Want to keep BFing when back at work - will it work?

[SarahScot]

I'm going back to work in 4 weeks. DD has been EBF up until now and will be 5 months old when I go back. Ideally I'd like to keep feeding her myself whenever I'm not at work, but I don't know if my supply would adjust to it.

Assuming her feeding pattern stays as it is now this is how her day would go:
7:30 a.m. BF
10:00 a.m. FF
1 p.m. FF
4 p.m. FF
7:30 p.m. BF
00:30 a.m. BF
4:30 a.m. BF

Would this work? Or would my supply dip from not feeding during the day and not be able to keep up at night?

[jandmmum]

Are you going to gradually drop day feeds in the next 4 weeks? Otherwise you will definitely need to express at work for comfort. My DD was 8 months when I went back to already on solids. For the first 2 months I expressed once at work even though she was missing 2 feeds (mid morning and mid afternoon). I gave up the expressing as it was a faff and after those 2 months my supply adapted so I was Ok without. She now generally has 3 feeds a day plus ocassionally a night one. I never use ff when I'm with her, so mu supply seems to be enough- I work 3 days in a row, 4 days off.

[Whyriskit]

My DS was 9 months when I went back to work and I definitely had to express a couple of times a day to start with, although only once a day now. When I'm not at work he tends to have 3 feeds a day and a couple at night.
I have found that the night feeds have increased (he was pretty much sleeping through before I went back) but I kind of expected that!

[Rosebud05]

Agree with others that your supply will probably be just fine and that expressing will be more comfortable for you/help supply.

The biggest problem I had with going back to work with my 2 was them not taking much milk in the day then making up for it at night. Which is very tiring, but I don't know if there's a way to avoid this.

[SarahScot]

Thanks everyone. I'm planning on gradually dropping feeds over the next few weeks so my body and DD get used to it. Can't quite bring myself to start doing it yet though!

DD already feeds every 2 hours through the night - which I am hoping is just a phase as I'm already knackered. She used to get up just once a night then again at 6 a.m. but has been every two hours for about the last 3 or 4 weeks.

Hopefully I won't have to express at work. I'm a teacher so can only practically have my lunch break to do it in. I'm told that I am legally entitled to breaks to pump but it would cause a lot of problems to cover me as we are a very small staff. Lunch is only 45 mins long and it takes me 40 mins to pump a feed!

[dolldaggabuzzbuzz]

Yes it will work.

I wondered this too on my return to work when DS was 9mo. I had to express twice a day at first then once a day for just a few weeks.

I am a nurse and I do 14 hour shifts. I breastfeed DS whenever I can. He is 2.6 now, I never need to express at work anymore.