breast feeding and working part time

[plama]

I am going back to work 3 days a week at the end of January when DD2 will be 8 months old. She currently gets 3meals of solids a day and all milk is BF. Do you think she could have formula at nursery on the 3 days she's there and BF all the time on the other days, or should I cut back and only BF her morning , t time and bed 7 days per week. (expressing at work not an option as I drive around and visit clients and have to rely on public loos etc) With DD1 I went back full time so just BF her morning and night. I would like to BF until about 1 year if possible. Also if I'm going to use formula during the day, when should I start cutting down the BF?
Thanks in anticipation.

[lesley1417]

hi iwent back to work when my dd was7 months old. ibreast fed her at 7am, 4pm, and before bed.she wouldn't take abottle,so got offered some dilute juice when i wasn't around.(which she never drank!)

[ellanevemum]

Hi Plama, I can't believe it. I was just browsing thru the posts and saw yours. It's like we live in a parrallel universe as I am in exactly the same positio! My dd is now 6 months and I return to a community based job in February for 3 days a week and have been wondering the same thing.

I have been wondering if I should spread my days over mon, wed and fri and ask the nursery to offer formula during the day and catch up on the days in between.

[ellanevemum]

I reckon at 8 months you can get away with just offering formula on your work days in the day. At that age they are getting more protein from their diets so can be offered cooled boiled water during the day with meals. I breast feed my dd1 til she was a year old although I wasn't working then. I definitely noticed that she was needing less breast mik duing the day nad morning and evening feeds were the main ones. As she got more mobile she just wasn't interested in the feeding when there was so much exploring to do!

[hamstermunker]

WHen you go back, will you have accrued any leave?

I went back three days a week in October when DS2 was 9mo (Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday) but I have taken every Wednesday off until after Christmas, so I don't have two days together away from him.

I don't express when I'm at work - he feeds in the morning and evening (and the night [yawn]) on days I work and makes up for it on my days off. I stockpiled expressed milk while I was on mat leave for him, so he has that and I express sometimes for him to add to that too.

If I was you, I would see if I could take a bit of leave - maybe one day a week for a couple of months - to ease you both into it. I would also start expressing and stockpiling now, but that's because I won't use formula and find expressing v easy - you may feel differently and find expressing more difficult, so your choice would be different.

It's definitely possible to not bfeed all day for a couple of days a week and bfeed the rest of the time at this age.

Good luck!

[mears]

Since she will be 8 months when you go back towork i don't think there is any need to give formula at all. Just breastfeed her in the morning before she goes to nursery. Leave solids plus water/juice at nursery and breastfeed when you get home. On days off breastfeed her whenever she wants.
Don't immediately rule out expressing at work - you might need to do it for comfort. You must have to have lunch during the day - where do you have that? Are you near home at all? Could you have your lunch at the nursery and pop in for a feed?

[Hattie05]

Hi i went back for 15 hours a week when dd was 3 months. My job was also community based - public or client loos to use etc.

As she was so little at the time, i left ebm for her and i just expressed or fed her as soon as i got home (the longest day was normally 6 hours so i just about survived without expoding . Once she was past 6mths i gave up expressing for whilst i was away and dd had formula if needed. There was no problems with my supply decreasing at all if i went for hours with no feeding her and i continued breastfeeding until dd was 2.

If i were you i'd leave formula with the nursery and tell them to offer it if your dd appears to want it. Let them see what works best basically.

I wouldn't worry about cutting down bf unless you want to. feed dd as normal on days you are with her, and let her get her own routine at nursery, your supply won't be affected.

[hamstermunker]

Yes, I meant to say that, Mears - about expressing for comfort.

If you keep a breast pump and a coolbag in your car, there's no reason you can't pump a bit in the car?

[ellanevemum]

expressing for comfort will probably be a neccesity for a while especially if you are working full days. I have considering going in to nursery to give a feed but was worried about unsettling her by seeing her and then leaving her in the middle of the day.

Hamstermunker, I can't imagine being able to do it in the car in the areas where I work! It's definitely something to consider though!

[lazycow]

I went back to work when ds was 9 months old. I started with 2 days a week for a moth so by the timne I was on 3 days a week he was a bit older and even more established on solids.

I hated expressing and could never get enough in one go to make even one feed. Also there really was nowhere to express at work.

Ds fed am, pm on my work days and more often on my home days. That seemed to be enough for him

I left a bottle of formula on my work days just so I felt better knowing he had milk available really as ds almost never drank more than 1-2 oz of it. After a month or so I stopped giving the formula as I was throwing most of it away so it was a waste of money. He seemed fine on the solids and water while I was away, He kept feeding at night until he was a year old but then that stopped too.

I actually never expressed at work not even for comfort just didn't get full enough to need to