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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

panicking about bf and work

11 replies

pinkyp · 02/02/2011 23:41

I'm not due to go back to work til July but i'm already panicking how i will carry on breastfeeding. I only have to do 16hours luckly and can pick when i do them but i lay awake most nights wondering how i'll fit it in! Has anyone actually managed to do this? My ds will be 7 months when i go back so hopefully will be eating too. Sorry 4 all the questions 2night....i've been saving them

OP posts:

Tryharder · 02/02/2011 23:50

Stop panicking!!!!!!!!!

It will be fine.

I worked full time (40 hours plus travel time) with both DS1 and DS2 and still managed to bf them. I will be going back to work FT when DD is about 8 - 9 months old and will continue to bf her also.

A few months beforehand, I would try and ensure that your DS will take a bottle (but I have heard of babies having milk from sippy cups so all is not lost if he won;t). You can express milk for him when you are at work or give formula [shrugs]

DS2 in particular wasn't that bothered with a bottle but waited until I came home from work to feed.

Tryharder · 02/02/2011 23:51

You will need to make sure that you are able to express and store milk at work otherwise your boobs will get engorged and leak - not pleasant....

MoonUnitAlpha · 02/02/2011 23:54

If you only have to do 16 hours and you could spread that over say 4 days then it'll be fine! You can feed before you go and feed when you get back - by 7 months your ds can have food/snacks/water/juice and he might only be having a couple of daytime breastfeeds.

Original poster

pinkyp · 03/02/2011 00:04

i dont think there will be anywhere to express at work, i keep thinking of where i could go but there isnt anywhere private (either cameras, no doors or big glass doors). I'm ok with expressing and ds took a bottle of expressed milk around 3 weeks old so he can take them. I'd be doing a 6hr shift and two 5hr shifts. I know i need to wait until nearer the time but its the last thing i think about b4 i go to bed. Is there any better times for me to work expressing wise, which feed would they typically drop first?

OP posts:

Tryharder · 03/02/2011 00:16

I generally find that babies are more content in the morning. So you could get up, do a big feed, go to work for 6 hours - whether or not you become engorged depends on how much you feed during the day iyswim. Your baby can have normal food, bottle if wanted during that time and then you can come home and feed straight away and your DS will probably only have missed out on 1 bf anyway. 5 and 6 hours is really not that long to be away at that age so I truly think you are worrying for nothing. I used to do double night shifts - away from 3pm one day until 8am the next morning and still managed to bf...

I think companies are obliged to provide you with a place to express and store milk if that is what you want to do..

What about the disabled toilet? Or first aid room? Or manager's office? Is there a sympathetic manager at work you could approach to see the lay of the land so to speak...

DancingThroughLife · 03/02/2011 00:22

I went back to work at the beginning of Jan when DD was 7mo. At the moment I'm doing two days a week (16hrs), and she has 2 x 5oz bottles plus food while I'm not there. I'm lucky that I can get that 5oz in one pumping session first thing in the morning, so I express every day to make a freezer stash (for when I'm doing more days) and have her 4 bottles for Mon/Tue.

I feed her first thing, she has a weetabix at 9.30ish, bottle 11ish, lunch 12.30-1ish, bottle 3.30ish then I feed her again at 5.30-6ish when we're both home again. Then again before bed and (at the moment) when she wakes in the night.

I can't express at work either for very similar reasons as you. But my supply had regulated itself by 7 months so I don't get that full feeling while I'm at work. I haven't had the leakage thing since she was about 5mo.

For now, just enjoy your lovely DS. Take every day as it comes. I was having the same concerns as you when DD was tiny, and when we actually got the point of doing it, it wasn't half as stressful or complicated as I'd built it up to be

PenguinArmy · 03/02/2011 04:33

First of you, your bonkers. Worry about this stuff in May at the earliest and make the most of your time together.

Secondly you say DS took a bottle at 3 weeks, have you tried since?

I went back to work full time (and prehaps a bit more) at 4 months.

At 7 months we had DD on just one bottle a day.

On the 6 hour day can you get someone to bring your son to you as this could get uncomfortable. The five hour days should be fine. Just feed right before leaving and of course as soon as you get back. Porridge works well for DD if she's hungry.

If they were full length days it would be very difficult without formula or expressing, but the shorter day should be fine.

At this stage I used to express once a day but at 2pm so went 7 between morning feed and expressing session

Original poster

pinkyp · 03/02/2011 16:20

Thank u all. your advice has been great i feel a little less panicked about things now.Gonna save this post and try and forget about it til nearer to the time

OP posts:

porcamiseria · 03/02/2011 21:27

dont panic now, please! enjoy the time you have

firstly I suspect that by this time you will be feeding less as DC will be on solids, so not the same level as now. so they only need 600-800ml a day at that age, so one BF in morning, one-two bottles in day, and feeds at night will do just fine

you can express for the day, or even let them be FF and feed when you are home

it will be FINE, I speak from experience as I spent my mat leave with DS1 fretting similarily

RELAX XX

PlasticLentilWeaver · 04/02/2011 14:03

pinkyp - have a look here. Various of us discuss what we do to make BF and working work IYSWIM. I work 3 days at the moment, with travel, each day is 11 hours out of the house although I can work at home occasionally (today). I will be going up to full time in about a months' time. DS has not yet dropped any feeds, despite being 9 months old and taking a good amount of solids. I am very good friends with my breast pump now - it's sitting beside me on me desk ATM LOL.

Your company is legally obliged to provide you with somewhere suitable to express and store your milk if you need to do it during your working hours. A loo (even disabled loo with more space) is NOT considered suitable, and they can not suggest this option.

TCOB · 07/02/2011 20:39

pinkyp - just to second plastic's link to the thread I started - I am now getting into the habit of expressing (and finding lots of interesting telly at 10pm at night...) and it's starting to get into a routine. Without the RL experiences of other MNetters I would have decided it was not going to work but think I can see a way forward now at least for a few months. Though I think it's a bit early to panic, you could start putting away some small freezer bags of milk in readiness (though think it will be off before July!). GOOD LUCK and enjoy the rest of your time with your baby

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