To ask about your return to work?

[MollyRover]

Posting here for traffic, no biting in the appropriate topic

I'm returning to work in the next few weeks. DC2 will be 6 months old and is ebf, am hoping to keep this up until solid food takes over, so avoid formula altogether. I was expressing and freezing milk up until about 7 weeks ago, 4 month sleep regression and a renovation at home got in the way! There's about 8 litres in the freezer now so I've got a bit of a buffer.

I'm starting back 2 days a week at first so DC2 will be 1 day a week with DH and 1 day in crèche, I'll build up to 4 days after 6 weeks. I'm going to the office until I find my feet again so it would be great to get some tips on what equipment besides my pump, how many times a day I need to pump, how many bottles and how to supply to the crèche etc etc. Feel a bit lost, went back full time when DC1 was 13 weeks and managed to ebf for 6 months still, have no idea how I managed it at the time and it was only 5 years ago!!

AIBU to ask for your best advice??

Regardless of how much solid food baby takes, milk is their main source of nutrition until 1 and shouldn’t be reduced, so you will need to supplement with formula if you don’t want to express for the next 6 months.

@BeeColourful have you read my OP?

Yes. You said this:

DC2 will be 6 months old and is ebf, am hoping to keep this up until solid food takes over, so avoid formula altogether.

Some babies take to solid food very well and are on three meals a day early on. Their milk intake should still not be reduced.

So I was just saying that regardless of how well solid food goes, he will need breastmilk or formula until 1.

I want to ebf until solids take over, so however long it takes. I've asked for tips on what I need besides the pump, and mentioned I have 8 litres in the freezer already. This is my second child and I am aware that babies need milk.

I used to take a pump, cool bag, and breast milk bags into work. I just pumped once at lunch, put the milk in the cool bag (with a couple of ice packs), then put it in the fridge when I got home. That was then sent to nursery the next day, along with more that I would pump in the evening.
I don't think I needed anything else

Check what facilities your company has for you, a dedicated room and fridge? Time off to pump or is it part of your breaks. Check there's a plug socket if you need to use electric pump and above all else, privacy.
Then cool bag, freezer bags for BM, bag to carry sterile /dirty equipment
Good luck

@WeWereInParis were you able to pump enough to cover all the missed feeds? At the moment DC2 would need about 120mls per bottle I think, I'll be at work for 8 hours with around an hour commute so that could potentially be 4 feeds needed, let's say half a litre.

It will get easier once I get back to working from home again because I can go to the crèche to feed dc2 myself, it's just the first few weeks of trying to settle back in, pump, and the mental and emotional stress of being away that I'm dreading. I nearly had a breakdown after doing this with dc1 although circumstances were a lot more difficult at the time, dc1 was only 3 months and I was in the office 5 days.

@MollyRover I was, but DD was 8 months and so was drinking a bit less. I think she had two bottles at nursery. I can't remember the exact amounts but we didn't need to use formula. I only had to do it for a few weeks though, as it was early 2020 and after I'd been back at work a few works it was lockdown and the nursery had to close so she was back home with me anyway.

Thanks @custardbear, there will be a room available with power, running water, refrigerator which I'll need to reserve and I'll have 25% of my working hours to pump. What about a thermos flask instead of breastmilk bags? Just thinking about the commute. Is it a good idea to send in correctly measured bottles to the crèche?

I went back at 9 months and expressed until DS was 14 months & finally stopped feeding at 17 months.

I bought a wine cooler bag (it was the right size for my pump!) and took two bottles with me. I then kept them in the fridge after I expressed & froze when I got home.

As DS was older and had taken well to solids, he was having about 200-240mls a day. The reason I stopped at 14 months was that I was having difficulty expressing that & was having to wake up early to pump. Nursery managed to switch him onto whole milk really quickly.

If I remember correctly, I had to send in frozen milk in labelled and dated bags to nursery, but found it easier to travel with the bottles and then transfer when I got home.

She doesn’t want to use formula. She wants to use expressed breast milk.

I found bags worked better because they were flat in the morning when empty, and also my pump attached to the bags so I expressed directly into them without needing bottles.

@WeWereInParis I get you- as a matter of interest what kind of pump did you have? I have a Medela double pump from dc1 so nearly 6 years ago, does the trick but can't attach bags to it afaik.

Thanks for the tips, and keep them coming. I love my job and am looking forward to working again, just feeling really anxious about the transition and missing my baby. The more hacks I can get the easier it will be.

@MollyRover it's the Bella baby double electric one. It comes with these clips that screw onto the pump where the bottles would go, and then the clips hold the bags, and the milk goes through them directly into the bags. You have to be a bit careful when you're done as you can't just stand them up so you obviously have two open bags to unclip and seal, but it's a bit smaller to carry round.