Pumping at work

Going back to work and still giving breast milk takes some planning, and many parents do it. A few steps before your first day make the rest easier. Every job and every baby is different, so adjust as you go.

Before you go back

• Practice pumping or hand expression, and build a small supply of frozen milk.
• Work out how much milk your baby will need while you're away and how often you'll pump.
• Let your baby practice with a bottle of breast milk once nursing is going well. Someone other than you may have more luck with the first bottles.
• A first try can be about ½ oz (15 ml) of breast milk, an hour or two after a feed, when your baby is alert.
• A trial run with childcare before your first day helps.

Your rights

• US: the PUMP Act requires reasonable break time to express milk for one year after your child's birth, and a clean, private space that isn't a bathroom.
• UK: give your employer written notice that you're breastfeeding, and they must then do a risk assessment. Toilets aren't a suitable place to express.
• Talk with your employer before you return: where you'll pump, where milk will be stored, where you can clean parts, and good times in your schedule.

Keeping supply up

• Pump about as often as your baby drinks breast milk while you're apart.
• Skipped sessions and short sessions are the most common reasons supply drops at work.
• To build supply back up, pump more often, for at least 10 minutes a session, even after milk stops flowing. An extra session can help too.
• Thinking about your baby, or looking at a photo, can help milk flow.

Storing milk at work

• Breast milk is a food, and any fridge that's fine for food is fine for milk.
• With no fridge, an insulated cooler bag with frozen ice packs keeps fresh milk for up to 24 hours.
• See "Storing breast milk" for fridge and freezer times.

When to get help

• A red, hot or hard area of the breast, or feeling feverish and unwell: call your doctor or midwife.
• Supply keeps falling over several days: a lactation consultant (IBCLC) can help with a plan.