Hi Mommas & Mommas-To-Be,
Thank you to everyone for the kind words and support as I transitioned back to work. I surprisingly haven’t cried at the office. I’ve been able to FaceTime Evelyn a few times during the day and since she isn’t sleep trained yet I still had several hours to cuddle her once I got home … a blessing and also, not…
We are still primarily breastfeeding so that’s added an extra layer of complication for heading back to work. Thankfully, she is taking a bottle and I have been slowly storing breastmilk in the freezer.
My work switched offices while I was on leave and the new space is a serious upgrade. They even thought to put in two “Mother’s Rooms.” I’m soooo thankful and also feel a little guilty – I know so many working moms before me have had to pump in bathrooms and storage closets. Here are some photos of my sweet pumping at work space:
There’s a sink, fridge & microwave. They even left a basket full of pumping goodies and a comfortable chair, side table with a phone charger and super soft blanket. Seriously spoiled.
I’m currently the only breastfeeding mama at work so I have the space all to myself. There’s a lock with a key that I have so I’m able to bring all my items in and set them up in the morning and then leave them there for the rest of the day. I’m so thankful I don’t have to be washing & sanitizing my pumping accessories in a communal kitchen.
For the soon-to-be Mom Bosses out there I wanted to share what I’ve been packing to get me through the work day as a pumping mama:
- Pump & Accessories – Duh. I also purchased a set of backup accessories to leave at work as a fellow mom had recommended that. However, I haven’t opened it yet as I don’t think i’ll need it. She recommended it in case I forget them at home one day. But to avoid that I have these super helpful post-its taped to my front door (please don’t judge how dirty my door is…):
- On the go pump cleaning & sanitizing. I use these wipes to wipe all my accessories down, then I sanitize them in the microwave with this bag.
- Cooler Bag & Ice Pack
- Storage Bags for milk (my faves are these or these).
- Extra Shirt – For the inevitable breastmilk leak or spill when pumping, I will be prepared!
- Healthy Snacks
- Water Bottle – love my Swell bottle!
- Extra Nursing Pads
- Phone Charger & Phone – To facetime with your baby while pumping (to help w/ milk supply) or have some personal time to just veg out and check social media.
- Hand Sanitizer & Hand unscented lotion – I’m constantly washing my hands, especially before and after pumping and my hands are always so dry!
- Lastly, in case of a natural disaster, power outage or I do forget a pump part(s), I leave an old school silicone breast pump in the Mother’s Room as a last resort. (Doesn’t hurt to have one of these in your car as well.)
Let me know if I missed any of your must have pumping at work items in the comments!
Xo,
M