Every 3 Hours

No, this isn't a health blog post telling you to eat something every 3 hours (although, that is not terrible advice - I do that too!).

Every 3 hours is how often it is recommended for nursing moms to pump while at work....so think: morning, lunchtime, & afternoon....

Pumping on the job can be a very tedious, but necessary task and I have to give props to my HR on making it a little easier on this new momma. They have created Nursing Mother's Rooms throughout the campus. You just sign a contract & you are good to go. I even have one in my building - it's wonderful! I am even more thankful because when I asked a colleague at a different university if they had something like that available...they didn't, but were very, very kind to offer me to use someone's office.

The whole pumping momma title seemed very daunting to me at first...especially since I started part-time when I came back from leave. I felt I was just running to the Mother's Room all the time. I felt guilty for doing this really...nobody really gave me the side-eye about it, but I still felt like I was getting special treatment for being a new mom. After the first few weeks though...and once I went back to being full-time...the guilty feeling started to fade away. I'm doing something really good for Violet & I started to notice the support from my work colleagues. It was there the whole time....but my "back in my mind" guilty feeling didn't let me notice it. A good friend of mine told me it would just become a part of my routine before I knew it...I had a tough time believing her ... but she was right. Six weeks later and there's not much to it. I've got it down to a nice 25-30 minute routine. Hooray!

So here's my whole thought about pumping at work:

*Wear two piece outfits...think skirt & top, pants & top - dresses can work, just make sure they are accessible...if ya know what I mean. :)

*Drink your water. I *really* notice the days my water intake has dropped...

*Bring snacks. AKA eat! You need those extra calories too!

*Take something to read/entertain you. I take my iPod Touch and/or my phone that both have my fave Pandora stations on it. I turn that on & bring a book or play solitaire. I sometimes just look at pics or video of my baby girl too. :)

*Try not to hate your pump too much. lol I have an Ameda pump and I just love it...I know, crazy weird, right? But I'm able to double pump, single pump & it even came with a manual pump. It was more affordable than a Medela but still a very high quality and came with all the things this working momma needs....the bag for it is pretty nice as well...I give it an A+.

and finally....

*Relax...as much as you can. :)

Any other working mamas have advice on this topic? I would love to hear it!

Until next time...
Beth :)