Pumping - difficulties
Not the first time as I was lucky to have quite a bit of time off.
But this second bub will be a different story as will have to go back a
lot sooner. If this feeding journey is anything like my first I will have to use formula as I can't seem to pump enough for a day of
feeds.
Pumping - dislike
Pumping right now at work and hating it.
Contemplating formula for while I'm at work because I dislike pumping so much.
She is 9
months old.
Refused bottled expressed
milk
My son refused pumped milk from a bottle at day care whilst I was at work.
He was still 7-8 months old and so he still needed
breast milk during the day.
He would go all day without any milk.
Also having to go back to work financially, meant that my baby
was in day care early, when his immune system was very immature.
I may as well not have been working with the sick leave (and
unpaid sick leave!) I had to take!
Stopped feeding earlier than
planned
I stopped feeding earlier than I would have if I had been able to stay home a bit longer.
2nd lot of maternity leave starting in 10
weeks and again I will be forced to return to work and stop feeding sooner than I'd like to.
Supportive workplace -
Lactation breaks
What I had instead (have) is a supportive workplace.
I take lactation breaks and walk across the road to child care to feed.
My first I wasn't able to do that (long commute at the time) so I expressed but he never drank from a bottle.
I know if I had been
able to have him across the road from my work as well then he would have fed more often (although no longer).
Supportive workplace -
Lactation breaks
I think the answer partly lies in how supportive the work place is of pumping mums on return to work.
I managed to continue to
exclusively breastfeed til 6 months (returned to work at 4.5 months) and then breast milk and some solids since. I continued to
pump at work 3 then 2 times a day up until my son was 12 months.
By then he was showing that he would rather wait til I got
home and made it through the day on food and water.
In saying all that I'm conscious of the fact that pumping is not so easy for
some, and my sons day time carers had their share of him refusing the expressed breast milk bottle!
Almost two years on however
we still feed before and after work.
I will however look forward to being able to take a total of 12 months paid leave with No.2.
Table 6: Returning to work and its impact on breastfeeding
Report on stakeholder consultation for the Australian National Breastfeeding Strategy
44
Appendix D: Stakeholder consultation participants – workshops and written submissions
Workshop participants
Stakeholder
Attendee
Position
Workshop
Location
Aboriginal Family Birthing Program
Deanna Stuart-
Butler
Manager
Adelaide
Child and Family Health Services-Women’s and Children’s Health
Network
Lynne Kurtzer
Advanced Nurse Unit Manager
Adelaide
Child and Family Health Services, Women’s and Children’s Health
Network
Mary Schneider
Associate Clinical Services Coordinator
Adelaide
