Another question on time frame to breastfeed

Hillbilly Housewife wrote: I'm considering doinf this - please tell me if I'm crazy.......

The way maternity leave works here, is that you have so many weeks of parental leave, and so many weeks of maternity leave. They all add up to 52 weeks, and either parent can take it, it can be shared, one after the other, or at the same time.

Sooooooooo......what I am considering doing is this, with hypothetical general dates:

December 23, have baby. Take *just had a baby* days for 24th and the 29th of December, then sick leave on the 30th and 31st of December, then vacation on January 2, 5-9, then go back to work on the 12th until the end of January, with DH taking a few weeks of parental leave, so that I can get my permanency with the government, since I *worked* as opposed to being *on leave and not working*, otherwise, I have to wait 1 month after I come back after the mat leave to get it. I'm planning on taking at LEAAST 6 months out of my year to stay at home.

My question is - am I crazy to do this? Can I pump pump pump and then breastfeed at home? bottles during the day for DH?

Is it too early to go back to work? I mean......women were doing stuff on the day of the birth - like milking cows, etc etc.... so going to an office desk wouldn't be so bad after like almost 3 weeks off? right?

My concern is that if I wait to get the permanency for a month or so after I come back, I wmay have to work the time I was off, to repay the benefits. So I may end up waiting say.... an extra year before getting it, which I want to avoid. or If I take 3 months off, I'll have to wait 6 months, plus one.

Any thoughts?

Schnoogly replied: Well speaking wholly about breastfeeding of course, not about other issues, and supposing that all goes really well, baby latches on right away etc. it really takes about 6 weeks for your milk supply to regulate. But many women pump exclusively from birth on (I did) and do fine. I would say in theory this could work if you are prepared to pump at least every 2-3 hours while you're away from baby and definitely on demand when you're at home. It might take longer for your supply to regulate and you might have problems with supply, but also you might not. It really depends on when the baby is born and how things go after that. If you could get 2 solid weeks of good BFing in before you go to work that will do a lot to establish supply. My problem was that I never developed a full supply because I had to pump from birth on, and my milk took absolutely forever to come in (6-7 days).

Get yourself a PIS before the birth for sure. You're lucky, they're cheaper in Canada!

Hillbilly Housewife replied: I have the Advent Isis pump, it worked alright.... I'm planning on pumping as soon as I can (I'll take a few weeks off on vacation leave when the baby is born) and breastfeed only, and then I'll pump additional milk, to get my supply really huge. I can freeze the stuff, can't I?

So yeah, I'm completely willing to pump at work every now and then. I will be able to pump at my desk, since it's a closed office, not an open cubicle...so it will be easier. Worse comes to worse, I'll take a pee break every hour, hour 1/2.... lol


But I did have many problems breastfeeding Zach. Not only do I have flat nipples, I didn,t have a pump for the first 2 months - so by the time I started pumping, I was already supplementing with formul;a, so i didn,t have much of a suplly to begin with.....

Hopefully things will go better this time around with breastfeeding...you don't think I'm nuts for going back to work after like 2 or 3 weeks?

supermom replied: ROFL - well, other than the fact that I got to bring Emily with me, we were back at work on Monday (after having her on Sunday. Even with Anders, delivered C/S, born on Saturday, work on Monday.......

I'll answer more about BF when I get done feeding Emily - teehee - she's still needing one hand to hold the boob, so it's one handed typing for me - LOL!!

Guest_jem0622 replied: An Isis does work well. So does the Medela PIS. BTW...Schnoogly...I bought mine on the internet from a canadian company (kidalog) and got it for way cheap. I couldn't afford the US price!

You could use the manual or a dual electric. Doesn't matter. But for that young of an age...you need to be diligent about pumping. Every 3 hrs if you can. Don't go longer than every 4 hrs though.

Make sure that you leave a 2-3 hr window from the last time you pump @ work and the first time that you BF in the evening and you'll be fine!

I didn't go back for 3 mos with my eldest DS. But with Gabe I had to go back when he was 6 wks and we did fine.

Julie

Hillbilly Housewife replied: I plan on pumping every chance I get. Even when I'm home, I hope to have him/her feed on one side, then have him/her change, and pump on the side he/she just ate on. I plan on doing that at every feeding, and some in between too.

I say I plan, but we all know things don,t always go according to plan...

Kirstenmumof3 replied: Well I definately have a lot of experience pumping! Since this is how Claudia and I started out! I was seeing the LC once a week and had to strictly pump every 2-3 hours. I would pump for 20 min at a time (4 5 min sessions on each side)! I was hand pumping it with an evenflo manual pump (CRAP) and then I bought a Gerber Electric Pump (which is only good for occasional pumping), then I rented a Medella Hospital Grade Electric Pump. I was really lucky though I had lots of milk and it came in the day after she was born (like I said I have a lot of milk), I was able to pump 4-5 oz at a time, sometimes 7-8 oz (during the day I found I pumped more)! I pumped for 10 1/2 weeks and when she latched on she wouldn't take a bottle after that! I really commend all you ladies who have been exclusively pumping for your babies all this time! That's just awesome! Also when I was hospitalized n March I pumped for 2 weeks to keep my supply up, but was not able to pump as much as I had before (only 3-4 oz at at time) and when I got home Claudia latched right back on as if we had never been seperated!

I wish I had more advice for you, but I'm wishing you lots of luck! Also I had a friend that had flat nipples and they recommended she buy nipple shells to pull the nipple out and to start using them at least a month before the baby was born.

Hope this helps!
Kirsten

MamaMartie replied: "Hopefully things will go better this time around with breastfeeding...you don't think I'm nuts for going back to work after like 2 or 3 weeks?"

Now that I successfully BF, I think that BFing is flexable enough to work with anyone who is willing to try. With my first 3 when I tried BFing, I did it just the way the "experts" told me to and totally overwhelmed myself and it didn't work out. This time I said to you-know-what with the expert advice and it went fantastic. Just do like the other ladies said and don't go more than 3 hours between pumping. Could your dh bring the bay to you once a day on the days you work? That night help.

As for going back at 2 or 3 weeks I've known women who went back earlier. It depends on what kind of job you do, how much help/sleep you can get while you aren't working. If you planned to do it this way, could you back out if it didn't work or would they give you trouble at work? What does your dh think? I say if you feel it is right for you, than give it a try.

52 weeks leave....I wish it were that way here in the US. The most my dh ever took off was a 7 days spread over 6 weeks, and those days came out of his vacation time. When I took 6 week materbity before going back to work after our first child, I didn't get paid for any of it. Our system really s*cks. In Canada it seem you have the right idea about leaves and health care.

Good luck!

Schnoogly replied: Well in my experience any manual pump doesn't get as much milk as the PIS, so if you're having any supply issues you have to double pump with the PIS, or rent a hospital grade pump. Also pumping really often gets really tiring, so electric pumps are really the way to go in my experience!

And yes, I did get my ameda PY from kidalog! That's how I know they're cheaper in Canada

amynicole21 replied: It sounds like you are committed, and that is the first and most important thing when breastfeeding during tough spots. I think it can definitly be done the way you have planned, but you just have to stay on track with the pumping schedule = like the other ladies said. Another thing you may run into, and I don't want to freak you out, is having a reverse cycler on your hands. RC and working 9-5 is not fun - you never sleep! But, cross that bridge if you come to it. When my milk first came in there was so much of it that I was constantly dripping out of control. Take advantage of that by pumping some extra for freezer stash. It's not the best for the engorgement business, but it works!

MommyToAshley replied: I just wanted to wish you luck and say I think it is great that you are committed to BF and williing to take the time to pump at work. All your extra effort will be worth it, you'll see!

CantWait replied: Just wanted to say that my freind pumps exclusively through the day and bf's at night so it is possible, sounds like a pretty good idea if you can get it to work.
Good Luck

jcc64 replied: Just my two cents about pumps:
I have both the Isis and the Pump in Style. And while they vary greatly in cost and size, they are both excellent pumps. The PIS is great b/c of the double horns feature; at work, it saves a lot of time, and apparently, pumping simultaneously helps increase the output. It comes with a whole insulated storage compartment that makes transporting the milk home very convenient. However, it is heavy and cumbersome to carry, and b/c of that, I eventually got an Isis. It's light, small, cheap, and believe it or not, produced as much if not more milk for me as the PIS, w/o the need for electricity or batteries. B/c I only worked outside of the house 1 day a week, pumping wasn't a huge part of my routine, but I know many, many women who make it work, and I firmly believe it is completely worth it. Good luck, and you may consider visiting the working and pumping board on parentsplace.com.
Peace,
Jeanne

supermom replied: I have to agree with being comitted - IMHO it's a matter of wanting to bad enough and then just doing it no matter what anyone else says. If you can pump often enough, and can keep your supply up, then there shouldn't be any reason that what you plan on doing shouldn't work. The one thing that might be a problem is nipple confusion, but I also know a lot of people who do this and it works out fine.

I have to agree with others, get a good pump - it will make things a lot easier in the long run, especially if you are planning on doing this for any length of time (which it sounds like you are). If you are not sure it will work out, then rent a hospital grade pump for a little bit, and just play it by ear.

I do hope that you work it all out - it's so awesome to know that *you* are the one responsible for the life you carried even after birth!! Great feeling - and so much better for the little one than formula IMHO!! GO FOR IT!! YAHOO!!

Hillbilly Housewife replied: Thanks everyone - I's SURE things will work out. I haven't discussed maternity leave with my boss yet - so who knows how it will go - maybe I won't even need to go back to work for a few weeks in between birth and leave.... so who knows?!

I figure I'm not going to stress myself out about it until I know what's going to happen, THEN I'll decide what to do.

Thanks for all the wonderful input! Very helpful!