Advice on return to work needed

[TheSecretCervix]

Due to the delights of being self-employed, I am due to return to work for 2 full days and 2 half days in Jan when my little one is 4 months old :( I am torn as to what the best thing to do is in terms of his feeding.

I would like to carry on giving him morning, evening and night breast feeds but wanted your thoughts/experiences on the best thing to do with him during the day?

My options as I see them are:

1. BF when we are together and express milk for him to take to nursery. This would be my ideal as having struggled with a breast abscess I feel that BF is a a battle I have won!
   I'm not sure if this will a) totally exhaust me when working full time b) if I can express enough to sustain him (I have already done a couple of afternoons work and left milk for him.) c) Cause me discomfort at work with leaking/engorged boobies! Being self employed I won't always have a place I can express and store milk during the day. One day in particular I will be doing where I won't be able to pump at all between 8am-5pm - will my supply completely dwindle anyway?

2. Offer formula feeds when he is at nursery and breast feed the rest of the time. Do you think it would be possible to give him formula only at nursery or would I need to switch to formula in the day on non-working days too? Also how soon before he started nursery would I need to introduce this?

My DH and DM have been supportive of bf to this point, but I feel that they are both keen for me to introduce formula (supplemented with morning and night bf) so I am not totally exhausted. As I said earlier, breast feeding feels like a challenge I have succeeded in and I feel that going back to work early is putting me in a situation I would not have chosen otherwise.

Sorry if that's a bit rambling - really feel confused as to what to do for the best! Pearls of wisdom greatly accepted!

x

i went back full time (and more) by 4 months and bf until 14 months, no formula ever

will pop later

Thank you PenguinArmy very keen to hear how you managed it :)

right I've handed over the crying growth spurt baby to DH for a bit

I posted some stuff on this thread it's the last post. I think that covers most of it.

In the two weeks before I went back I went a little pump crazy and got 100oz in the freezer. I didn't use any of it until DD was 9 months, when I stopped expressing but she carried on having a bottle in the day for a few more months. Knowing that stock was there helped. I pumped at the same point in the cycle each evening, the got a good supply. If I stopped for a few nights I'd be back getting 2oz. In those two weeks I pumped at least one other time as well. Initially once at work every few weeks I found my expressed supply would dip, but I would have booster weekends of pumping after most daytimes feeds.

If you've not found the pumping section of kellymom it is great.

i had days before that of not pumping (from 3 months) as out and it was fine. Sometimes I'd just quickly pump and dump in a loo somewhere (the train was fun )

I can't recommend the double hospital grade pumps that you can rent enough. Surprisingly light given their size, quiet and a lot easier physically.

Babies can take more than they need hence guzzling 5-9oz bottles but doesn't mean they need it. Fine if it's only the odd thing, but once I was back at work daily then milk was more rationed. We found she always finishes the botte regardless of amount (to an extent). If we gave her smaller bottles, we then took it from there if she was still hungry and offered more if it was needed. At first she took more like 14oz in a day but this came down as she got used it.

erm if I've forgotten anything then just ask more q's

Just thought I'd add my experience... I returned to work at 4 months having managed to bf DS2 (bf DS1 was a nightmare - returned to work at 3 months just to get away from him !). By the time I'd returned DS2 was happily taking a bottle - usually formula as I really couldn't express more than an ounce or two after 30 mins pumping (I'm not a milk machine - feeds were always 1+ hr). But we had a lovely 2-3 months after I returned to work when I'd bring DS2 into bed with me in the morning for a wakeup feed, he'd go to nursery and have formula, he'd have another bottle of formula when he got home and then a bf after his bath.

I didn't have any issues with engorgement but I never had engorged breasts, never leaked a drop - as the nice lady at the breastfeeding clinic said "clever you, you make exactly the right amount for your baby and not a drop extra!". Breast vs formula - I have no views on this at all - I think if I could have expressed I probably would have but I can offer no advice here !

I did enjoy my two moments a day with the little man, and it certainly helped me settle back to work. And then when I had to work away for a week, the bf-ing just tailed off. Made me a little sad, but looking back, it was a lovely, relaxing thing, and I wouldn't change a thing. I don't think he was really getting a lot from me after I returned to work, but I'm happy I carried on bf-ing.

My only advice would perhaps to see if you can get your little one to take a bottle happily - I know some mum's/midwives hate the idea, but nurseries find it a lot easier to feed a baby using a bottle than having to decant milk onto a spoon for them to lap up. I know you shouldn't just do things to make it easy for the nursery, but a fractious baby who wants milk can be hard to keep happy !

mix feeding is completely do-able, but I reckon a lot of it (what ever you try and do) will come down to how the care-giver gives the feeds

I was just reading about women in Nepal breastfeeding their babies pretty much while ploughing the fields just weeks after birth. Impressive stuff!

pregnancyandchildbirtharoundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/11/12-back-to-work-and-breastfeeding.html

Does our Western lifestyle make it easier to go back to work while breastfeeding, or harder? I can't work it out!

Our work arrangement definitely makes it harder. Very very few of us can bring our babies to work. I'm lucky to have a flexible employer and a nursery 5min from work. This still doesn't allow me to feed on demand during work hours.

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences! I think I am going to start pumping extra milk from this weekend (have a new freezer being delivered on Sat so can't start til then!) so I will hopefully have enough of a stock pile for him to take to nursery. I guess I will then just have to see what I will need to do in Jan re: supply/engorgement etc. I'd really like to keep his day breast milk until he is six months old, which I hope I will be able to do - PenguinArmy your story has given me the confidence to at least give it a go!

didireallysaythat Fortunately he has been taking a bottle since six weeks old (took a few attempts and a few different bottles!) as I knew how important it was, seeing as I was returning to work in Jan, hopefully he won't suddenly develop a dislike!

jandana Interesting article, guess the bottom line is that combining work, childcare and breast feeding, is a challenge where ever you are in the world!

Thanks again for your advice - I'll let you know how it goes! xx

didireallysaythat Lovely to hear how much you enjoyed carrying on feeding once you were back at work - hoping it will be the same for me :)