Back to work 3 days, can I keep up lunchtime feed on other 4 days?

[bclaremums]

Or will my boobs not be able to cope with that? Also, is it too hard on the childminders who will then have to get him to nap on the 3 working days without a nice breastfeed to settle him down with?

Grateful for advice from anyone who has tried this!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Don't worry too much about the childminder, I'm assuming that she has got some experience and that your DS has had some settling in sessions. What milk will DS be having whilst at the childminders?

How old is your DS? if your bfing is established I'd say yes, you can bf on the days you are home. You may need to express at work at first though just for your own comfort. Is there somewhere you can pump or do you know how to hand express?

[bclaremums]

Well he is 14 months so it is really extended bf at this point... I just don't feel either of us are ready to give it up and I'd like to be able to keep on at lunchtimes as well as morning and night if possible, but I just wonder if each week I'll end up with sore breasts on a Monday and not much milk at lunchtime on a Thursday.

When he has milk at the childminders it will be cow's.
To be quite honest part of the problem is he is not easy to get down to sleep so I'm a bit dependent on the feeding to help with that.

Thanks for posting!

[imissbluesky]

I went back to work 4 days a week when dd was 10 months old. I expressed milk for the first 2 months with great difficulty and she never drank the rather small amount I managed (100ml). When she was 12 months old stopped expressing but carried on breastfeeding expecting to only be feeding morning and evening but found myself feeding her more on the days I was home. Initially up to twice a day and recently once on some days none on others. Neither DD, the childminder or my boobs seem to mind . The only downside has been that she started feeding once and sometimes twice a night (she never fed in the night when I was at home full time) - I don't actually mind but am way behind on my beauty sleep!

[imissbluesky]

X posted. Your boobs will adapt and the childminder should be able to find their own way in getting him to sleep.

Also, DD still won't have cow's milk which is probably why she drinks at night to make up for lack of daytime milk.

Good luck.

[festi]

it will be fine your dd will adjust at childminders, I cant see there being any problems with supply either. my dd just used to do that jumping in the seated sort of jiggling thing when she seen me when picking her up, not that she was happy to see me just that she wanted my boob, she would do a very large sigh of relife and start jiggling around again as soon as we were in the door.

[festi]

your ds sorry

[Secondtimelucky]

I don't see why you couldn't feed on the days you are there - but just a word of warning. When I went back to work at 11 months DD decided that, if she couldn't have a breastfeed during the day on the days I was at work, she didn't want it the other four either. She just stuck to morning and evening. Mind you, she's very strong willed .

[bunnybunyip]

I worked monday to Wednesday from when ds was 6 months old and managed to continue feeding at lunchtimes on the other days with no problems or expressing, ds had formula at lunchtimes whilst at nursery and bf am and pm.

[Woodlands]

I have been doing that since I went back to work six weeks ago, and my DS is 14 months too. I'm only actually in work for a full day one day a week. The first time I did have slightly leaky boobs by the time I fed him at bedtime, but since then my supply has adjusted. He still has a lunchtime feed most other days but not always. I have asked nursery to give him cow's milk in a cup before his nap but I'm not totally sure if they do or not, I must check! They don't note it on the milk feeds chart if they do, but I think that might only apply to formula/bottles.

The nursery staff manage to rock him to sleep fine - I'm sure your CM will do the same.

Breast milk supply is a wondrous thing. Normally DS only has three feeds a day but today he had four before 10am (though only two since then). There's always milk there.

[bclaremums]

Thanks very much everyone - really helpful comments, by the sound of it it should be fine to keep on with the daytime feeds which is what I was hoping!