Going back to work, pumping concerns&Qs

[@llli*usafreat]

I'm preparing to go back to work part time, at the end of the month. 2 and a half days per week. Full day would be probably an 8-9 hr absence, for a half day, 6 I guess. However, I am fortunate that I can bring my baby with me to work. I may do this every time, or occasionally depending on if it goes well.
IF I can't manage it well, For the days that I leave her with my husband or her grandmother I will leave EBM. I currently have an electric Phillips Avent, single pump. My concern is that I don't want any decrease in my milk production. 1. is this pump strong enough so that my production will maintain? (I have used it many times but not continuously past a couple weeks. It was used in the beginning when I had nipple trauma on one breast. So I used it to pump one side, and BF on the other side.) Although I know I will be with her most of the time BFing, and am sure it will be fine bc it will be so infrequent, BUT IF for example I don't bring her with me the two and a half days will it be affected?

Second Q- I want to store up a small stock in the freezer. Suggestions on total QTY? I know 3-4 OZ per frozen qty, and I read a PP that said a couple 'top offs' at 1.5OZ. I like that idea. but how much TOTAL should I be ok w? I don't want to pump to stock unless necessary.

How should I go about pumping this extra amount now without throwing off my supply? I tend to oversupply easily in my opinion, as I feed 8-10 a day depending on my baby and I still leak sometimes.

Background info-my baby is 3 months in ten days already! ), feeds on cue.

[@llli*usafreat]

oh shoot, I just realized there is a forum for this. Sorry!

[@llli*bfwmomof3]

That's great that you can taky baby to work with you! The advantage with a double electric is that it only takes half the time to pump. But if you are only going to be pumping on an occasional day here and there, and especially if your work lets you take the time to pump both sides, the single electric may be okay - you will need to be prepared to spend quite a bit of time pumping though. For the full day, the average moms would pump 3 times in a full day, and since you'll have to do the sides sequentially, you may easily be looking at 30-40 minutes or more of pumping for each session.

I'd store up enough for one day apart. 15 oz should be more than enough, a little more if you want a few ounces to spare. Then if you are separated from baby, you pump and freeze for the next separation. So definitely agree you don't need too much of a stash. I built my stash by pumping once a day, usually in the morning. You're right that you don't want to overdo it, because you can get into oversupply issues. Since you have until the end of the month, even if you pumped 1 ounce per day you'd easily have enough.

[@llli*usafreat]

For the full day, the average moms would pump 3 times in a full day, and since you'll have to do the sides sequentially, you may easily be looking at 30-40 minutes or more of pumping for each session.

My baby always only feeds off one side per feeding, there's always enough milk in there to fill her up. I thought I would pump imitating the way she eats. So if at 8am she feeds off left then I go to work and around 2.5-3hrs later I pump the right, then 2.5-3 hrs later the left one again...etc you know what I mean... Is that the wrong way to go about it?

[@llli*bfwmomof3]

My LO also usually fed off of one side, but I pumped both sides at the same time for the sake of efficiency. The pump is often not as good at maintaining supply compared to nursing, so the typical full-time working mom who doesn't have her baby with her usually uses a double-electric to try to maintain supply as much as possible. In your case, though, since a lot of the time you will have baby with you, and you are working part-time, your strategy may work just fine. Baby nursing off of one side at a time often suggests abundant supply. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that many moms have a degree of oversupply early on, and then supply regulates (decreases) over time to more closely match what baby takes. So, keep an eye out for that - if baby starts to nurse off of both breasts, that may mean you need to do the same at work. Or, if you find that you are having more days that you are pumping and pump output is going down, for example, that may be a sign you need to increase how much you are pumping by doing both breasts at each session.