5 month EBF DD and lots of questions.

[luckysocks]

Hi Ladies.

DD will be 5 months in a couple of days and I wonder if anyone could talk over some stuff with me.

I'm going back to work in January, only part time but with irregular hours. Obviously by then DD will have begun weaning but I just can't decide what to do about milk.

My thoughts are affected by a couple of things - one is that I'm not an especially comfortable breastfeeder,even after feeding 2 children, so there is a part of me which is starting to feel a bit excited about the prospect of cutting down. The other is that I cannot imagine how I would fit in any pumping at work.

The flip side of this is that having got this far, I'm now feeling a bit precious about switching to formula. Feel free to give me a virtual slap for this.

So here are my main questions...

1. Is there any way of maintaining bf around my work hours without having to express at work? Or is this just blinkered? My longest day is 7.15-5pm. After terrible problems (and hospital admittance) with mastitis with DC1, I'm more cautious as I don't want to risk this again.
   

1. What's the best thing to introduce fluids in at this stage if I do want her to take a full feed? She'll lap from a doidy but has never taken much from a bottle.
   

I think I do just need to talk it over, really!

TIA

[SJisontheway]

Absolutely. No need to express. What I did was gradually drop feeds (i did 1 per week) and replace with formula. Your body will adjust without too much trouble so long as its not sudden. If she's not keen on a bottle I would try a dippy cup. She'll get the hang of it eventually. Also if she's not mad about formula, mix it with bm and gradually increase the formula concentration.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

I'd give one of bfing helplines a call and talk through your plans with a BFC, she will be able to advise you on how to avoid mastitis.

[HearMyRoar]

I returned to work 3 days a weeks when dd was 4.5 months. The plan had been to express and bottle feed but it turned out that over night she had decided bottles were for losers and just would not take one.

I'm lucky and live 10 mins from my work and also dp was taking parental leave for 3 months so he brought her into work at lunchtime for a few weeks and started training her on a sippy cup. After a few weeks it was clear she wasn't really that bothered about the lunchtime feed and was taking enough from a cup to tide her over so we stopped. I Carried on expressing at lunchtime for a bit but graduly stopped this as well as my work is very busy and it was a pain in the arse finding the time.

What i found was that by doing it gradually dd developed a routine of feeding like mad in the mornings and evenings (and through the night I'm afraid) and then was perfectly content with just a few sips from cup during the day. As she adapted my supply also adapted so I now produce loads of milk when she needs it and not so much in the day so am able to comfortably go all day at work without too much engorgement.

Not sure how much help that is as your work circumstances are probably different but basically it is possible to get to a point where your dd will be fine throughout the day without too much milk and so will you. The pay off is that you will need to feed on evenings and during the night to make up for it though.