Breastfeeding & Full Time Work

[cupcakemafia]

Just a hypothetical - if I wanted to breastfeed, but I also had a full time job, am I able to express milk in the morning and store it properly so that I could take the breastmilk to the child care centre for the carer's there to give it to my baby while I was at work? Or is this unfeasible/not able to be done? If it CAN be done does it reduce the nutrition of the breast milk? Are there any mums out there that do it?

I really want to breastfeed for as long as I can, but unfortunately I REALLY do need to keep my job (my husband works full time and we don't have any relatives living nearby).

Argh!! Can I have some opinions please?
Tell me your experiences, your advice, your opinions!!

[Harmony83]

I haven't done it myself, but am told quite assuredly that yes it can be done!! It's my understanding that breastmilk can last 24hours in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer, so I don't think there would be a problem with that. And it is recommended that you take your breastpump with you to work and express at the normal times you would feed your bub, so as not to affect your supply... As I said though I haven't had to do it, but I am sure you will get a stack of advice! Goodluck with it! :D

[aardvark]

I've done it - and I expressed during the day at work twice, at approximately the times she would feed.

A microwave steriliser was good for sterilising things between uses at work.

I used to express during the day, drop it back at the childcare (small esky and freezer bricks) that night, and put it in the fridge for the following day. On Fridays, I used to express into avent milk storage bags/disposable bottles, and pop it in their freezer for use the following week.

[draught]

I will log on later tonight with some tips - I expressed at work and kept the bf going after getting good tips from people here so will pass them on - just typing in a rush now!

[Goosie22]

Hi Nafie,

You will find lots of help from other mums with helpfull tips, I only worked part-time while breastfeeding but found it easy to nick off and express to keep up the supply. Breastfeeding takes dedication and in the begining perserverance. Australian Breastfeeding Asc have heaps to help Breastfeeding mums.

http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/canwork.html

[draught]

Okay - back now with more time.
Yes - you can breast feed and work - as aardvark said the trick is to express at the time they would normally feed. Before you put them into care you need to have some bottles expressed ready to go, but once they have started, it is easier to express as you are replacing feeds rather than trying to produce extra. An insulated bag and a freezer pack to store it in at work and carry it to the centre, and freeze the day's supply from the last day of the week for the first day of next week. I always kept two bottles in the freezer for emergencies ( like going to a 4 hour meeting unexpectedly at the time I would normally express:eek: )

What I found, and other mothers have told me they found, was that you don't express as much as the baby naturally extracts, so you might need to express again in the evening or morning to top up the bottles for the next day. Xkwzit gave me great advice about expressing again in the evening after a warm shower - it was good for topping up.

I was only working three days a week but kept the expressing up for about 5 months and baby was happy (I just got tired in the end - and she was 12 months old so we dropped the day time feeds but she still has them at night!)

[Chickadee]

I'm going to throw a bit of a spanner into this...

Although it's completely possible as others have said, I think you do need to consider some practicalities about where you work. Will there be a place for you to express in comfort and privacy? How comfortable will you be with cleaning your expressing equipment in a communal kitchen in the workplace? Will your work schedule & employers allow you to take long enough breaks at the times you need to express?

For me, I never even considered trying to express when I went back to work. Even before I had Chloe I knew I wouldn't be doing it. I work in an almost entirely male office, would have nowhere private to go and express (except the toilet and that is NOT an option), and knew I wouldn't want to be cleaning my equipment in the disgusting work kitchen. The microwave is so crusty I'm reluctant to use it to reheat a sealed container of food, there's no way I'd sterilise anything in it.

Just some things to think about and plan on.

[Goosie22]

I think if you approach your employer they have a responsiblity to provide an area suitable to you. It is in there best interest to keep you as you have been trained and know your particular job(point out the cost of advertising for a replacement and then retraning ect). As for disgusting kitchens they also have a responsiblity to clean that up or make sure its done by the people who utilize it.

You can always think of excusses not give something a go. Considering the advantages that breastmilk will give your baby/yourself its not something to be dismissed.

The following is a list of all the proven risk of giving ARTIFICAIL INFANT MILK (they are in green and the references to the particular studies are in black.:eek:

http://www.promom.org/bf_info/risks.htm

[xkwzit]

Hi All
I did express for my girls while I was working part time and I'm happy to say that I always found somewhere to express. Even when having meetings in client offices, I would waltz up to reception at lunch time with my cooler bag (with ice brick), explain that I was breastfeeding and needed to express "did they have a spare meeting room or office that I could use for 15 minutes" It was never a problem.

I admit that if the toilets were clean enough, I was happy to express in the loo. I did choose to express in the toilets at work, rather than the shower room (which was particularly gross) and there's no chance of being interrupted. My pump has a cover over the funnel, I would pump, when I'd finish, I'd just put the cover back on the funnel, unscrew the pump from the bottle, put the bottle lid on, screw the pump onto the next bottle (I always took two) and then everything back in the cooler bag. So I didn't have to clean anything until I got home. If you work in the city, you might have more options with parenting rooms.

You'll want to take a bit more EBM than you think they need, but leave it frozen (just in case). My mum looked after my girls at my house when they were really little, so I didn't have to worry too much. I would pull EBM out of the freezer in the morning, leave it to defrost in the fridge and mum would make up the bottles. There was usu more in the freezer if she needed it (or formula once I got a bit tired of expressing - which I found more onerous with a toddler too).

Hope this helps.

[xkwzit]

Goosie,
Your link is just a list of papers grouped by subject, we can't see what the results and conclusions of the studies were. It's a bit of a research dead end IYKWIM? Is this what you meant to post?

Cheers

[Goosie22]

I agree it is a list of papers (sorry if its seams pointless):o

The risks(written in green) the point was to show the number of risks that have been investigated through the particular papers that have been published in various places. They are references to support the statement that there are risks involved with not breastfeeding your babies.

Cognitive Development
SIDS
Insulin Dependent Diabetes
Cow milk Allergy and Intolerance
Respiratory Illness
Otitis Media
Risks for the premature baby
Childhood Cancer
Gastrointestinal Disease and Infections
Urinary Tract Infection
Malocclusion
Formula as a heavy metal cocktail
Other Contamination due to bottle feeding
Allergy
Ovarian Cancer
Osteoporosis
Endometrial Carcinoma
Breast Cancer
Weight loss

On the Promom site they do go into the particular studies. Kellys mom has a lot of info on these studies as does our own ABA.

[Mumoffour]

i worked full time as a community nurse and expressed milk for my baby too. I had a thernal bag and ice packs to keep it cool. i used to find undercover car parks and express in the car! :rolleyes: it was a bit of a pain sometimes but it was worth it seeing my bubba get the best of nutrition.:)
talk to your union (if you have one) about your entitlements and ask about your workplaces policy on breastfeeding mums (if they dont have one recommend that they make one!)
they arent actually allowed to discriminate against you for breastfeeding. is there an office/ conference room/ or somewhere suitable in a nearby building you can go?

[Mattus]

WE had a quotestion, wasn't on here, google searched it, and came up with this:




=http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/reusing-expressedmilk.html]SOURCE
Reusing expressed breastmilk

Q: Should breastmilk left over from a feeding be dumped immediately (like formula), or can you save it and give it to baby later?

A: It should be safe to save the left-over milk and use it at the next feeding.

Per Breastfeeding, A Guide for the Medical Profession by Ruth Lawrence, MD (p. 438):

Breastmilk can safely stand at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours and need not be discarded if the first feeding attempt is incomplete. In contrast, formula must be refrigerated and discarded after the first feeding attempt because it contains no antibodies or infection protection factors.

Can I 're-use' pumped breastmilk? Q&A by Ruth Lawrence, MD

"... If the milk is warmed up but not used, it is OK to reheat the milk once. But the more you reheat the more you decrease some of the valuable immunologic properties of the milk..."

If my baby doesn't finish a bottle of pumped breast milk can I save it for later? by Jan Barger, R.N., M.A., IBCLC

"...Based on this study, which admittedly needs to be done on a larger scale, it would seem to me that expressed breast milk, fed to the baby, partially consumed, and then refrigerated, could be used for one more feeding no more than four hours later. That's probably fairly conservative. One of the best tests of whether the milk is spoiled is to do what you do with cow's milk: Smell it and taste it!"

Brusseau R. Bacterial Analysis of Refrigerated Human Milk Following Infant Feeding. May 1998.

"Summary: The number of infants who are breastfed is on the rise, as is the number of women in the workforce. Many women who choose breastfeeding after returning to work, express milk during the day and store this milk for a future feeding. When infants do not finish a bottle of expressed breastmilk, doctors recommend unfinished portions be thrown away. This study examined bacterial levels in expressed, partially consumed breastmilk that was stored for 48 hours at 4-6° C. A portion of unconsumed milk was examined as a control. Samples were taken every 12 hours for bacterial analysis. Tests were performed to identify total colony counts, pathogenic Staphylococci, coliforms and b-hemolytic Streptococci. This study showed no significant difference between bottles that were partially consumed and those that were not exposed to the baby’s mouth for 5 out of 6 participants. All milk samples had colony counts in the acceptable range of < 105 colony forming units per milliliter (CFU/ml). Although this project provides evidence that it may be safe to refeed a child a bottle of breastmilk, due to the small sample size, further tests should be performed."


http://www.mother-2-mother.com/storemilk…
Can I Freeze My Milk After It Has Been Refrigerated Several Days?

Yes - most sources seem to indicate that you should be safe to use ALL the storage options in succession if you need to.

For example, storing freshly expressed breastmilk at room temperature for up to 10 hours, THEN in a refrigerator for up to 8 days, and THEN in a freezer for 3-12 months (depending on the type of freezer).

You're likely to get to stretch your storage times to the maximum (or even a little longer) if you don't "use up" all of your "warmer" storage - for example, you can expect a longer storage time if you freeze the milk immediately (if you know you'll want it frozen) rather than keep it at room temp for 10 hours, then refrigerate for 8 days and THEN freeze the milk.

Even though storage times may be decreased, most bf experts suggest *not* throwing out any milk before the maximum storage time unless when you warm it you notice that it has a very distinct foul smell.