EPing as a choice after returning to work

[@llli*vtmtbkr]

I know this topic is not very popular but I'm debating EPing vs both pumping and breast feeding after retunring to work full time. I already know all the ins and outs of EPing after 13 months of it with my daughter. Now baby girl #2 is due in 7 weeks and I'm having a hard time convincing myself to try to continue breast feeding at home after going back to work at 12 weeks.

I would drop off the kids at 7am and pick up at 5:15 Monday-Friday. For my daughter I pumped 1x before she woke up in the morning (5:30am), 2x at work (11:30 & 4:00) and once before going to bed (9:15). This was my schedule from about 4 months to 10 months (when I could cut back).

Now combining the 2 would mean I'd have to wake her up at 5:00-5:15, feed her, then pump adding about 15-20 minutes to my morning and having to get her up earlier. Is this just how it would have to work? Oh and there is no pumping in the car as I car-pool.

Do any other moms even consider this?

Please refrain from the EPing debate, I've heard it all. I am 100% going to try and get breast feeding to work the first 3 months.

[@llli*mommy2lilah]

Why would you have to wake her up at 5:00 AM? And pump at that time? I nursed my daughters when I was at home with them and pumped while I was at work. I didn't need to pump at 5:00 AM. I also never bothered with waking them up to nurse before we left for work. If they woke up and wanted to nurse, we would nurse. We leave the house about 7:00 AM and I would wake them by 6:45 if they weren't already awake. Neither one of them were all that big on nursing first thing in the morning like that - probably because they nurse on demand overnight too - and had likely nursed around 4 am.

Do other moms consider what? Quitting nursing and then pumping exclusively? I sure didn't. And it's because of all those arguments you are familiar with. Did you ever nurse exclusively with your first daughter?

[@llli*toddlerandtwins]

I nursed and pumped for 9 months (pump weaned at 12 months, returned to work at 3 months).

I woke my girls up to nurse in the morning (about 6am), then would pump 3x at work (gradually reduced to 2x than 1x than 0 by 12 months), and would nurse when I got home in the evenings (6:30pm).

I don't think EP would help compared to pumping and nursing. If you EP, you/someone will need to give your baby a bottle, so you will be pumping and feeding which will take even longer.

I was hesitant about waking my girls to feed before leaving for work, but I did. and guess what-on weekends I would wake when they woke and they would sleep in (sometimes til 8am), and now they are weaned they wake on their own and it is almost always later than 6am.

Do you drive the carpool? If not, would you consider pumping in the car with a cover on? If you are covered, the riders would not see anything. and with road/car noise they probably wouldn't hear the pump, and it may just sound like nice white noise.

I don't know if I helped at all, but wanted to share my experience. You have options and we will help you explore them.

[@llli*debbers]

I'm going to offer thoughts, not an answer per se as I'm still on maternity leave with my first child and you're far more experienced w/one already. I've found breastfeeding to be wonderful, demanding, bonding, frustrating, simple, complicated, rewarding and exasperating. Sometimes I find myself filled with joy while she's nursing and other times I'm aggravated, even in tears. I'm a few weeks away from returning to work F/T and I'm calculating the reduced amount of time I'll have with her: before/after work, plus night (we co sleep). Huge change from nearly 24/7. Despite this thus far being the hardest 9 weeks of my adult life, I'm saddened by the dramatic shift in time together and I'll never be ready for it.

Your question was, do other moms consider this? My new mom answer is no. Although I see several additional sacrifices of my time coming (like when the heck will i work out?), for me BFing in the morning and night (while pumping at work) is going to be MY time with her. I bet it's going to be hard (see above slew of emotions). But it's something only I can have and I simply can't see another way to be closer than close to her.

[@llli*sassypants]

I am confused, why would you have to pump in the morning after nursing her? Why not just pump twice at work and once before bed, if necessary?

I nursed and pumped for 10 months without having to pump in the morning. I would wake DS up to nurse, usually around 7am, then not have to pump again until 9:30 or 10am.

[@llli*toddlerandtwins]

PP made an excellent point, about nursing before/after work being 'my time with her'. I did not enjoy breastfeeding my son, I lacked support and local resources and gave up too quickly. Things were easier the 2nd time around (even though there were 2 babies).
It is hard to give attention to every child, and by nursing I felt like I was giving my babies my attention and then I would give my son attention through other means.
Until weaning, I looked forward to nursing my babies when I got home at night. Granted it was hard and exhausting and all I really wanted to do was eat and go to bed, but once they lacked on I felt better and they were happy (and no crying).
Think about this-you come home from work and you want to cuddle your baby/she wants to eat. but you need to hook up to the pump. I would not go EP because you think it may be easier.

[@llli*vtmtbkr]

I did nurse DD1 for about 4 weeks before switching to Eping. It did not go well but if I had tried harder I could have made it work.

I produced enough milk with her for her needs plus about 2-4 ounces extra per day. She slept through the night (8:30-5ish from about 3 months on). And she gradually increased that to 7:00-6:00. I would pump before going to bed at 9:30pm (she'd be bottle fed about 5:30-6:00 with a top off at 8:30) and sleep through the night and pump again at 5:30. that pumping would produce about 9-12 ounces and her morning bottle would be about 4-5 ounces, so in order to provide enough milk at daycare I would have to pump out the extra milk in the mornings

And I know all babies are different, I just hoping for another good sleeper. :-)

DH (for the most part) did the bottle feedings in the mornings and evenings. He'd get her up and dressed and feed her in the mornings while I showered and he'd feed her in the evenings while I was making dinner. This allowed me to spend time with her in the mornings to play/cuddle/etc after DH had left for work.

And I don't know if I'll feel differently about "me" time with the baby after nursing for 3 months. Maybe I will, or maybe I'm just not the nursing type. All I know is that DD #2 will not be getting any formula just like DD#1.

[@llli*toddlerandtwins]

You should head over to the leaky boob dot com blog, she recently wrote an article about feelings of breastfeeding (how not all women love it). I didn't love it. But I did love the close feeling I had while doing it, one I didn't feel when nursing my son.
And since this is your second baby, you may look forward to time with baby through nursing that you didn't feel with #1. just my 2 cents.

[@llli*sassypants]

Are you thinking you have to pump in the mornings to get milk to send to daycare? Because I think most moms send whatever they pumped the day before, at work, to daycare, then nurse when they are at home. You had great success EPing last time (based on the previous post) so not pumping enough when you are apart sounds like a non-issue.

I don't get all lovey about nursing either, but it was WAY easier than bottles when we were together. Try to get into a routine in which you always nurse when together and pump only when apart, because I think you will really like it.

[@llli*mommy2lilah]

Well, I know that nursing Lilah for the first couple of months was HARD. I don't know that it would have been easier to pump and feed her bottles, I don't feel like it would have, but I didn't try that - so I don't know. But there is a lot different with nursing an older baby than there is with nursing a newborn. I don't know what you mean, sassypants, when you say "I don't get all lovey about nursing", but I do know that I LOVE nursing Trixie and I did LOVE nursing Lilah. I never loved pumping. And it took me about 3 months to love nursing Lilah. So, you might actually love nursing this time around. Each nursing experience is different. It was MUCH easier to nurse Trixie as a newborn than it was to nurse Lilah. She was much bigger, had a bigger mouth, went longer between nursing sessions than Lilah did and I was experienced. Maybe wait and see how it turns out before decided to switch to EPing when you go back to work.