This post may contain affiliate links and CorporetteMoms may earn commissions for purchases made through links in this post. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
I am generally a big fan of Three Dots, and this washable blazer looks like that great hybrid between a cardigan and blazer, and should be friendly in pregnancy, while nursing, and beyond. It’s available in sizes XS-XL at Bloomingdale’s for $238. Three Dots Open Front Blazer Psst: here’s a similar, budget-friendly option in red, and a plus-size option.Sales of note for 4.18.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 50% off full-price dresses, jackets & shoes; $30 off pants & skirts; extra 50% off sale styles
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything; extra 20% off purchase
- Eloquii – 50% off select styles; 60% off swim; up to 40% off everything else
- J.Crew – Mid-Season Sale: Extra 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off spring-to-summer styles
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Spring Mid-Season Sale: Up to 50% off 100s of styles
- Nordstrom: Free 2-day shipping for a limited time (eligible items)
- Talbots – Spring Sale: 40% off + extra 15% off all markdowns; 30% off new T by Talbots
- Zappos – 29,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Up to 70% off baby items; 50% off toddler & kid deals & 40% off everything else
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off spring faves; 25% off new arrivals; up to 30% off spring
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Up to 60% off sale styles; up to 50% off kids’ spring-to-summer styles
- Old Navy – 30% off your purchase; up to 75% off clearance
- Target – Car Seat Trade-In Event (ends 4/27); BOGO 25% off select skincare products; up to 40% off indoor furniture; up to 20% off laptops & printers
See some of our latest articles on CorporetteMoms:
Click here to see our top posts!
And — here are some of our latest threadjacks of interest – working mom questions asked by the commenters!
- If you’re a working parent of an infant with low sleep needs, how do you function at work when you’re in the throes of baby’s sleep regression?
- Should I cut my childcare down to 12 hours a month if I work from home?
- Will my baby have speech delays if we raise her bilingual?
- Has anyone given birth in a teaching hospital?
- My child eats everything, and my friends’ kids do not – how should I handle? In general, what is the best way to handle when your child has some skill/ability and your friend’s child doesn’t have that skill/ability?
- ADHD moms, give me your tips to help with things like behavior in the classroom, attention to detail, etc?
- I think I suffer from mom rage…
- My husband and kids are gone this weekend – how should I enjoy my free time?
- I’m struggling to be compassionate with a SAHM friend who complains she doesn’t have enough hours of childcare.
- If you exclusively formula fed, what tips do you have for in the hospital and coming home?
- Could I take my 4-yo and 8-yo on a 7-8 day trip to Paris, Lyon, and Madrid?
KJ says
If you and your husband both had the day off on Columbus Day, but your 5 month old baby’s day care was open, what would you do with your day? If the baby goes to day care she must be dropped off by 9am, but can be picked up any time.
mascot says
Drop off the baby by 9, go on a day date with my husband, and pick up baby in the afternoon, perhaps earlier than normal. No question. We paid for daycare regardless of whether we used it so it’s not like the date would incur an additional babysitting charge.
RR says
This. So very much this.
hoola hoopa says
We’d drop off, go to brunch, have s*x, do a date activity or individual projects, and pick up early depending on afternoon timeline.
We occasionally take PTO to do this, so having a free day sounds amazing.
Spirograph says
Yes, days off with daycare are the best thing ever. I wish my daycare were open on Columbus Day! This plan is great, but I would add a nap. Or maybe I would consider the nap my “individual project.”
Meg Murry says
Drop off the baby, spend time with my husband, take a nap, then pick up the baby.
You already paid for the day of daycare – use it. I’m sure you will be taking at least one vacation day in the future to spend at home with baby when daycare is closed but the office isn’t, so consider that a fair trade.
ANP says
Yes to what everyone else said. And I’d do it w/o an ounce of guilt! You’ll pick babe up early feeling relaxed, refreshed, and ready to give him/her all kinds of time and attention. Do it.
HM says
Any pumping/BFing moms want to share when they started weaning ? Or stopped pumping (if that’s different)?
I’ve been BFing/Pumping for almost 7 months (baby came early, and is now 5 months adjusted). We introduced formula 2 months ago to supplement the BMilk. She’s been eating rice cereal for about a month (now 2x per day), and the switch really flipped this past week with the whole eating thing. I’m sure in the next month we will be stepping it up with the solids. I’m thinking about going down to nursing first thing in the morning and at night, and pump any excess then, but step away from pumping at work, and am looking for some support/advice. It seems most of my google results “demand” I breastfeed exclusively for 9 months to a year…
Meg Murry says
You do you. Baby 1 was supplimented with formula from week 1 due to a complicated set of issues, and I stopped pumping at work around 6 months and bf in general around 7-8. Baby 2 started having formula as backup if I didn’t have enough milk to take to daycare around 8 months, I started dropping pumping sessions from 3-4 to 2 a day at 12 months, stopped pumping at work by 14 months and fully weaned by 16 months.
Stopping pumping at work freed up so much time in my day! But step down dropping pumping slowly – you may either wind up with clogged ducts/mastitis or tank your overall supply if you go from nursing/pumping multiple times a day down to only a few. And there is a big growth spurt at 6 months – baby might get upset if your supply is going down at the same time as the spurt, so you might want to either wait until after that passes or be prepared to use more formula at that time – for my 2nd kiddo, he hadn’t quite gotten the solid food thing down enough for it to fill in the gaps during that growth spurt.
Anonymous says
I started weaning/stopped pumping when my baby was 9 months old (exclusively breastfed). I usually pumped twice while at work (10am and 2pm), so the first thing I did was pump once at noon instead. After about 10 days, I dropped the pump session. After another 10 days, I dropped the early evening feeding and replaced it with a thawed milk (from my stash) or formula bottle, and so on. I dropped the early monring feeding last.
Spirograph says
I stepped down pumping to once per day around 7-8 months and we started supplementing with fomula around then too. I totally stopped pumping around 10 months, dictated mainly by logistics at work, but I was ready to be done anyway. Completely weaned shortly after first birthday. My son loves food, so it wasn’t dificult to transition him away from so much milk. I have friends with very picky eaters who stuck with BFing much longer, just because it was the easiest way to get calories into the baby. I have other friends who switched to formula after only a couple months because pumping was too much bother. All our kids seem pretty fine/normal.
So yes, you do you, and don’t worry about anyone’s “demands.” Also, I liked this article in The Onion the other day: http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-study-finds-link-between-breastfeeding-always,36823/
Famouscait says
Regarding the last line of your post, I feel compelled to share this article from The Onion that was sent to me yesterday!
http://www.theonion.com/articles/new-study-finds-link-between-breastfeeding-always,36823/
hoola hoopa says
That Onion article is fantastic. Similarly, I hesitate to mention baby lead weaning below because I don’t want to be mistaken for a pushy BLW advocate. My oldest ate purees until she was 16 months old, and there’s nothing wrong with that, lol.
I stopped pumping when my second was 10 months old because they refused bottles and pumped milk completely. They were keen on food (BLW was a huge success with this baby) and drinking water from a cup, so I was okay with it. I still nursed mornings, evenings, and weekends until they were well past the 12 month mark. I mention that not to discourage someone ready to wean from weaning, but because it’s a third option that often gets lost in the wean vs pump discussions.
To wean from pumping, I wore pads (and had lots on hand) and hand expressed if necessary. I stopped pumping cold turkey. It went smoothly for me, but my pumped amount was pretty low by then. GL!
FVNC says
I began supplementing around 6 months, and decided I wanted stop nursing and pumping entirely by 11 months due to planned travel. I wanted to give myself plenty of time, so around 9.5 months I started reducing my pumping times, and once I eliminated pumping entirely, I worked on reducing nursing.
Before beginning the weaning process, my schedule was: nurse twice before daycare (5 am, 8 am), pump 3 times during the work day for 30 min each, then nurse before bedtime. What worked for me was reducing pumping very gradually — e.g., from 30 min to 20 per session, then eliminate one session entirely (so, rather than 11 , 1:30, and 4, I pumped at noon and 3). I kept reducing length of pumping times so that I was eventually down to pumping once in the morning for about 10 minutes. Then one day I just stopped, and after a little leaking and feeling of fullness, I was okay. I followed the same basic process for weaning from nursing — gradually reduced the time I allowed baby to nurse, and gradually increased the amount of formula offered at each meal.
Overall, the process was much easier than I thought it would be. My body adjusted quickly, I guess because my supply was already starting to reduce. I did get a clogged duct a week after I weaned completely, but that was easily resolved and I had no other problems.
Don’t feel guilty about weaning “early.” Do what’s right for you and the baby, and celebrate being free from the pump!
New Mom Again says
We’re going to be having another child after being out of the baby gear loop for a while, so I’m wondering what’s new. I know there are a lot of first time moms out there (which is when I was most familiar with current baby gear options), so I’m hoping people can share their favorite items.
We have pack-and-play, bouncer, and ergo.
We plan to get a swing. Fisher Price used to make the best one – still true?
I’ve been hearing about a rock-and-play bassinet that seems popular. There seems to be a couple of versions – which is best? How long can baby use it?
Any other great products that have come out in the last ~5 years?
KJ says
Love the Rock n Play! My baby slept in it exclusively for about 8 weeks. Then we started transitioning to the crib, but she used it occasionally until she got too big for it around 3.5 months, but my baby is way above average size, so you might be able to use it longer. I’m not sure about different versions – I think we just have a basic one.
My baby has gotten a ton of use out of the Infantino activity gym, and she recently started using an exersaucer, which she loves.
Before she started rolling over, the Woombie (horrible name!) zip-up swaddle saved our lives.
msj says
Seconding the rock and play. I had resisted the idea at first because I had heard about the flat head concerns and I wanted as little gear as possible, but I broke down and ordered it online in the middle of the night after some reflux issues (keeps the babies reclined vs flat). It’s lightweight and relatively inexpensive (vs the cost of normal basinetts).
Also, if you didn’t have it before Frieda the snotsucker is awesome.
Meg Murry says
Will you be nursing/pumping? Because the Freemie is an awesome, awesome pumping accessory. And I’m guessing you know that your pump is now supposed to be covered by your insurance as a new rule in the Affordable Care Act?
I’ve heard great things about the rock and play, but I also know at least 1 person who’s baby developed a flat spot in her head which may or may not have been related to the rock and play – so do your homework there.
OP says
I had not heard of the Freemie… wow. Thankfully I happened to save (er, never get rid of…) my Freestyle. Fingers crossed it still works! It’s unfortunately not compatible with these, but I’m very, very seriously looking at the manual pump version. I always kind of wanted a manual pump option anyway.
How do you get the milk out and into the bottle? This seems like a potentially messy operation for the office mother’s room. Do you get extra cups to use new ones each session and collect it all at home?
Wow. I can’t believe this is even possible.
HM says
Under the Affordable Healthcare Act, breast pumps are covered 100%. Get yourself a new pump! Reach out to your insurance company to put you in touch with a vendor. It’s pretty painless, actually. (You’ll still need to buy/recover most of the accessories.)
OP says
ANY pump is covered 100%?? I knew coverage was mandatory, but I thought it was the more typical % off or limited model coverage. The cadillac plan that I had when I delivered my first paid 100% of whatever you wanted, but that was very, very uncommon.
I’ll definitely look into that.
Anonymous says
Well, I had the Cadillac health insurance plan (my entire pregnancy (dr visits, ultrasounds, prescriptions, and delivery) cost me less than $50 in co pays). But the pump covered by my insurance was the biggest piece of cr@p I can’t even describe. No Medela pumps were covered. I ended up buying a legit pump (pumping at work, I needed something that could get the job done), and since I didn’t pay for the rest of the pregnancy, I didn’t really mind. But my insurance co certainly didn’t cover any and all pumps….
Meg Murry says
No, most plans offer a limited selection of pumps, and only within a certain window f time, like from birth through 2 months. But still worth looking into. And if your plan doesn’t offer a decent pump and you have an HSA or FSA, you can use that to buy “lactation supplies” – pumps and accessories, I even bought some nursing bras with my HSA money.
HM says
My medela pump in style was covered 100%, as well as rental of the medela hospital-grade pump. Yes,I had to have it ordered within 2 months of her birth. As far as I know through my friends who have given birth this year, there is a wide range of pumps now covered 100%. Talk to your insurance company!
Watermelon says
I use the spout the tube goes in as a pour spout for the milk after pumping.
Famouscait says
It’s been about that long since my sister had her last child. She saved a lot of her stuff for me, so the biggest differences I can identify are 1) stroller and 2) changing table.
Stroller: she had a pretty big (by comparison) 1 kid model, plus a separate jogging stroller. We’re hoping to get by with just this:
http://www.amazon.com/Britax-B-Agile-B-Safe-Travel-System/dp/B00GSNFG84/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1409856543&sr=8-1&keywords=britax+stroller+b+agile
Changing table: it’s all about dressers these days. We switched out the changing table that matched her crib for this dresser from IKEA for more storage space:
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/40239274/
Anonymous says
The Britax is an awesome stroller (I have it and love it), but it’s def not the same as a dedicated jogging stroller, if you want to actually, you know, jog with the baby. But if you don’t plan on running with baby, jogging stroller is totally overkill (but I have a Bob and love it for running!).
RR says
We had a third last year after a 5 year gap. IMO, Fisher Price still makes the best swing. Strollers had improved a lot. Our prior strollers were double, so we needed a new one anyway. After much research, I settled on an UPPA Baby Cruz as being the best option for my primarily suburban life.
Get the book Baby Bargains–it isn’t really bargains so much as a review of everything.
ANP says
OP – not sure if you’re still reading, but I had a pump leftover from kid #1 — and by the time #2 arrived, the ACA had made way for mandatory pump coverage. I kept my new pump at work (where I used it the most) and left the old one at home as backup. SO freeing not to have to lug that thing back and forth! All I carried were the bottles, milk, cooler, etc.
I noticed that high chairs had become smaller/less obtrusive between kid 1 and 2, so that was a nice ($10 on Craigslist) upgrade for us.
OP says
Thank you all! I’m still following.
We’ll get a FP swing then and seriously look at the RNP. I’ll check out strollers and high chairs, too. And thanks for the reminder on exersaucers!
Katarina says
I had a fisher price cradle n swing (snug a bunny) and it was great. I intentionally did not get a rock n play, although I know a lot of people like them.