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Welcome to the Nursing Mothers group on Mayo Clinic Town Square
Employees and Learners Lactating | Last Active: May 17, 2017 | Replies (26)Comment receiving replies
I'm Cyndi. I have two daughters, one is 2 years old, one is five months old. We live near Winona and both my husband and I commute to work--I drive to Rochester and he drives to Wisconsin. I breastfed my oldest for a little over four months before I stopped due to a needlestick exposure, but continued pumping to maintain supply. My supply eventually dwindled and I stopped three months after the exposure. Once I got the all clear from my doctors, we reintroduced the pumped breastmilk. I've had a much easier journey with my second! I'm a huge supporter of breastfeeding but I find it very, VERY difficult to balance working, pumping, driving, spending time with the family and still having time for myself.
I'm looking forward to chatting with other moms on here! Anyone else have the same issue with balancing work/family life?
Replies to "I'm Cyndi. I have two daughters, one is 2 years old, one is five months old...."
Cyndi, yes! Work and life balance is definitely a challenge. I commend you on your commitment after your exposure. So stressful!
I was 8 weeks pregnant with my son when I also had an exposure with known infectious agent--- it was one of the most stressful times of my life not knowing if myself and my child would contract this infection/disease. (Thankfully we're all clear and that was over 3 years ago now!)
Some things that I do to assure I achieve some balance is keeping work at work- no emails at home! It has made a world of difference for our family!.
Time for myself? What's that?!! I used to work inpatient at SMH 12 hour shifts .75 FTE, which at times I could have 4 days off in a row...now I am working 4 days a week and struggle immensely to balance time! Mornings are chaotic, nights are just as crazy with getting home, having to clean pump parts, prepare next day bottles for daycare and nurse a hungry baby... I could not imagine adding a drive on top of that--you go mama!! It's temporary is all I keep telling myself 🙂
I agree I don't know how you do it with a drive?! Do you pump while your driving? I see many posts about that on other blogs to multitask, but obviously BE CAREFUL! What really saved me pumping at work was using the Kiinde system. I was able to pump right into bags. I pumped one side into bag, the other into a bottle and combined into the bag after the pump. I then used a new bag and the same bottle for the next pump. I pumped 3x a day for a verryyyyyy long time. And then at the end of the day would have 3 bags of milk I would portion into her three 4 oz bottles for work the next day, using those bags. Any extra I would freeze or save for the next day in case didn't pump enough. I would have WAY less bottles and parts to wash at night then in the morning I just drop off the bags at daycare. My daycare provider had the holder and nipple, would just pop in the bag and give bottle. After bottle finished bag is thrown away. No bottles to pick up at end of day and no extra bottles to wash!!! The bags are a little bit pricier but would look for deals on Amazon and Target.
I felt the hardest nursing session of the day was when I got home from work. I felt so stressed to make sure to get home in time and then it felt like the night would go so quick by the time nursing and eating myself was done. After I dropped that pump a few months ago that really made me feel like i was freer and had more time. I don't make a Target stop after work as much as I should!
@jostby I also use the kiinde system and pump into one bag and a bottle. I agree so much less to wash up. Luckily I have a very supportive husband who does most of the pump part washing up on evenings which is a time saver and less stress. The thought of more washing was stressing me and decreasing my motivation to pump 3x per day.
@jmreiman washing is the worst! I am so happy to be done with it. Hang in there!
@jmreiman washing is the worst!! Thankfully my husband did all the part washing etc for me as well. I never pumped at home, except for a small period of time my daughter ate only one side in the morning when starting sleeping through night more. But that was stressful trying to find more time in an already busy morning so I was thankfully when my supply regulated and stopped that! Having a free lunch is so amazing now! I watched Netflix during my work pumping sessions to help relax, and now I miss the little TV time I got a day 😉
Keep up the good work! My breastfeeding journey just came to an end this weekend and definitely having mixed emotions. Thankful for more "freedom" but missing the bonding time with my daughter. Now to find new ways to bond!
Cyndi, Welcome to the group! I have also had the issue of balancing work/family/pumping.It is so hard to balance all of those things and sometimes nursing just seemed to get in the way. I just kept telling myself to keep going because that first year will go so fast. I always feel like i am not doing a good job at work by pumping 2 times a day. Trying to find those times to get away was so hard even though i have a supportive work environment. Hang in there!