Elia is now 8 weeks old. This past week, I’ve started expressing milk for when I return to work. Oh, the joys!
On average, a breastfed baby needs approximately 1 litre of breastmilk per 24 hours. So, by the time I go back to work, I’ll need the very bare minimum of 3 litres in the freezer for Elia. Thankfully, Stevie hasn’t taken breastmilk from a bottle since she was just over a year old – otherwise I’d be pumping my entire life away!
3 litres will last her roughly 3 days, so that’s allowing for a one day job and travel time. Ideally, I can get 4 litres. But I absolutely despise expressing.
I don’t have an issue, as far as ease goes. I’ve been blessed with a plentiful milk supply (seriously, you wanna see this stuff go shooting across the room on a let down) and 15 mins with a double electric Medela pump yields around 150ml easily. I just struggle to find the time to sit with a cup of coffee and pump. I also hate the sound of the machine and the feeling of it – breastfeeding an infant is a nice experience, but having your milk sucked out by a machine is, honestly, cow-like. Moo.
But I refuse to be beaten. The first time I went back to work after Stevie was born, I left enough milk bar two feeds. This time, I will beat my own record and leave surplus. Now I just need to motivate myself enough to sit every single day and remove it. Wish me luck!
Mumming and Modelling 