Emotional Prep for Going Back to Work While Breastfeeding, with Robin Kaplan

Returning to work can be a pivotal moment on your breastfeeding journey that stirs up all sorts of feelings. How can you prepare yourself, your baby, you caregivers and your workplace to set you up for physiological and emotional success? Robin Kaplan has answers. Check it out.

What we talked about:

• The gamut of emotions when returning to work
• When to meet with your supervisor, what to say, and what to expect
• How to deal with resistance
• Emotions of leaving your baby
• Dealing with the change of who’s in control and feelings of helplessness
• Preparing your caregiver(s)
• Will your caregivers overfeed your baby?
• Paced bottle-feeding
• How your baby may react to all these changes
• Setting up for a successful transition
• Keeping things on track
• Checking in with your IBCLC

Mentioned links and other related articles*:

• Free Guide to Going Back to Work for Breastfeeding Parents, from the San Diego Breastfeeding Center
• Robin’s Breastfeeding for the Working Family e-course details – use this link for $15 off (discount code BIRTHFUL15)
• Great resource for laws that protect breastfeeding and pumping parents’ rights for pumping at work
• Amazing resource for thinking outside of the box for pumping locations
• DIY Breastfeeding video on Baby-Led Bottle Feeding
• Hypoplasia/Insufficient Glandular Tissue, from KellyMom.com
• The Magic Number and Long-Term Milk Production, by Nancy Mohrbacher
• For the Caregiver of a Breastfed Baby by Nancy Mohrbacher
• Facts Every Employed Mother Needs to Know by Nancy Mohrbacher

Related Birthful episodes:

• 11 Breastfeeding Need-to-Knows, with Robin Kaplan
• Getting a Good Latch, with Robin Kaplan
• Breastfeeding & Going Back to Work, with Nancy Mohrbacher

Courtesy of Robin Kaplan

About Robin Kaplan

Robin Kaplan, M.Ed., IBCLC has been practicing as a lactation consultant for 10 years and is the founder and CEO of the San Diego Breastfeeding Center.  She is the author of the book, Latch: A Handbook for Breastfeeding with Confidence at Every Stage and she recently launched an online course Breastfeeding for the Working Family (use code BIRTHFUL15 for $15 off).

The extra content for this episode is a Pump Bag Checklist from Robin!

Title music: “Vibe Ace” by Kevin MacLeod, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).

Sponsorship music: “Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).