A lot of people wondered how I managed to completely breastfeed all my children for more than a year -each child- while working full time.
I guess determination is the key, and knowing our priority is also important.
For me, breastfeeding my children is very high on my priority list, and nothing is going to stop me.
In this article, I describe how I plan, manage, store and express my breast milk while working full time.

1. I would normally start collecting my breast milk right after I come back from the hospital.
   This is because babies within 1 month old don't drink a lot, but my milk supply during that time is normally more than what they can drink, so this is a good time to start storing breast milk for my baby.
   I would express my left over milk out after every feed.
   If the baby still doesn't wake up to drink 3 hours after the last feed, I would express my breast milk out also, even if it is in the middle of the night.
   This will also help in preventing engorgement.
   So it is killing 2 birds with one stone.
   A lot of mothers worry that if they express their milk out, they will not have enough milk if the baby happens to wake up after they express their milk.
   There is no need to worry about this, because we need to remember that the more the milk is drawn out, the more milk our body will produce.
   We should always store more than what we think the baby needs, for rainy days, such as when we're too stressed out at work, or when we don't have enough sleep.
   Breast milk is very precious, don't pour away unnecessarily.
   
2. I would store all my expressed milk in the freezer.
   Studies have shown that we can store breast milk is the freezer for 3 months.
   If you have a deep freezer, you can store it for 6 months.
   So I would label all my bottles with the date that I express my milk.
   I would also store the breast milk in equal quantities, such as 3 ounces each bottle, which is the quantity that my baby would drink at the beginning of the 3rd month when I go back to work.
   And I would make sure that I organize my freezer such that I can have a first in first out system when using the milk.
   I would estimate that my baby would drink about 4 ounces when she is 5 or 6 months.
   So I would back calculate and start storing 4 ounces each bottle in anticipation.
   
3. One week before I go back to work, I would start to introduce bottled breast milk to my baby for at most one feed a day.
   The important key here is that the person who bottle feeds the baby shouldn't be the mother.
   This is to avoid nipple confusion.
   So I would normally get my husband or my mother in law to bottle feed her the breast milk while I hide some where.
   This is because if the baby knows that I am around, she won't drink from the bottle anymore.
   I never feed my baby with the bottle.
   I always direct feed my baby if I am around.
   Once we are consistent, the baby will get used to the idea that when mommy is not around, she would have to take from the bottle, and will not fuss too much.
   
4. When I am at work, I make sure I pump every three hours.
   This means that I will pump 3 times while at work.
   Even if I have meetings and stretch to four hours at one of the sessions, I will still make sure that I fit in 3 times, by shortening the time between I pump for the other 2 times.
   It is very important to be consistent and maintain the frequency to prevent reduction of milk supply.