Breastfeeding when have to go back to work at 6-8 wks after birth...possible to continue?

[Fishpond]

Single parent, sole earner of the household, and very lax maternity laws in the USA mean I'll be going back to work when my baby is 6-8 weeks old. I really, really want to EBF for as long as possible.

How should I go about this with regard to getting baby used to a bottle, etc? I want to experience breastfeeding as naturally as possible, without bottle, for as long as I can, but I know at some point I need to get baby used to a bottle so he/she won't starve the first few days with childcarer.

Also I'm not sure how to go about pumping and getting ready for that, should I start expressing from Day 1 to have milk ready? Should I not express for the first X number of weeks to let supply build? At what point do I start and when is it best to pump?

And lastly, is it really feasible to carry on BF at home and expect DC to take a bottle during the day - will DC be ok with switching back and forth?

I know things can go wrong, so trying to be a realist, but really hope to BF for as long as I can and worried that I have so many factors against me before I even get out the gate, so to speak.

I think the first thing to do is discuss with your employer what provisions there are for you to pump and then store your milk, I believe things are better in that regard in the US than here because maternity leaves tend to be shorter.

Read the www.kellymom.com website, it has loads of great BFing info.

Lots of babies do switch back and forth very happily, some don't.

My advice would be to avoid the pump for the first couple of weeks if you can, and allow feeding to establish naturally, and then introduce pumping so that you can build up a store of milk, but also get your baby used to the bottle.
I think you will have to be very organised.

Do you have any other children?

More experienced persons will be along shortly....

Are you going back full time? What hours will you have to do? Will you be able to express at work? Is the childminders close enough that you can pop out for feeds?

I havent heard of expressing being a problem wrt supply in fact expressing should help build your supply. We were offering one bottle per day from about 6 weeks and had no problem with going back and forth from bottle to breast etc. It took DD about 3 days to get the knack of bottle feeding.

Unfortunately, Ali, my particular state has no workplace pumping law - they do not have to offer a place to pump nor a place to store the milk. However, baby will be in childcare a mere minute's drive from work, so will theoretically be able to pump on my breaks and store milk with childcarer, or if baby is a quick enough feeder, to feed during breaks.

Entropy I will be going full-time, otherwise would not be able to support us both! Hours are varied as I do a swing shift.

If you are so close to your childcare, then you could pump during breaks and then store with the childminder - breastmilk is fine kept at room temp for up to 6 hours, so that gives you some leeway. Then you would certainly be able to actually feed during your lunch hour.

I wish you all the best. I think it will be hard work, but if you a determined and organised then you can definitely give it a really good shot, especially as your baby won't be far away from you :)

ouch I thought my return at 3.5 months was harsh although I did a fair few days before that.

I started expressing in week 3, DH would give her a bottle in the morning each day. The only times I had trouble with her developing a bottle preference was when people who had FF their DCs fed her. Give your childminder a printout of the 'how to bottle feed the BF baby' from kellymom. Also ask them to give it to your baby at room temperature so your the warm comforting thing.

I expressed twice a day getting 8-12oz. She would have not much more than 1oz for each hour I was out (barring growth spurts) and fed throughout the night. Get yourself a double pump, I rented mine for $35 a month. You'll need to buy your bits to attach to the pump (about $60 i think). Over a few weeks the amount I expressed would go down so I had a booster weekend where I would express 1 hr after each of her feeds. If you have ice blocks you'll be fine storing milk in a small cool bag for the day.

Feed just before you leave them and when you immediately pick your baby out, this will minimize no. of bottle feeds. I would let DH know exactly when I was due home so if she was due a feed say 30 mins before that, he would hold off. Since you are so close to you childminder, cannot you not take your breaks and pop over and feed you baby yourself? I know in my job in the US they favored one long lunch break, but could you ask for 3x20min breaks?

You only have to get to 6-8months at which point if you don't mind night feeds, you can drop day feeds and therefore bottle feeding. From 4 months you can give them a cup to feed from rather than bottle. At 7 months DD had 3oz at lunchtime which I could express for a few of the days from evenings and weekends.

Quick update - have found out that my workplace will give up to 12 weeks of leave so hopefully that will help the EBF for longer! Won't have to get baby used to bottle for quite awhile longer than expected. Hooray!

Oh that is brilliant news!

12 weeks is a whole different thing to 6-8 weeks, it really is.

With your childcare so close at that point, you really will have a great chance because your supply will be much more stable.

Thanks Ali! I am so much happier at this point, a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. The whole leaving baby in childcare feels so much easier knowing it's 12 weeks rather than 6-8 also. Now a separate question - bottles for breastfed babies?

I have used several types over the years as I used to be in childcare myself. I am favoring these because they can control the flow. Or possibly these for the conveience of the drop-in liners.

We used breastflow, but never had much success getting DS1 to take a bottle and didn't bother trying with DS2. We didn't try that hard though if I am honest.

But, by 12 weeks you are beyond newborn latch confusion issues so you probably don't need to use breastflow. Baby will turn their head away from the bottle when they have had enough or need a pause by that age.

I returned to work when my baby was about 8 weeks. I came home in the lunch hour to feed. Never once used EBM . Fully breastfed till he was 6 m