Big Dilemma

[@llli*eastonsmommy]

Ok I am not sure how to handle this situation. My son is almost 8 months old and I have been back to work since he was 10 weeks. When I went back to work, I was able to pump at work and continue bfing successfully at night and on my days off. In the past week, I have moved and started a new job in which I am not able to pump at all and I am not sure if I should completely wean or what to do.

This past week was my first week at my new job and I have gone 8 hours or more without pumping each day. Needless to say by the time I get home I am completely engorged and VERY uncomfortable!! I will be working during the day so I would like to continue to nurse at night and I have plenty of a stockpile so my lo will not have to be on formula at all I don't think. Here are my questions.

1. Since most of the time during the week I will not be with my lo, and I will not be able to pump, should I wean completely and only give him bottles even on my days off (which will only be 2 days a week) so that my body will adjust and not be confused?

2. Should I nurse all day when I am with lo on my days off?

3. Also, my lo sleeps through the night, he goes down between 7-8 pm and can sleep most nights until 7 or 8 am, I have been pumping around 10pm and dream nursing him or pumping around 2-3am to keep me from getting uncomfortable but he doesn't necessarily need that feeding. Once I get home from work I don't really have many opportunities to nurse him before he goes down for the night, just around 7-8 when I am putting him to bed, the night feeding which he doesn't ask for, its mostly for me, and then in the morning before I leave for work. Should I continue this routine?

I am feeling like I need to wean completely to keep my body from getting confused but I am not sure.

How do I keep from getting so uncomfortable during the day while at work? Pumping while driving is not a good option for me...I'm not that coordinated...

Thank you so much for your input!!!

[@llli*mommy2lilah]

First off, why are you not able to pump at your new job?

You can give bottles (formula/breastmilk) during the day and nurse at night. Look for combo feeding on the kellymom.com website, it is geared towards combining formula with nursing, but it's the same thing in that you won't be pumping during the day. I would probably wake him up overnight to nurse at least three times in a day and then nurse all day on the weekends, supplementing if he gets frustrated.

Did you just quit pumping cold turkey? If so, that is likely why you are having engorgement problems. You need to be careful with that. It sounds like you had/have oversupply if you have quite a stash. Is there any way you can pump once a day just to wean yourself off of the pump?

[@llli*molly.b]

First, yes you can breastfeed when you are not working and use formula during the day! "Combination feeding" is fairly common. Our bodies are amazing and adjust to supply/demand. I agree, though, that you should try to transition your breasts out of expecting to be emptied during the day without going cold turkey.
IME that midnight feeding is not just for you - it is a very important benefit to you and your son. With each of my older daughters, I "pump weaned" at some point (when they stopped wanting bottles during the day) and cut back to nursing when I got home from work, before bed, in the middle of the night, and in the morning. Eventually we cut back to nursing only once a day, and then once every few days - and each time my body adjusted just fine.

[@llli*aprilsmagic]

You may have a RIGHT to time during the work day to pump. It's protected by LAW.

[@llli*molly.b]

That is true - forgot that the federal Affordable Care Act requires certain employers to provide a space to pump and unpaid breaks to do so. I believe it covers all employers with more than 50 employees. Not totally sure on that...so you might want to consider your rights and see if you can make it work. If you tell us more about your job situation, we might be able to offer more suggestions on that.
http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/...tate-laws.aspx

Also I forgot to mention that, even after I pump weaned when my daughters were over a year old, I still nursed them on demand on the weekends without a problem. Neither one of them ever had formula.