Should I stop BF or stay at home?

[Swaliswan]

I really need some sound advice. My DD is exclusively bf I don't have to go back to work until she is 9 months old but I work shifts so it will be very hard to continue bf once I'm back at work. My boss phoned me the other day and (by law) I have to tell her whether I want an extra 3 months unpaid mat leave by the end of october. If I take the leave, DD will be 1 year old when I go back to work and can then go straight on to cows milk. We can just about afford for me to take the leave. I know about the benefits of bf exclusively for six months but what about after that? Is BM better for DD than formula from six months or have I given her BM when it really matters and can now switch without any detriment to DD? All the info I can find is for babies under 6 months old - maybe that's a sad reflection of the attitude towards bf in this country?

[Mumzarello]

Firstly you have done a great job BF to 9 months & if you want/need to stop then you should - you need to do what is best for you as a family.

If I remember correctly BF continues to be beneficial for as long as you continue.
Now at a year I am ony feeding twice per day - a change from 4-5 at 9 months..

Perhaps if you decide to wait until she is a year you could do a feed still once (or even twice) a day - really depends on how extreme your shifts are and how she reacts to potentially having milk at different times of the day I suppose.

[pageturner]

I would say, personally that if you can afford to stay at home for the extra three months then do: the benefits to your dd (and not just bf) would make it worth while imo. But, tbh, if you think you need to go back to work, then I don't think it's going to do her any harm. You may find ways of making it work, even if the feeds are a bit irregular. Or you could express.

I suppose, what I'm saying is, don't make the decision based on the bf, look at the bigger picture. You've already done fantastically well by bf this far, I really think at this point the difference is negligible. HTH

[MrsHarry]

BTW Swalisan, if your job entitles you to 1 year's mat leave then by law you do NOT have to tell your boss if you want the 3 months unpaid leave. You have to tell them if you want to return before the end of the year's leave. (In my case I'm going back after 7 months and I have to give 8 weeks notice).
Don't let your boss push you to make a decision you don't want to make!

[fishie]

i took a full year. borrowed money for the three months unpaid, after all would get a loan for car or whatever, this seemed a worthwhile cause it made it much better for me to go back when ds was a toddler, rather than a baby.

you could prob carry on bf even round your shifts.

[MaeWest]

I took a whole year mat leave (and at the time was 6 months unpaid) and ended up not going back to my original employer but getting a really flexible part time job (2 days per week) and going back when DS was 11 months. He was exclusively BF. I did panic a bit as at 10 months he still seemed to be feeding a lot, but by the time I started work he was pretty much down to 2 feeds a day. We're still going and he's now 14 months .

I really appreciated spending the 'extra' time with him, and not just because I kept bf-ing him.

[moondog]

Swali,you should be fine to carry on b/feeding after that time.I worked f/t from when dd was 8 mths and she happily went without b/milk when I was at work and just had water or juice at those times as I didd not want to give her formula.

Your supply will be well established so should adapt.

[artichokes]

You might be very suprised how your milk will keep coming despite shifts and irratic feeding. By 9 months your supply is really flexible. I went back to work when DD was 9 months and she continued to BF as normal when I was around and took Rice Milk in a bottle at nursery. She is now 1 and I stopped feeding for 8 days recently as I had a business trip. When I returned DD took just a few hours to get by breasts working again.

I find that DD resists all the common the nursery infections very well which I put down to BF.

[lemonaid]

Even working shifts, you could almost certainly go back at 9 months, keep breastfeeding a couple of times a day and switch a couple of feeds to formula.

[jamila169]

If you do go back to work they are obliged to allow you breaks to express milk anyway - I kept up B/f with DS# like that - he stopped at 2 1/2 after 21 months of me pummping two bottles a day at work for the childminder to use next day ( only had to stop someone from using it in their tea once! lol!)
Lisa x

[Swaliswan]

Thanks everyone. My shifts are either 7am-3pm, 1pm-9pm or 8:30pm-7:30am so I'm worried that I won't be able to keep even one feed consistent. I guess that my main worry is that I am a naughty bf to sleep mummy and she is going to have to learn to cope with going to sleep when I'm working late. I have started trying to put her down whilst she is sleepy but still awake with mixed success but I have no idea whether she is genuinely hungry or looking for comfort when she feeds so much in the evening. I don't know how she will cope with having a bottle at bedtime Ah well, I suppose that I'll have to stop sometime...

[lemonaid]

She will cope it'll take her a bit of time to get used to it, but she will cope. And you don't need to keep one particular feed constant just feed her once or twice a day whenever you are around and she's hungry.

You don';t have to choose between going back at 9 months and going back at a year, either -- you can pick some point in between, if that makes a better balance between what you want to do and what your finances will stand.

[Brangelina]

I went back to work when DD was 9mo and am still bfeeding at 2.2yo. I just dropped to 3, then 2 feeds per day. At weekends she has an extra feed or 2 and when she's ill she feeds a lot and my supply has always adjusted well. I've also been able to miss the odd night and/or morning when travelling for work and had no problems whatsoever, so it can be done.

My DD had one bottle of formula in the day when I was at work but as Moondog says, you can get away with only giving you DD water or diluted juice.