You are nearing the end of your maternity leave and are going back to work. .. You will need to continue expressing milk so that your baby continues to receive breast milk during this period . Below you will find some tips on expressing milk at work that can be useful for both you and your baby.
- First of all , prepare yourself to carry a breast pump with you to work . Because you will need to express milk as often as you breastfeed your baby . This may seem strange at first, but you will be doing it so that your baby can have breast milk for longer. Frequent expressing will also support breast milk continuity and you will be able to continue breastfeeding when you get home.
- Take a bag to work with you to store the breast pump and breast milk storage bottles or sachets. Take care to keep this easy-to-carry bag in a clean environment.
- Inform your coworkers and manager about your need to express milk. Men, women who have not given birth, or people who are not around mothers who have given birth may not understand the need for this.
- Listen to others’ experiences of expressing milk at work. If you know someone who milks while working, talk to them about their experiences and solutions to the challenges they face. This will make you feel better. If you don’t know anyone like this, blogs on the internet can help you.
- Plan your milking breaks in advance. Before you go back to work , your body has a rhythm of breast milk production to which it is accustomed, depending on the frequency of breastfeeding. Maintaining this rhythm after starting work is important for the continuity of breast milk. For this reason, take care to empty your breasts by expressing milk during your breastfeeding hours. Organize where you can express milk before you start work. Do not even think about unhygienic environments such as toilets.
- Think only about your baby during milking. The hormone oxytocin, which is responsible for the outflow of milk from the breast, is released more easily when you think about your baby or smell something that belongs to your baby. Before you start milking, you can look at a photo of your baby, think about him/her or smell his/her clothes. An increase in the hormone oxytocin will make it easier for you to express milk.
If You Can’t Find Time to Milk at Work…
Sometimes you may be very busy at work and not have time for expressing milk. In this case, try to express your breast for a short time. It is better to give a warning to express milk so as not to disturb your body’s rhythm of breast milk production than not to express milk at all.
You can express your milk directly into the bag
It is not always easy to carry milking sets to work and clean them after each milking. You can attach the breast milk storage bags to the milking set of any breast pump and continue the milking process. After milking is complete, you can lock the bag and take it home. This way you will have fewer parts to clean.