ago when my son was 7 months.

Firstly, is it possible for you to work a couple of hours less per day? If it is I'd recommend it for the first couple if weeks until your supply adjusts. My son dropped 2 day feeds during his 6th month which made going back to work and breastfeeding a lot easier. If not then for the first week or ten days express twice a day if you need to but only if you feel very full.

At this stage I express once a day around 2pm. I've got my own office so I lock the door. Maybe I'm too relaxed about these things but you font necessarily need a fridge especially if you express in the afternoon and are going home a couple of hours later. Breastmilk is very resilient and is ok at room temperature.

I leave my pump in work mon-thurs and just bring home the bits and pieces to sterilise but if you have a microwave in work you could buy a microwave steriliser and leave everything there. However if you're worried get a plug in cooler box. They have them in aldi at the moment.

I bought an advent cooler bag in mothercare and use that for carrying the milk home. I put it in the freezer and give the creche frozen milk every morning. I'm trying to build up a little
stash for a weekend away in
november.

My son drinks about 3oz from a sippy cup in the creche around 2pm. He'd never drank milk from a sippy cup before but he's fine with it and I didn't want to get him onto bottles at 7 months.

All in all it's much easier than I thought it would be. I just told my employer I was doing it but I didn't ask for extra facilities. I'm not sure if they have to provide them by law. I think it's only if you return to work within 6 months of giving birth but maternity leave is now 6 months so that law is outdated. However, tell your employer you need a private room with a chair that you can lock, a mini fridge in the room and you'll be expressing 3 times a day so you'll get 3 20 minute paid breaks.

Sorry if this is longwinded but I hope it helps and let me know if you have any other questions.

Twenty10

You might find this document useful:

http://www.ictu.ie/download/pdf/breastfeeding.pdf

We have a "Mothers Room" in my place of work especially for expressing milk, its been there a few years now - not used much however as the acoustics aren't great!

bobobear

This is covered by the Maternity Protection Act 2004. Specific section of the statute book here - http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2004/en/act/pub/0028/sec0009.html#sec9

This might be useful too - http://www.healthpromotion.ie/uploads/docs/HPM00365.pdf

Quoted from the above leaflet - "Under Irish law, breastfeeding mothers are entitled to
time off or a reduction in working hours. In an eight hour working day, a
breastfeeding mother needs at least one hour off. This can be divided in a
number of ways:
one break of 60 minutes;
two breaks of 30 minutes; or
three breaks of 20 minutes.
She may choose to take the time off by coming in to work an hour later, or
leaving an hour earlier. The time off should increase or decrease depending
on how many hours she works."

"You should tell your employer as early as possible that you plan to continue
breastfeeding when you come back to work. You should give at least four
weeks notice before your maternity leave ends so they can make the
necessary arrangements."

"If there isn’t a breastfeeding room in your workplace, talk to your employer
about what other rooms you could use (for example, a first aid room). A
toilet area is not suitable. You and your employer may need to be creative
and flexible when negotiating arrangements."

Hope this helps!

How Strange

bobobear, that law only extends to breastfeeding employees returning within 6 months of giving birth. Since that law was enacted maternity leave has been increased from 4 to 6 months so very few women return to work within 6 months of giving birth.

There is a campaign underway to extend this law to 2 years.

Being offered a toilet as a place to breastfeed is complete unacceptable. Could you speak to hr about it as it contravenes dignity and respect in the workplace and could realistically be considered discrimination. Breastfeeding in work comes offers the same protection against discrimination that you'd be entitled to when feeding in other public places.