The Gift of Breastfeeding Support for Returning to Work

Hi! I’m Heather Dvorak. I am an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) and the owner of A Baby Place. We are a team of 4 IBCLCs and we provide office visits in Lombard, IL and Dallas, TX, home visits throughout the western suburbs of Chicago and the Rockwall, TX area, and telehealth all over the world. My husband and I have twin daughters who are now 11, an 8 yr old son and a 4yr old son.

I returned to work fairly quickly with each of my pregnancies.

I was back to full time work at 11 weeks with the twins, part time at 5 weeks with my first son and full time at 12 weeks, and part time at 6 weeks with my youngest son. I have navigated working mom life myself and support many families through this process.

Here are my top 10 tips for a smooth transition back to work:

1. Introduce bottles between 3 and 4 weeks of age, offering at least an ounce every other day to both teach and maintain the skill of bottle feeding. 
2. Begin pumping around 3-4 weeks as well. If you need or want to have a larger freezer stash, begin pumping 1x/day (ideally in the morning within 30 minutes of nursing). How long to pump will depend on your goals but often 10-15 minutes is a good start. If you need less of a stash, you can pump on bottle practice days only and can keep pumps shorter in the beginning.
3. Have a professional help you with flange fitting. Flanges come in different shapes, shapes and materials. Inserts can be added to existing flanges or different flanges can be utilized with many pumps- your IBCLC can help you find what will work best for you!
4. Pump anytime a bottle is given in place of a feeding (if you’re only giving an ounce for practice, there’s no need to pump at that time since baby will still nurse as well).
5. Freeze milk flat so that the bags can be easily organized by date.
6. Thaw frozen milk in clean measuring cup in the fridge- this way, it’s easy to pour into your bottles if the bag leaks.
7. Use the milk pumped Monday on Tuesday, Tuesday’s milk on Wed and so on. On Friday, freeze everything that is left and pull the oldest milk from the freezer for Monday- this keeps your freezer stash current but minimizes the hassle of freezing and thawing more often.
8.  Pump at work to reflect babies bottle/nursing schedule at home- this is often every 3 hours.
9. Snuggle baby as much as possible when you’re together! Nurse on demand when not at work.
10. If you’re struggling at any point in the process, reach out for help! A lactation consultant can help you with all aspects of pumping, planning for returning to work, planning for work trips, bottle introduction, supply concerns, and more. 

It is our absolute joy and honor to support families with all aspects of breastfeeding and pumping- we are here for all of your lactation needs from prenatal support through weaning and everything in between!

If you find yourself in need of help, please reach out to us through our website at www.ABabyPlaceBBB.com, via phone or text at 847-691-7100 or via email at [email protected].