20 HOURS AND 150 OUNCES

As I'm sitting here on my pump break this morning, I decided to do some calculations. Being a work-out-of-the-home pumping mama for the second time in 2 years, I feel like I "lived and learned", and I'm doing things a bit differently this time around...

First of all, I gave myself a break in the beginning and didn't pump at all during the first 2 weeks. Then I pumped just once/day, after Cora's first morning feed, on weekdays only, during my maternity leave. That adds up to about 7.5 hours of total pumping in that 8 weeks. When I went back to work, I decided that I would NOT be pumping in the evening (because I didn't want to, and I don't have time anyway, what with all the chores that can't be done until the kids are in bed), and thus Cora would not be getting a bedtime bottle (at least, not regularly, though we have done it a few times so that Jay can feed her). Cora nurses to sleep every night (even the few times she's gotten a bottle first), and it's working well. She goes to bed happy, and I go about my evening without having to clean the pump again. I've been back to work for 10 weeks now, and with my 2 pump breaks each day, morning and afternoon, that adds up to another 12.5 hours total pumping time.

Together that makes 20 hours in 4 months. That's NOTHING compared to where I was at by this point with James! And if I keep at this pace, I'll only be at 80 hours by the end of her first year. Compare that to the 300 hours I pumped for James (over 11 months, since I didn't pump all the way to the end of his first year), and I can see myself tolerating the pump much better (and maybe for much longer) this time around!

Of course, I will eventually have to pump more, once I stop nursing Cora at lunch and have to send 3 bottles to daycare instead of 2. Hopefully I can avoid having to do an early morning pump though. I HATED getting up at 5am to pump in order to have enough milk for James' bottles, while making sure that there was milk for him to drink when he woke at 7am. Not such fun times. Of course, my struggle with supply for James happened because I was pregnant with Cora, and we're quite unlikely to have a similar surprise this year, so Cora's milk should be in good supply, unless some other issue arises. So far, I'm finding that even though Cora is sleeping through the night, my milk supply is holding strong, and I can only hope that continues to be the case. As of this weekend, I had over 150 ounces of milk stored for Cora in the deep freeze, which is 3x more than I ever had saved up at any one time for James.

Hooray for experience, a supportive work environment, and a good little eater! And hooray for more milk and less pumping!