This is my cute little lunch box underneath my desk with my two pumps and my morning bag of milk. (sorry for the poor image quality – cell phone picture)
Supplies: two hand pumps (since I’m too cheep to buy a dual electric- plus they are virtually silent), ice packs, milk storage bags or big bottle with sealing lid and a big lunch box to put them all in. Optional supplies that I find handy are napkins or a hand towel to wipe drips off of myself the pumps and my desk, a large water bottle since I always get immediately thirsty when I start to pump or nurse, and a sharpie to label the bags.
I don’t wash my pump after every time, or even every day. I keep it refrigerated when at home and in my lunch box with the ice packs when at work. I usually wash it every other day at home in the dish washer.
I’m fortunate to have an office with a locking door, and a semi-flexible schedule so I can usually pump when I need to. I have the reputation for eating a lot, so no one questions why I bring a lunch box to work, then go home for lunch, and THEN bring it back with me for the afternoon ;).
After I am finished pumping I typically pour the milk into a milk storage bag so it won’t leak out of the pumps reservoir while I’m carrying it home. I will pour it all into one bag- mainly because I’m cheep, but I don’t see the need to separate it into 2-3oz servings (what my baby typically eats at one time) because, if a bag needs to be thawed while I’m at work, I am probably gone long enough for him to need more than one bottle. I typically get anywhere from 5-8 oz in any one work pumping session. I keep the bag of milk in the lunch box with the ice packs and my pump until I get home. Then decide if it needs to be left in the refrigerator for the next day, or if it’s Friday, it can be frozen.
On Mondays W starts the day out with frozen milk that I stick in the fridge the evening before. That amount of milk will typically be replaced by the milk I bring home on Friday and put in the freezer. This is a good way to practice ‘first in-first out’ and keep the freezer stash from getting too old.
Mornings are always more plentiful than the afternoons, even if I do nurse right before I leave for work, and Mondays are always more plentiful than Fridays. I’m not quite sure why this is, but I’ve read that it’s pretty much the norm.
My husband is a stay at home dad, so I am fortunate I don’t have to deal with preparing bottles to take to daycare – then hoping they properly handle them. I imagine that is probably a big pain.
One other thing- we microwave the milk. Yes- I know that is supposedly the biggest sin you can make with breast milk, but here is my reasoning. The two arguments for not microwaving breast milk are- 1) it will destroy the living cells and antibodies contained in milk that make it so good for your baby and 2) potential hot spots that could scald your baby (this is true for any liquids you microwave)
My defense against point 1- is this really any worse than formula??? Formula doesn’t have living cells or antibodies, yet babies all across the world live and thrive on formula… Plus, my baby will still get the real stuff when I’m home. Point 2- just mix it up and test it first.. Really- it’s that simple.
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