advice from long-term feeders please - what if you miss feeds?

[mybabywakesupsinging]

ds2 will be 10 months when I go back to work and seems somewhat unkeen to stop bf/drink from cup or bottle, so am wondering whether I can keep a morning and night feed going for nutrition/fluid intake. However my hours are quite long and there will be occassional runs of up to 5 days when I could only feed once a day.
Do I need to express the other feed to maintain a supply? only I've always been rubbish at it and anyway won't be able to when working. I don't want to feed loads more at weekends as I think it will be confusing for ds2 (and me!)
He's currently on 3 "solid" meals and 3 bfs a day, but will have to cut afternoon feed out soon.

[gigglewitch]

I went back to work when my DC were between 6mo and 9mo, bf them all til a good while later, variously 12/13/17 mo; like you didn't express at work, just did breakfast and bedtime feed, sometimes lots of evening feeds if that was what baby wanted - on the whole i found my body to be quite a flexible bit of machinery at producing whatever milk was wanted
mine went to cup rather than bottle too. But you can't beat that lovely closeness of bf. Well done you.

[pankhurst]

i agree with gigglewitch. boobs VERY flexible. and more than nutrition/fluid, i think it's VERY useful to keep it going when they go to nursery etc cos then they get all sorts. bf very reassuring for both.

LO should drink water from cup though during the day, i think? when you are not there, that's likely to happen, so wouldn't see yourself as being the only thing between him and dessication (?sp)

[mybabywakesupsinging]

will have to be flexible to produce milk to fit round the on-call rota .
not 100% certain about this although baby and I both love bfing as:
-not convinced dh will approve (although he is very pro-bfing, it is him that will be left with a baby that wants a bf when I'm away)
-bfing makes my brain dissolve into mush and I may need it to function when I'm back at work
I'm just trying to think things through at the moment.

[mybabywakesupsinging]

I was worried about what would happen if I missed feeds if I was only feeding twice a day anyway...

[gigglewitch]

keep on sussing it all out, carry on if you enjoy it
DH won't particularly be "stuck with a baby who wants bf" - mine tended to nag me in a baby-fashion to get bf, but understood from very early on that daddy didn't have the kit for it so never mithered him! They are wiser than we give them credit for, these small people...

[gigglewitch]

BTW you are entitled to apply for 'flexible working' and in our company we can use this to limit on-call and night responsibilities. Don't know whether this is something you would want to look into? As a bf mum (and because of this BF factor, not just a mum iyswim) my rights were the same as when i was pg, in that risk assessments had to be done and working hours had to take my health and baby's needs into account. Now you'd have to catch up with flowerybeanbag and co who are the HR experts to find out what amount of this is widespread and what I got from our company policies etc.
Sorry if i have written rubbish, just wanted to say that you may have something on your side to limit working late if that would be better for you and baby.

[mybabywakesupsinging]

not rubbish at all but on-call is unavoidable, I think

[gigglewitch]

may be option for negotiating a reduced quota of it for a month or two

Good luck with it all anyway

[mybabywakesupsinging]

thanks gigglewitch. Nice to hear of your success with bf and work .
Does anyone else who is experienced in these things know whether I could get by without expressing if I had to drop to one feed a day for about 5 days at a time? or does it vary too much from person to person to say?

[policywonk]

Funnily enough I had lunch with a friend today who said that she feeds her 15-month-old dd exactly once a day. I think you will be fine (not that I'm an expert!)

[mybabywakesupsinging]

I think I may be over-worrying because when ds1 went down to one feed a day he stopped entirely very soon after (about 3 days!). But that might have been because he was wanting to stop anyway (he was bored of bfing by 11 months).

[harpsichordcarrier]

please don't worry, breasts are amazing things! ime and imo you will be fine if you feed twice a day and you will certainly be able to keep up your supply
you could try and express if you like - why not - would your employer be positive about allowing you somewhere to express?
you can always feed more at the weekends too.
fwiw I fed dd1 twice a day for about two years, no problems. I have also stopped feeding for two/three days and tehn started again - no prolems
breasts are flexible

[mybabywakesupsinging]

Now that is encouraging .
Now just need to sort out: dh and my mushy brain.

[harpsichordcarrier]

oh and my friend fed for three years at once a day

[gigglewitch]

don't think the mushy brain is down to bf... tis called being a mum
BTW I fed DD once / twice (sometimes randomly) each day for about a year
U convinced yet?

AS for DH not as easy as bf what do you want to sort out (and don't expect an answer from me )

[mybabywakesupsinging]

my brain definitely improves when not bfing (or at least it did last time). Much worse when bfing than pg, for some reason.
Nice dh (who will look after ds1 & 2 when I am at work) is just worried about being left with a baby who wants something he can't provide, hence would like to stop ds2 bfing completely...hasten to add he is very pro bfing generally.

[PortAndLemon]

I fed DS around twice a day from nine months. Sometimes it was only once, and a few times I had to go away with work for a week at a time. We carried on with no problems, and he was never any bother for DH to settle without breastfeeds. DS could easily understand that if I wasn't there a breastfeed wasn't an option (very different from the situation if I was there, when he would kick up merry hell until he got one). He's now three and we're still nursing occasionally (maybe once a week) as he more-or-less self-weaned when I was around 23 weeks pregnant.

[Snarf02]

hi i bf twice a day am and last feed before bed for 7 months once i went back to work pt at a year. My lo weaned when i was 4 months pg but the 2 feeds a day were fine and she always seemed very satisfied

[mybabywakesupsinging]

portandlemon when you went away did you express? I am rubbish at it...