I am returning to work in a few weeks and am meeting with my office manager to template my schedule (general pediatrics practice). Any suggestions for how to schedule pumping or how much time to allow?

Absolutely! I did this twice. I am also a general pediatrician.

With my first son, I think I took a couple of pumping breaks per day but he landed up weaning altogether around six months when I had a crazy rounding week and missed my pumping sessions!

With my second son, I took four months leave and fortunately established a better milk supply. We had a small daycare right in the office at the time so I blocked off nursing breaks, two in the am and two in the pm. The breaks were just ten minutes long each. This really kept me moving as my baby refused bottle nipples and I did not want his mealtime to disappear if I was running behind! This worked great. Nursing was actually faster than pumping for me, especially for a slightly older infant. Plus the daycare providers could give him cereal during the day to tide him over.

Ideally you would want to pump as often as your baby would nurse, and at approximately the same times, so you stay in sync with your baby. Nothing worse than getting home, full of milk, and the baby just had a bottle! I preferred more frequent breaks, and really it did not take long (even for pumping, ten minutes was enough for me). So, I had two ten minute breaks in the am, two in the pm and lunch time, that was five feedings during the day!

Best of luck. Stick to your guns and insist on what you need to continue to nurse your infant. Breastfeeding/pumping is really a very short time overall. Don't let anyone give you a hard time about it!

Let us know how it goes.

If you have pumped before you will know what works for you. I prefer to pump in longer sessions less frequently, so I had blocked 15 minutes in mid morning and 15 mid afternoon. I also pumped on arrival (I always get there 30 mins prior to patients) and at lunch. I had baby all sorted out so he would eat in the early morning, and then take a bottle at daycare at the time of my first pumping session. I actually had a really great supply, so I would find myself pumping on weekends to keep with my normal pace. My daycare was also great about having him hungry when I arrived in the afternoon, so I could nurse right away.

I should add that with my prior child my daycare was really close, so a lot of days I would go over at lunch to feed her in person, which was awesome, and I would just call on the days I was coming so they knew not to feed her.

I'm kind of a slow pumper - slow second letdown that I really need to keep up with my daughter - so I pump for 15 minutes at a time, which, with setup/cleanup means 20-25 minutes. I went back to work when she was 3 months, and pumped every 3 hours for the first 3 months, then every 3.5h, and now, at 10 months, am at Q4 or 4.5h. I pump more often when I'm working longer hours and stretch more when I'm working shorter shifts.

I'm a third year med student and pump once a day for 15 minutes (12 minutes actual pumping time, 3 min transportation; I never clean up afterward anymore, just wash the parts at home later on). I am amazed people are able to find time for longer pumping sessions--I generally find that if I am gone for more than 15 minutes total, people start to wonder what is taking me so long. I've also honestly stopped telling people I am pumping and just started doing it when I find the time (eg, right before noon conference, during work time when I am done with my notes, etc). This seems to work out fine, and I have *usually* been able to feed my 9 month old exclusively breastmilk, though we have also gone through one can of formula over the past three months (not bad, I think!).

I think if you are in a general peds private practice, you should have a lot of understanding from partners of whatever pumping needs you end up having. Chances are your partners will "get it".

I am a 3rd year medical student with a 4 month old son. I have been pumping on my rotations which, up until the one I just finished, has been pretty easy.

The mornings are hard to find time to pump. I pump between morning report and seeing patients, but then we round until noon conference. I have to pump before noon conference or I will end up going at least 5 hours between pumping sessions. This inevitably means I am a few minutes late to the conference everyday. It leaves me out of step with the residents, out of sync with the rest of the students, and a little flustered overall.

My next rotation has a similar schedule with long rounding hours. Any suggestions or commiserations?

I was very upfront with people: "Unfortunately, I have to pump every 3-4 hours. I'm so sorry this is such a pain! How can I help minimize the disruption this causes to the team?" But, no room for "can I" pump this often - that was just assumed. If it meant I had to miss parts of sounds, so be it. I even did this through my core surgery rotations - if I had to break scrub and come back, so be it. I was careful to always warn people, but - I just acted like there was no question it had to be done, and everyone went along with it ok.

In terms of potential impact on grades: one thing that worked well, actually, was that our hospital has wireless internet access, and I bought a little netbook that I could keep with my pumping stuff. I could then use pumping time to bone up on whatever topic had just come up on rounds or was about to with my next patient - worked GREAT for seeming on top of things!

Feel free to PM me with any additional questions. I have to say, at the stage you're at now, I *hated* pumping. I thought it was so much more onerous than I'd ever imagined, and didn't know how I could keep it up. But, it got much better - now my daughter is 11 months and I'm still keeping up with her milk intake and nursing easily whenever I'm home, and I'm so glad. I really feel it was worth it, for us!

I wish i could pump in 15 minutes, it takes me at least 40. Now that i'm doing my internal medicine rotation, i just can't keep it up. Baby number 2 is 14 months and i can barely get in one pumping session when i'm on onvernight call, takes almost an hour. I don't want to give it up, no 1 went until 19 months before he weaned himself... any advice?

have you seen a lactation consultant? they can be helpful.