Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Working Girl
So I've survived my first two days back to work. My mom is doing a phenomenal job with Charlie (like I knew she would) and I am actually enjoying being back at school. What I'm not enjoying, however, is pumping. Ugh... what a pain. I dislike preparing and washing bottles and I especially dislike having to worry about when I'll have the time in my schedule. Yesterday and today worked out well because the teachers I was subbing for had prep times in the morning and afternoon. But tomorrow through Friday I'm in a Kindergarten classroom (that's a whole other challenge!) and she only has one prep in the morning. My plan is to pump then, pump at lunch, and pump right after school. Lunch is at 11:30 and school ends at 3:00. Not ideal, but what can you do? This is also really making me question how this will work in September when I'm back in my classroom. I have forty minutes for planning time and forty minutes for lunch each day. I'm new to pumping so maybe this will change, but it takes me five minutes to set up, twenty minutes to pump, and about seven minutes to clean up and store my equipment. That doesn't leave much time, does it? And how do I make copies, meet with parents, or talk with colleagues? I just don't understand how this works... I'm going to have to consult with my friend Alice... :)
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Are you pumping in the same area each time? If you are, you can leave your stuff set up and ready to roll, which will save you set up time. It takes me about 15 minutes to pump - including set up and clean up. I pump for about 10 minutes, or until I get a second let down. I get a second let down, or I would quit even sooner. Since you're pumping multiple times per day, one hint that I give is that if you need to cut off some time, cut off washing all the parts. You can rinse or you can just store them in the bag with milk still on them (particularly if you put them in the cooler side of the bag). Milk itself can sit out at room temp for 4-6 hours and still be safe, because of the immunological factors in breastmilk, it will prevent any germs from growing on your parts. Set up only takes me about a minute. Have everything that you need all in one spot and you'll get much quicker about putting pieces and parts together as time goes on.
Why are you pumping for 20 minutes? Are you getting milk for the full 20? We often tell our moms to just pump for 10 minutes, unless milk is still actively coming out.
Teachers are hard pressed to find pumping times - we've had moms that will pump in the morning before classes start, overnight (before they go to bed, for instance if the baby goes down at 8 and doesn't wake until 5, they'll pump around 10 or 11), and often before they leave for the day.
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