A few questions on breastfeeding, combind feeding and returning to work... would like to hear your experiences

[Elf1981]

My DD is 12 weeks old. I am due to go back to work and I am due to return to work when she is about 23 weeks old. She will be going to a nursery.
Currently I am breastfeeding her. I've got a little trouble anyway because though she was okay with a bottle to start with (of EBM) on the advice of all the Health Visitors, I stopped giving the bottle and now cant get her back on the damn things. So once I get over the whole 'lets relearn how to use the bottle' situation, I'm confused about the best path to take regarding feeding and wondered if anybody had any experiences they could share.
How hard is combind feeding? I leak a lot so if I did formula / EMB for in the day when I am away from her and breastfed at night, would I be spending the whole day at work with leaky boobs?
If I do combind feeding, when should I start this?
If I were to change to formula, when is the best time, ie amount of weeks / days before she starts nursery?

I'm very stressed already at the idea of going back to work, I dont want to leave my daughter, there have been a lot of changes while I have been away and I'm worried about my DD not settling in nursery / not taking a feed while I am away. Any experiences you have would be fantastic to read (even the bad ones!)

Thanks in advance

First of all, a 23-week-old baby is very different from a 12-week-old baby - and your leaky boobs may well have settled by then.

Is it practical for you to express at work?

I don't know about combined feeding because I've never done it, but I do know that your body will adjust to expressing or not feeding during the day when you're at work. I went back part time when DS was 6mo, but worked odd hours - I was away from him for 12 hours on a Sunday and 10 on a Wednesday. I expressed while I was at work (but only once usually) and my body adjusted to that - I still fed him on demand the rest of the week and that worked.

You can always stockpile some milk in the freezer now - it'll keep for 6 months.

Thanks. I have a meeting with my new boss (she started about three weeks before I was signed off with high blood pressure in my pregnancy) in Jan, so I could see about the potential of expressing at work. Not sure if there is a nice quiet area to do so, only the toilets and dont really fancy that!
I feel slightly upset at the idea of putting her on formula, I struggled really hard to get it established and I'd love to exclusively breast feed but dont know if that's going to be too difficult to do.

I express once at work at lunchtime,. I returned to work when ds2 was 6 months and nly just started on solids (and wouldnt take a bottle until about a week before I returned).

The feeding aspect has worked out just fine!

You will get lots of support on here if you plan to epxress...we have a thread called 'The expressing clique'

I've done a bit of expressing, tend to do it first thing in the morning and get a full 5oz in one go. Trouble is she wont take the bottle!!
I've only got an Avent Isis manual expresser, thinking of getting a mini electric one.

I find the hand pump waaaay better than my medela mini electric! I really do!

the only thing that got ds2 onto a bottle was:
MAM ulti teat, warmed the milk AND the teat and put a bit of milk on the teat bewfore giving it....
Stood up, holding him upright but away from me, and siging 5 little ducks while offering the bottle.....

desperate measures

What I would do is express now to stockpile some milk (Lansinoh do fantastic bags to store it in - you can get them in Boots I think and definitely in Mothercare). Store it in small amounts - 2, 3 and 4oz bags then you can make up feeds with it in whatever quantity she turns out to need.

She will begin to eat food around the time you go back to work (don't hurry to get her onto it because IME that makes everything more stressful - DS didn't eat much till he was closer to 8mo).

You can exclusively breastfeed - it just takes a bit more planning than if you were staying at home.

hi,
No real advise but just mt experience.
I went back to work full time with ds and part time with dd. DS was around 6 months when I went back to work and , although he had a few bottles of EBM when few weeks old, would only take "sippy cups" when older. Soon he also started on solids and water. I used to express mornings and evenings so didn't use formula. Yes, don't ask me about leaking, have some embarrassing memories about that,(work in a "male world"..) Used pads, and was wearing several layers of clothes...
Anyway, dd refused everything, but at that time was just dh looking after her and he had time to spoon feed her...
The main lesson I learned from ds is not to get too stressed about it...They just seem to chance so much in few months, what they do/don't do at 12 weeks they will/will not at 24 weeks.
There have been some threads about how to persuade dd/ds to take EBM (trying different bottles/teats/people to try it).
Anyway, rambling on too much. Hope you will get some proper advise soon

The freezing bags...I have found they leak when defrosting quite often...i bought very cheap bottles in the end and freeze in those....

5oz in one go is fab - I always used the Avent Isis and found it absolutely fine. One thing I would say is that as DS got bigger, I found it harder to express large quantities at once - if I need to go back to work as early this time I will begin stockpiling sooner. Still managed, but it was harder.

Popsy - how's are you btw - was it mastitis (sorry for hijack)?

I do wish I'd never listened to my health visitors about not giving a bottle. She was fine with them to begin with and then the lectures I kept getting put me off ("she'll lose interest in the boob"). Never mind!

Oh I wish I could win the lottery.

Elf1981, I don't know if you would find my post helpful or not. It does not really answer your question about combined feeding and my dd was slightly older ... but since you asked for experiences, here goes.

I went back to work pt when dd was 11 months. I never managed to get dd to take a bottle. In fact, I extended my maternity leave to the full year simply because dd could not be left with anyone else since she would only take milk from the breast. If your dd refuses a bottle, will she take a cup? I think you can get really young babies to go on a cup. By 23 months, your dd could just about take some solids ...

I also had all your questions about leaky boobs and the need to express. So to minimise it, I asked employer for reduced hours, going in every day, rather than full days a few days a week. This meant that I was away from dd for only 7 hours a day, 5 times a week at the same times of the day. Dd bf-ed all night, when I got home and all weekends. Never had problems with leaky or uncomfortably full boobs. Did not express either - then again, I was never a volume producer.

Got some freezer bags from boots but found that they didn't defrost in the fridge like a bottle defrosts, think its because I didn't shake the bag as it was defrosting.

hunker - i got the tablets but never took them.....it went away...the gand in my neck were swollen and i had a sore throat too - think it was glandular.
anyway - boobs fine now

Hi Elf,
I think you still hve a good chance of getting baby back into the bottle, so don't worry yet.Just keeptrying it, try a couple of different nipples. Every baby is different, but I know a few baies that finally broke down with a MUM teat, including my DS.

I started back at work when DS was 5 months. I expressed once at work and started him in solids. He was part time though. I suspect I will have to pump twice a day to get enough for him full day. I am also reluctant to give him formula, so he will have to tank it up when I am around...
Now seriously, babys do adapt!

Glad to hear it wasn't mastitis, Popsy

Elf, on the taking a bottle front - who is giving her the bottle? I found that initially, DS would only take a bottle from me and the milk had to be really warm (body temp) for him to entertain it. I would latch him onto the boob, then break it, and sneak the bottle into his mouth while he was still in sucking bliss. Probably totally frowned upon, but it worked for us!

If DH tried to give him a bottle, he'd frown at him as if he was mad - even very young he seemed to know it was Mummy who did milk! But once he'd worked out that bottles were OK and had the same stuff in them that I was feeding him, he'd take it from anyone.

I have tried that with my DD, it works quite well, the whole breastfeed for a moment then swap it for the bottle! Works well, but if I give her the bottle on the onset, she just kind of chews at it.
Tried the NUK, Tommee Tippee (four kinds!) and three different flow rates from Avent.

I would say try not to give her a teat that's too fast-flowing as she may well get more used to the bottle than breastfeeding as it's easier then. DS had the size one teat till he was 10mo, then the size 2, iirc.

try MAM ultivent teat with medium flow
that is all ds2 will take

hi elf1981 i continued to b/feed when still at work. your employer has a duty to provide you a room and time to express if you need. MEDELA do a bottle called haberman feeder recommended by the baby whisperer, it has a valve which allows baby to regulate flow as they would at the breast. you should be able to find them on the web. AVENT do mail order and you can buy the freezer bags and holders of them. i stockpiled but info on freezing has changed in the 12 months that i have been back at work, you can now keep in fridge for longer providing you dont put warm ebm on top of cold. agree so shud let dh try feeding. dont stress about work! if you need more time get doc to sign you off for few weeks.