My Milk Supply Drops After Returning To Work | What To Do

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I received a lot of questions regarding milk supply drop after returning to work. So I thought I would share one of them and steps that you can do to increase your supply back.

my milk supply suddenly drops after returning to work

This post is part of MILK SUPPLY series. You may check out other posts in this series:

Question:

First, of all thanks for your guidance. I just started to build my stash 1 week before working. I am currently working for 1 month already. And now my milk supply is getting lower. I am only able to pump 2 times max during working hours. Previously I can get at least 9 oz upto 12 oz per session. And now slowly I can feel my breast is not engorged like before. Please help me!

First of all, let’s revisit the golden rule of milk production:

The emptier the breast, the faster your milk production is.

The fuller the breast, the slower it is.

You mention that your breast is not engorged as before. It’s a sign that your milk supply is regulated, following your pumping / feeding schedule.

If you can get a third pump session at work, that would be the best solution.

Rather than, say, pump 2x 30 minutes each, pump 3x 20 minutes each will likely give you more milk. You still spend a total of 60 minutes in total, but split the pumping time differently.

I have a story to share. When I was pumping 3x a day at work, I can collect up to 280 ml in total. But two weeks after I reduced my pumping sessions into twice, my supply reduced dramatically to 180 ml total (this is a total milk yield from 2 pumping sessions at work). What a nightmare.!

The solution that I did was doing power pumping to build up the supply back and get back to 3 pump sessions at work.

Read my full story here.

But, I understand not all working moms have official pumping breaks. If really you can only sneak out twice a day, no matter how long your pump session is, check out these alternatives:

Consider hands-free pumping setup (such as using Freemie cups + a silent portable pump) so that pumping won’t disturb your work. I understand not all moms like Freemie, or perhaps some moms think Freemie may not empty the breast that well, but the point here is to get your milk out, so it signals your brain that you still need more milk.
Pump while commuting. I’ve talked to a lot of moms who do pumping while commuting, be it while driving or public transport. It can be done, you just need to practice.
Extra pumping at home. Try to sneak pumping in the morning before work / at night after the baby sleeps.
Nurse more at home. If you can’t pump at home, try to nurse your baby more often at home. Remember, the more milk out, the more milk is produced.

As a final note, you have quite ample milk supply to begin with. Hopefully, with these tricks, you can increase your milk supply back to normal.

You can check out these two posts for more ideas on how to increase milk supply while pumping and how to maintain a healthy supply.

I hope this short Q&A can help you find the solution for your decreasing milk suppy after returning back to work.

Question:

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