My daily pumping routine

As I’m now back at work I need to pump a few times a day in order to reach my goals of breastfeeding Sage for a year.
Pumping schedules are very individualised as we all have different time frames that we are working to. I thought I would walk you through mine so you can see how I fit it into my day. There are three things I keep reminding myself of during this time. Its hard and not so fun, but the rewards are worth it. I need to keep flexible about how much I have to pump each day yet stick to a routine that keeps my supply up. The whole schedule is driven by Sage, not me.
Right so here we go. I worked pretty hard to build up a freezer stash before I went back to work. So my pumping routine starts the night before. I take a sachet of breast milk out of the freezer and allow it to defrost in the fridge. Put the sachet in a bowl in the fridge. I learned that the hard way when one of my sachets sprung a leak and leaked breast milk all over my fridge!
The only pumping session I have that is not based on Sage’s feeding schedule is at 10pm. She usually goes down for the night at 7pm and sleeps through to 2 or 3am. So I use that time to get an extra pumping session in. This bottle will usually serve her for the next day and the breast milk from the freezer will sort her for the next feed (She has two, sometimes three bottles during the morning).
I then sterilize everything and pack my pumping bag for the next day. I take everything with me in a cooler bag to work. I have a Tommy Tippie electric breast pump and a Mooka Silicone pump. I use these together to make a double pump and it works really well for me.
I can only fit one pumping session into my morning work day. I usually do this at about 10/10.30am. I take myself with my bag off to a quiet boardroom and get set up in the far corner. I take my iPad with me so I can watch some Youtube videos I saved offline. I’m very good at this now and can be set up and pumping in no time. When I’m done I pack it all up and head to the kitchen where I rinse it all and store the whole back in the fridge ready to take home.
This is where things get tricky. If Sage has just eaten when I get home I need to pump at home. I quickly sterilize everything while I eat lunch and then I pump. Usually Sage is napping during this time, but if she’s not then my childminder will just look after her for a bit longer for me. If she hasn’t eaten then I feed her as normal.
I will often use my Mooka during normal feeding sessions on the opposite side from which I’m feeding her. I collect all this milk into one sachet and they all add up to one extra pumping session. It’s amazing how much milk you can collect this way. Then I transfer everything over into the freezer.
As I said, this is what works for us. I’m pretty flexible in how much I have to pump as some days Sage is hungrier than others. So far she is growing really well and my supply hasn’t suffered from me going back to work. In fact, I’m getting more milk with each pumping session as my body acclimates. Also, I’m not opposed to her being topped up with formula in a pinch, but breast milk is always the priority.
I did a lot of reading up about pumping while Sage was in the hospital. I never got it right with Willow (but as I was home with her I didn’t have to). So I needed to spend a lot of time researching and learning how to pump effectively. I found Pinterest was a great help here.
So that’s how we do it. I would love to hear about your experiences with it. When did you wean? I’m starting to find that Sage gets frustrated with me now if my let down reflex takes too long as she’s getting used to the instant delivery from a bottle. Have you experienced the same? How did you get around it?