How to Plan a Pumping Schedule for Working Moms

Here to help tailor your pumping schedule for a working mom. As an experienced breastfeeding/pumping/working mom of 3, I’ll answer all your questions about going back to work while pumping and give you the best advice as you prepare for your first day back. 

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 How often should a working mom pump?

This will vary so much from mom to mom and will be dependent on each situation. Below are a few things to take into consideration when deciding how often you should pump at work:

1. How old is your baby? 

Are you going back to work at 6 weeks or sooner? Or is your baby older? This will greatly impact the amount of pumping sessions needed at work. For a newer baby, you might need to pump more often to keep your milk supply established. Aiming for every 2-3 hours.

I wouldn’t recommend going beyond 3 hours if you are wanting to keep an adequate milk supply. If your baby is a little older you can stick closer to every 3 hours. Pay attention to your milk supply the first few weeks you’re back at work. This will tell you if you should be pumping more.

2. What are your breastfeeding/pumping goals?

Are you wanting to exclusively breastfeed and pump milk for your baby or are you OK supplementing along the way? Are you wanting to continue to provide breast milk beyond a year? Or do you have a shorter time frame as a goal?

Whatever your goals are will depend on how often you should be pumping at work. If you’re content with your breastfeeding journey and how far you’ve come, you can pump less at work knowing you might need to supplement along the way.

However, if you have long term goals, sticking to your planned schedule most of the time would be important.  

3. What shifts are you working?

Your work schedule might effect how often you need to pump. Do you work second or third shift? With my first baby, I was working as a nurse on third shift. My baby was waking up about 2 times a night at that point. Then, I was able to nurse her during the day while I slept in between.

I could pump less at work because of this. I pumped twice while I was away at work knowing I would still be able to nurse her during the day too.

If you’re working third shift, but don’t have the option to have someone taking care of your baby in the home while you sleep, I would recommend figuring out about how often and how much (as far as ounces) your baby is drinking through the day. Then model a pumping schedule at night similar to this.

This will help keep up with your baby. You most likely will need to get up when you’re sleeping during the day to pump, so keep this in mind when thinking about how much milk and how many pumping sessions you’ll need to fit in. 

What is a reasonable amount of time to pump at work?

Pumping time will vary from mom to mom. If you’re going back to work sooner, your pumping time might need to be a little longer than if you have an older baby. As a general guideline, I planned for 15-20 minutes of active pumping.

My lunch break was longer than my two other breaks, so I always planned to pump for 20 minutes at lunch. Plan for 15-20 minutes of active pumping unless you already have an idea of how long you need for pumping.

Your rights as a lactating mother returning to work

You may be wondering what the laws are related to pumping at work. In the United States you do have legal rights when it comes to pumping at work.

The Pump Act was passed to help protect lactating mothers at their workplace. In general, most employees have the right to reasonable break times and a private place to pump breast milk for their nursing child.

Employers are required by law to provide a private space for a mother to pump that is not a bathroom. If an employee is not completely relieved from duty, time used to pump breast milk at work must be paid.

Here is a great resource from the U.S Department of Labor if you have more detailed questions about pumping at work and your rights.

If you have been denied a private room or break time to pump you can file a complaint. The number is listed in the resources I’ve linked above. 

Things to consider before going back to work:

What kind of work environment or work load do you have?

Active jobs or more demanding jobs can make pumping at work more challenging. As a nurse myself, it was sometimes difficult to get the breaks I needed to pump.

I had the bonus of many pumping coworkers that would work together to get what we needed every shift.

If you don’t have the support at work, I would recommend investing in a wearable pump. Wearable pumps were just starting to get more popular when I had my third baby. There weren’t very many affordable options at that point.

Now, if I were to do it all over again, I would invest in a cheaper wearable pump to have in my bag to use just in case. That way, if I needed to pump on the go at work, or at my desk during a meeting I was able to do so discretely and not miss a pumping session.

I found this wearable pump that has great reviews and is relatively affordable compared to some of the other wearable pumps out there. Keep in mind, some wearable breast pumps may not do as good of a job removing your milk as regular pumps.

I would be cautious about using it 100% of the time. But it’s still a good option for moms with a heavy workload or special circumstances. 

 This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here. 

Breastfeeding and pumping mothers

For many breastfeeding mothers, if can be difficult to fit in nursing sessions around long hours at work. You can time your morning so you’re breastfeeding your baby as soon as they wake up, and then once more just prior to leaving for the day.

The evening can be hard to coordinate. Things to consider are -if you pump too soon to pick up, you won’t have enough to satisfy a hungry baby, or if you don’t pump and your baby just got a full bottle right before pickup, you might end up having to pump again when you’re home.

Talk with you childcare provider and see if there’s a good way to keep in touch towards the end of the day. Maybe a quick text message about when you baby’s last bottle was and how much or if they think your baby will be ready to nurse when you pick them up.

Some daycare centers have apps you sign into that tracks all of this throughout the day to keep you updated too.

Can your baby nurse at work?

If you’re a breastfeeding mom and wondering about breastfeeding your baby at work, talk to your management. Some places of work will allow a new mom to breastfeed their baby at work.

If you have the ability to have someone bring your baby to you at work, this might be a great option. Although employers are not required to accommodated for this, so keep that in mind.

Exclusive pumping mothers

If you’re an exclusive pumper, you already have some of the guess work figured out about how often you need to pump and how much you baby is getting.

You already know how to use your pump and have probably came up with a good system of cleaning your parts, the best pumping must haves to make your life easier and so on.

What is a normal pumping schedule for working mom

It’s best to plan for 2-4 pumping sessions while you’re at work for an 8 hour day. As I mentioned above this will depend greatly on each mother’s unique situation.

However, I have provided a sample pumping schedule for a working mom below to help give you some ideas of what a day at work pumping might look like.

Sample pumping schedule for working mom 

Pumping schedule for an 8 hour day

• 7AM – Breastfeed baby prior to drop off/leaving for work
• 7:30AM – If you have at least a 10 minute drive, I recommend pumping in the car on your way to work. Or plan for an extra 10-15 minutes to pump in your car once you arrive at work. 
• 10:30AM – Pump
• 12:30PM -Pump during lunch break
• 3:30PM – Final pumping session at work for an 8 hour day.
• By pumping at 3:30 this would give you enough time to either pump on the way home at 5 or be full enough to breastfeed your baby when you pick them up. 

Pumping schedule for a 12 hour day

For a 12 hour shift, I would add in one more pumping session in another 2 and a half to 3 hours. I always tried to time my final pump so I could either pump on the way home or be able to feed my baby when I picked them up. 

-My caregiver would let me know towards the end of the day what to expect so I could adjust my plan.

Pumping at work tips

1. Get a pumping bra

Find yourself a good pumping bra. I bought this pumping and nursing combo bra. Being able to pump with the bra I already had on was so convenient. Don’t waste time hassling with a pumping bra you have to put on every time. It’s not worth it. 

2. Consider wearable pumps

Consider investing in a wearable pump if you have a hard time fitting in your pumping sessions due to a demanding job.

This wearable breast pump is more affordable if you don’t want to invent a large amount of money on a second pump. In an ideal world, you would have easy access to a lactation room to pump when you needed to every time.

With more demanding work environments, I know this is just not always going to happen. If it’s feasible, purchase a wearable breast pump for those times to keep you on schedule, instead of missing a pumping session. 

3. Set an alarm

I can’t remember how many times I would get busy and forget to pump and miss my pumping session, throwing my whole plan for the day off. Set your alarm on your phone or on a watch to keep you on schedule. 

4. Set a timer

Plan for 15-20 minutes of active pumping for a full pumping session. It’s a good idea to set a timer on your phone. It’s easy to lose track of time when you’re pumping.  

5. Pump in your car on your way to and from work.

I had a 10 minute drive on my way to work. After I dropped my baby off, I would hook myself up to my pump and pump on my way to work. This way I knew I had a good 2-3 hours of work before I needed to pump again.

Depending on if I would need to nurse my baby right away when I picked them up or not, I would also pump on the way home from work. I did this a lot when I worked my night shifts. This way I could go right to sleep when I got home. 

6. Get comfortable with your pump and build a 2-3 day supply

As your return date approaches, practice using your breast pump after feedings (if you haven’t already). You might want to consider having 2-3 days of milk stored up prior to going back to work. You really don’t need a huge freezer stash of milk like you might see on social media.

A couple of days extra is perfectly fine! Be comfortable with the parts and how to use them. See an international board certified lactation consultant if you still have more questions about using your breast pump. 

If your baby is under six months old and you work 8-12 hours days, you will need about 10-15 ounces per day. So around 30 ounces for a 2 day cushion.

7. Relax during pumping sessions

If you can, relax during your pumping sessions. For me, when I would try to work while I pumped, it would sometimes take longer for me to let down or I wouldn’t pump as much.

I did my best to unplug, look at pictures of my baby on my phone or listen to relaxing music while I pumped.

This is just something to pay attention to if you find you’re not pumping as much at work than you planned.

Fitting in pumping sessions at work

If you’re worried about getting in the time to pump, talk with your supervisor ahead of time. Discuss what the expectation is for pumping.

I did this prior to coming back with all three of my babies. When I was working in the hospital, I was also dependent on having someone take over for me for breaks.

I would discuss this at the beginning of the shift with my coworkers and adjusted my pumping times as needed to fit them all in. I was fortunate and had great coworkers that were more than willing to help. 

Pumping at work -Cleaning parts

Cleaning pump parts is a huge time suck and it’s not really that fun. There are a couple of hacks to help with this. 

If you have the space in your breast pump bag, you can keep an ice cream bucket with a lid and wash your pump parts in this bucket. I recommend having a designated basin or bucket that is just for washing pump parts.

This avoids your pump parts coming into contact with any bacteria that might be lingering in a sink. The basin I linked above is collapsible to save space.

Back to work pumping packing list

• Double electric breast pump
• Pump parts
• Wet bag for pump parts
• Soap for pump parts
• Basin or bucket to wash parts in 
• Breast milk storage bags (or other breast milk storage containers)
• Permanent marker
• Ice packs
• Cooler
• Pumping bra
• Water bottle
• Breast pump bag

Returning to work breastfeeding or exclusively pumping can be an anxious time. As your maternity leave comes to an end, I hope sharing my knowledge and experienced has helped you plan ahead and ease some of the uncertainty. 

If you’re noticing your milk production decreasing after returning to work, reach out to a lactation consultant to help brainstorm ideas to help. 

If you have any other questions about it, please ask! I’m happy to help!

Have a stash of breast milk in your freezer needing organizing? See my related tutorial on How to Make a Breast Milk Brick.