Extended BF & going away. Advice please

[carve133]

Hoping some experienced breastfeeding mums will be able to help me. DS is 12 months old and generally feeds a couple of times in the early morning and then again before bedtime. He rarely feeds in the day now. I'm going away for two nights next week (hen do) and will be away 48 hours. I'm not worried about him not having my milk as he gets the vast majority of his calories from solids and will drink cows milk from his cup. BF is far more of a nice comfort from Mummy/please stay asleep an hour longer thing now. I am however concerned that my milk will dry up whilst I'm away. I have thought of expressing but I've never got the hang of this (actually didn't really try that hard - never really had a need/couldn't be bothered ). I've borrowed a friend's pump (an Avent ISIS IQ one) and had a go but there is really nothing happening. I'm sure I don't produce that much milk anyway these days as we don't feed much - boobs have shrunk, periods back etc. I really don't want this weekend away to signal the end of BF as I'd like to continue for a while yet (if nothing else to have a reliable way of getting an extra hours sleep at 5am ).

So advice please. Am I likely to dry up over 48 hours? Should I just try a bit harder to get the hang of expressing or is it too late?

You should be fine, your milk supply will be well established after a year of nursing. It is worth taking a pump and/or learning to hand express just in case you get engorged while you are away.

Thanks . Any advice on getting the hang of using a pump? Apart from the odd bit of (rubbish) hand expressing to relieve pressure when I've been engorged a couple of times I've never really done it.

TBH if you can hand express, I would stick with that. Easier on your breasts, no sterilising, carrying equipment etc. You only have to remove small amounts of milk to relief pressure whilst you are away and you might find you don't need to do that.

Enjoy your hen do :)

I think your weekend will be absolutely fine. I am still bf-ing a 12 month old morning and night like you, and have been away for occasional weekends since he was 6m.

The last time was when he was 11m and I didn't even feel engorged until 24h after the last feed, and at that time I was doing 1. morning, 2. evening and 3. late night/middle-of-night.

enjoy it!

I had to go away for 1 night for work when DD was 15 months and by the time I got back my boobs looked and felt like they were going to burst! So worth taking the pump or practising hand expression just in case.

It's hard to know how much milk they are drinking at this stage, because your supply will be so well balanced to his needs that boobs will probably look and feel pretty normal.

But in any case, in 48 hours your supply should be fine so assuming he wants to BF when you get back, this need not spell the end of BF.

Hi, I'm another one who has managed 1 and 2 night stints away from about 14months onwards (once he was able to settle and resettle without me - that took a while!). DS was fine and my supply didn't seem to be affected other than getting engorged overnight. I second theboobmeister - if you've not used a pump, stick to the minimum of handexpressing (I found in the shower worked best) just to relieve engorgement.

Thanks everyone, very reassuring. Think I will stick to hand expressing then as I have at least done that before.

Looking forward to it now.

Thanks again