Did you know that your body will have an ample supply of milk in ther morning and a lower supply of milk in the evening? It may not be for the reason you think it is! Your breasts always have milk at the ready at every time of day, but mornings can be especially plentiful thanks to prolactin.

The levels of prolactin (a hormone which helps with breastilk production) are higher in the darker hours of the day which helps your body produce more milk overnight that it does during the day as long as you are still nursing your baby overnight. Making sure you feed your baby at least four times overnight, especially in the early days, can help increase your milk supply. As a working mom, you can take advantage of this morning supply by making sure you pump at least once mid-morning.

It can be quite a pain to pump at work. An unexpected meeting can set us off the pumping track, or we get caught up in our work and we just plain forget to pump. I always recommend setting a timer to remind you that’s time to pump. Try to pump for 20 minutes, or however long it takes to empty your breasts, mid-morning and again mid-afternoon. This will not only relieve the build-up of milk should your breasts feel full and uncomfortable, it will also help you keep up your milk supply. If your supply is low, you may need to pump more often throughout the day. Remember it’s all about supply and demand!

Mid-morning. Mid-afternoon. You can do it!

If you are preparing to go back to work, you are most likely wondering, or worrying, about how much breastmilk you need to have readily available in the freezer before your first day. If you have milk supply issues, this is probably an even greater worry. The answer? As much as you possibly can.

After the over-producing early days of new motherhood, I always had a good milk supply. I had breastmilksicles (freezer bags of breastmilk) filled to 4, 5 and 6 oz, stuffed in between the frozen peas and tortellini and sidled up next to the electrolyte replacement freezies.  Just beware not to fill those freezer bags to the very top line, sometimes those bags burst and it would be terribly upsetting to lose your milk. I always filled them to 4 or 5 oz, just to be safe.

 So how much do need? As much as your baby will drink during your work day. How much is that? Well, that differs from baby to baby. If you’re like me, you probably wish your breasts were clear with ounce markers engraved on them clearly indicating how much was in there and how much your baby drank. Alas, our breasts are not bottle appendages, so estimate by recommended averages.

An exclusively breastfed baby between 1-6 months needs approx 19-30 oz of breastmilk in a 24 hr period, which means approx 8-11 oz during your work day. At 12 mths and up, this amount will lean towards the lower end as solids replace some of the fluid intake, gbut they do need to stay hydrated, so 8 aim for 8 oz.

 So 8 oz per work day. I always recommend having at least 3-4 days worth of breastmilk in your freezer, or 24-32 oz. Today you’ll be pumping the milk your baby will drink tomorrow, so you will be replenishing the daycare stock with fresh milk everyday. The freezer supply is a safeguard for those days when supply runs low and you need a top-up, or for those nights out.

Stockpiling pointers:

• Try to have an estimate of how much milk your baby will need during your work day. If your baby has already been taking breastmilk by bottle during the day, you’ll have a good idea. If not, stick to the average of 8-11 oz.
• Try to have at least 3-4 days worth of breastmilk in your freezer, or 24-32 oz. Start pumping 2-3 weeks before your first day back at work. This will give you a good amount of time to build up the stockpile without stressing out about it.
• Bring at least one work day’s worth of milk to the daycare with your baby on your first day back to work. Ask your daycare provider to log your baby’s intake on paper each day, to be given to you when you pick up your baby at the end of the day. Be sure you are clear about what you would like them to do with the unused milk. Do you want them to save it and use it the next day? Send it home with you each evening?  It’s always good to let them know how you would like them to deal with half-finished bottles as well.