Many mothers face the difficult choice of whether to continue breastfeeding after they return to their workplace. One of the reasons why they hesitate about expressing breast milk at work is their tight and busy schedule.
However, with adequate planning and adjustment, working mothers do not need to worry about not being able to breastfeed after returning to work.
1. Building a good milk supply
To ensure a good milk supply, you should breastfeed your baby as soon as possible after your delivery. This will help you to establish your milk supply early.
You should also avoid giving your baby supplementary food, water or formula milk as it might reduce your baby’s chance to practise suckling at the breast and the stimulation of the breast and therefore decreasing your milk production.
After your delivery, do not hesitate to seek help from your healthcare provider if you experience any difficulties with latching your baby onto your breast. Breastfeeding your baby exclusively during the first four weeks will help to build up your milk supply.
2. Expressing breastmilk
You may start to express and store your breastmilk after four weeks of exclusive breastfeeding. You may choose to either express your breast milk by hand or using the breast pump.
Start by expressing breastmilk once a day before gradually increasing the frequency according to the number of feeds your baby will miss while you are at work. In the meantime, continue to breastfeed your baby directly.
3. Preparation for expressing breast milk at work
Before expressing the milk, ensure that the equipment are properly sterilised. You should also re-sterilise them after every use. At your workplace, make sure that there is a clean place for you to express your milk. To encourage milk flow, you can think of your baby and also massage your breasts.
To store your milk after that, you will also need to bring an ice cooler box if your office does not have a fridge. Additionally, be sure to inform your employer and colleagues to prevent any misunderstandings when you have to leave to express the breast milk.
4. Problems faced
Some problems faced while expressing breastmilk at work may be that you have no time to do so due to your busy schedule. As such, your breasts might be hard and painful from the milk accumulated. Rather than ignoring it, it is advisable that you do a five-minute expressing to release some milk from your breast. Expressing the milk to make yourself comfortable is important even though you do not have the time to express and store the milk.
Some mothers might experience the leaking of breastmilk. Thus, you can use absorbent paddings to help ease the discomfort. Applying pressure on the nipple by folding your arm across your chest might also help to stop the flow. You can also wear floral clothing or outerwear to conceal the stains.
Rejoice Pregnancy’s Breastfeeding Support and Postpartum Recovery Programme will ensure your baby has sufficient and quality milk supply. Our Maternal Health Visitor will work with you to ensure your baby is latching on correctly and ensure a stable and constant milk supply.
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