Milkloft for going back to work
The question is never really about ounces. It is whether your baby will still be drinking your milk in six weeks, on the days you are not there. Milkloft answers it with the milk you actually have: it projects your stash forward to your return date, counts only the bags that will still be inside their estimated window that day, and tells you what today asks of you.
In short
A projection from your own logged production. Estimates, not a promise, and not medical advice.
A day with Milkloft
- You tell it two things Your return date and how many hours a day you will be away. Everything else it already knows from what you have logged.
- You read the verdict, for free "You are on track" or the gap, with the projected amount against your goal, the margin, the confidence and the sums behind it, which you can open and check.
- Pro turns it into today One goal for today, a weekly ladder, the projection chart, nine what-ifs and your own, and the bags that will not survive the wait.
- The week you go back Which bags go to daycare, which one to thaw tonight, and the plan as a PDF if the person caring for your baby needs it on paper.
What you get, and what Pro adds
| Free | Pro · one purchase | |
|---|---|---|
| Return-to-Work Planner: setup & verdict | ||
| The plan: today’s goal, weekly plan with history, projection, nine what-ifs + your own | – | |
| Your first week back, “thaw this one tonight” & the plan as a PDF | – | |
| Return countdown widget (Home & Lock Screen) | – | |
| Run-out date & freezer-full forecasts | – | |
| Expiration & thaw-check notifications | ||
| Printable caregiver handoff sheet (PDF) | – |
Free is not a trial: it has no time limit and it is where most of this page happens. Pro is one purchase, no subscription, shared with up to six people in your Apple family.
Start with these
- How much breast milk should I have saved before going back to work?
- How many ounces of breast milk for daycare?
- FIFO for breast milk: rotate your stash so nothing expires
Why the verdict is free
Because being asked to pay to find out whether you have a problem is a bad trade, and because the answer is often "you already have enough", which no one should have to buy. The setup, the verdict, the margin and the arithmetic behind them are on the free tier and stay there.
What Pro sells is the work after the answer: the daily goal that gets you from here to covered, the weekly plan with its history, the simulations for the questions that follow ("what if I pump once at work", "what if I go back a week earlier"), and the list of bags that would not survive the wait. That is the routine, and it is worth one purchase.
What this page is not
It is not advice about weaning, supply or whether to pump at work, and the app does not have an opinion about any of those. It is not a legal guide to your break rights either, which vary by country and by employer. It is arithmetic on your own milk, with every date marked as an estimate, so the decision you make is yours and better informed.
Frequently asked questions
How much breast milk do I need before going back to work?
Less than most lists suggest: roughly what your baby drinks while you are away for the days you want covered, plus a reserve. The calculator in our guide does the arithmetic with a cited per-hour rule, and the app runs the same maths on your real bags.
Do I have to pay to find out whether I am covered?
No. The setup and the verdict are free: readiness, projected against your goal, the margin and the days remaining. Pro is what turns that verdict into a routine, with today’s goal, the weekly plan, the projection and the what-ifs.
Does it count milk that will expire before I need it?
No, and that is the point. The projection simulates every day until your return date, uses milk oldest first, and leaves out bags that would pass their estimated limit before they were used.
What if my return date moves?
Change it and everything recalculates. The plan is a projection from your own logged production, not a fixed schedule someone handed you.
Does it tell me how often to pump at work?
It tells you how much you need to replace, which is the honest half of the question. How many sessions that takes is your body and your day, and no app knows it better than you and your IBCLC do.