Hey mama! I was in your shoes a year ago. My son is almost 15 months old now and I just stopped pumping at work recently and we still nurse when together. I can tell you that I spent so much energy stressing about pumping, especially those first 6 months when he wasn't on solids yet. I heard of these other moms pumping twice as much as me and was so jealous! But at the end of the day, my body was making exactly what my baby needed and I just needed to trust that everything would be okay. I think if I had realized that sooner, it would have saved me a lot of stress.

First off, if you haven't yet, read this article and have your mom read it too: http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/feeding-tools/bottle-feeding/

Re: pumping extra sessions: I added a 4th pump session at work by arriving 20 minutes early every morning and pumping before I got to my desk and I was on the clock, or I pumped in the car on the way to work if I was running late. I never pumped more than 13oz in a day with 4 pumping sessions, so we are very similar in that regard. 4 shorter sessions is probably better than 3 longer sessions if you can swing it. I always needed a minimum of 20 minutes, so it's tough to fit it in!

Re: amount of bottles while separated: If I would have given daycare 30oz a day, they would have fed it to my son. When I sent 12, he drank 12. When I sent 14, he drank 14. Daycare asked for more because it was easier for them to pacify him with a bottle when he cried, but he was away from me 9-10 hours and 12oz is a perfectly acceptable amount of milk, especially since we nursed before drop off, nursed when I picked him up, again before bed, and multiple times during the night. I think 4-5oz every 2.5 hours is honestly more than most babies need (check out this calculator http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/). Obviously every baby is different, but I think your baby is probably crying because he misses you and not necessarily out of hunger so often. As long as your baby is growing at a healthy rate and is nursing plenty when you are together, then he's okay! When my son was home with my husband he was fine with 12oz, so I knew it was daycare and not actual hunger. They don't need any more volume of milk as time goes on, so my son drank 4oz bottles from birth to current day!

What's your pumping situation like at work? Are you stressed to find the time? Hurrying to finish? Watching the bottles? Do you use your hands to help move milk along too? What are the lights like? Noise? The situation has SO MUCH to do with your output.

A good rule of thumb is that if you take it from the freezer, you need to replace it the same day (or within a few days). If you borrow 2oz, you should make time in the evening/early morning to pump 2oz so you signal your body to make what your baby is drinking. For now, if you're pumping 12 and supplementing 2oz from the freezer, your baby is drinking 14 and your body only thinks he's drinking 12.

Just remember in the end that you are doing an awesome thing for you and your baby by pumping while at work! Things really did get much easier for us when he started having solids around 6 months. Just hang in there, do your best, and know that it will all work out okay. And if you need to supplement a little in the meantime, that's okay too! I know how much it meant to me to not need to supplement, but I also know that a stressed mama isn't good either and I would have done it in a heartbeat if it meant we could all be happier.

Good luck mama!

I did notice a big difference in my pumping amount when my period returned (mine was at 11.5 months, though, so I was very well established with my pumping amounts by that time). Just do what you can, and try not to stress about what you can't fit in. You're doing great!

Also, it is wonderful that you have your own office, but I think it's also hard because you are still surrounded by work. Can you dedicate a section of your desk/wall to nothing but baby photos? Can you read a book while pumping (I always used both hands to squeeze every drop out, so that wouldn't work for me, but maybe it will for you). Anything that you can do, even face a different direction when pumping than you normally do while working.

I kind of took it upon myself to make pumping a topic of conversation where I work. I work mostly with men, so I knew it could either be totally awkward, or we could joke about it. So every time they see me with my pump bag heading to my room, we laughed and said "time to milk the cow!" or they would toss a piece of chocolate my way and ask if I could make some chocolate milk this time. It really helped me to know they accepted what I was doing and we could laugh about it instead of everyone being embarrassed. I've had a few even tell me that it's awesome I've stuck with it so long (although, I'm done now!!) because they know how hard it was for their wives. So, people may be more accepting than you think, but y'all just don't talk about it!!! Also, my boss doesn't understand at all (no children), but she was very supportive and covered for me at meetings when I needed to leave. I recently thanked her for her support over the last 14 months and she said "I hope in some way this contributed to you and your son both being healthier." So, she gets it, even though it was awkward for awhile. Just give it time!!

Can you add a pumping session? Also, sometimes if let down is taking too long I stop pumping and start hand expressing right into the bottle. It's actually really effective if you do it right. The pumping brings my milk to the front and it's really easy to squeeze out. Or even if i did have a let down but then the milk stops coming, i can get an extra half ounce by hand expression after I'm done pumping. Good luck.