Going back to work - how much milk to leave an 8 month old??

[patchesmcp]

I'm going back to work this week :( and will initially be leaving my ebf 8 month old for 2 days a week but this will increase to 4 days after 6 weeks.

He is currently eating 3 meals a day and feeds 4-5 times in a 24 hour period (first thing, mid morning, mid afternoon, just before bed and if I am unlucky in the night).

The problem is I have no idea how much milk to leave for him when I am not there. I have a v small stash in the freezer and am now getting between 1-2oz when I express in the morning (was getting 5oz previously hence why I didn't do the expressing sooner - i'm so annoyed at myself!) so I don't want to waste it by leaving him too much.

Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks!

I just went back to work with a somewhat younger DD. She has no meals yet but I leave her with two bottles of around 150mls each for her mid morning and mid afternoon feed. The way I have been managing it is to express both boobs at midday and that is what she gets during the next day.

I think this way that the supply should still end up matching the demand and you are expressing approximately at the time that the baby has been taking the milk so it should be there, rather than a struggle to get any out at a time your body is not used to producing.

I think my DD is already adapting to getting stocked up before I go and double feeding when I get back after just two weeks.

If that wont work for you then maybe keep plugging away with the expressing at a time of day that does work for you. I had a big dip in the amount I could express because I got out of the habit, but two evening of 'we can wait here all night till you make milk' expressing got things going again.

I returned to work when DS was 7 months old - he was EBF and doing BLW at the time. He didn't really "get" food until at least 8 months old.
I went back full time, and was well supported to pump at work. In fact I would pump approx 5 times per day (even though he was only missing 3 feeds whilst I was at work). Even though I had a double electric pump, i found i achieved approx 3ozs per pumping, and liked to leave 15ozs at home.

Once he was well established on food, he gradually dropped down his milk intake and at 13 months we hit the summer holidays and stopped daytime feeds. At 13 months I would still leave approx 6-8ozs per day (despite still pumping up to 5/6 times a day).

I pumped before bedtime to build my freezer stash and also at weekends to keep things "ticking over".

Good luck!

A typical feed is usually about 3-4oz.

If he's having 3 good meals a day and maybe a couple of snacks then, from a nutrition point of view, he needs a pint of milk a day. However, things like cheese and yoghurt(dairy, basically) are counted within that pint.

What he needs for him, because he likes it and needs a soothing milky drink, is something only you can know!

Thanks, all that information is really helpful!

I might try expressing in the evening because like you say I can sit there all evening if necessary and mumsnet at the same time.