Miserable about reducing feeds for return to work

[lellybel]

Just wondered if anybody is miserable about returning to work and having to drop day feeds and also if anybody has any tips to keep milk going for am and pm feeds and occasional night feeds ? DS is 21 weeks and starting nusery in 3 weeks, full time M - F.

Thanks

Feeling exactly the same! DS going to nursery 3 days a week end of march. He'll be 9 months. Took me ages and ages to enjoy bf for all sorts of reasons, but now I love it and don't want to stop just for a sodding job! Would like to continue with morning/evening feed. Have always hated/been crap at expressing (not even sure if nursery will give ebm). Never thought i'd feel like this!

yoyu dont have to if you are willing to express at work
ask if you want more info

why the sodding wouldn't nursery give ebm?????
You have a legal right to have time to express at work, Lellybel.
I know people who managed combi-feeding up to 18 months or longer, too.

a nursery should be fine about giving ebm - just need to provide labelled bottles with instructions on when to give. You should also get time/place from yr employer to express. Meanwhile, hopefully can continue early am & eve feeds yourself.

They will give ebm...i didnt tell my childminder until the last minute....not purposefully - it just didnt occur to me

I managed to feed morning and evening, and 2 daytime feeds during the day on my days at home. For the 3 days a week I was at work I got by with just one pumping, midway between the daytime feeds IYSWIM. That worked for me, but it was tough when I had to travel.

Sorry, have to rush, so prob sounds brusque.

Some nurseries don't give ebm. They say it is for health reasons/storing milk etc. Worth checking out before choosing a nursey.

I was feeling like this, and was encouraged to give expressing at work a go. I've been back at work about 6 weeks and its working fine. I expressed as much a possible before returning to build a stock up and 'get my hand in'. I told hr and they have given me my own key to the first aid room, which is private (often wonder if I would get away with nipping in there for a quick snooze too?! ). I express when I would normally have fed dd 11.30am and 2.30pm and on days off and weekends, I feed her instead. The nursery hadn't given ebm for about 2 yrs, but were very receptive and I printed them off some info on storage and handling of ebm from the kellymom site.

I wasn't sure if expressing would work, but when it is at a time when you would normally give a full feed, you do manage to get quite a lot out.

hth

there are NO health risks...I can find an article/guidelines confirming this if you want
ludicrous

Thanks everybody for replying. I knew I could express at work my problem is my job is just so awkward time wise and unpredictable. I could be on any one of three sites and have last minute meetings, especially with complainants blah,blah,blah. I just feel it would put me under a lot of stress so that it would be easier all round to drop them and just do am, pm and night feeds ( plus I'm always knackered after work with travel etc.) This is usually managable after 6 months isn't it once you supply is well and tuly established ? TIA

I have a friend who combi-fed the schedule you describe, lellybel, from when her baby was 8 weeks old (she just couldn't express at all) until he was 14 months.

I wonder if you could try to start back at work doing some expressing, then if it doesn't work give up & go to the combi-feeding regime.

I used to express roughly mid-morning, then roughly mid-afternoon. Didn't have to be precise about it. One day I didn't get a chance at all until 3:30pm (I got a double portion out that time ).
As baby got older & ate more solids I only needed to express once/day, so that was pretty easy to squeeze in somehow, too.

Mine managed without a daytime feed from 8 mths (I was back at work and finding expressing tough). However,I kept on b/feeding until dd was 2 1/2 years old. Morning and night on w/days and all day weekends worked fine.

Thanks Psychobabble and MD - I work for a voluntary org in a really flakey old building with very little privacy, so aside from the useless expressing I just don't think expressing at work would work IYSWIM. DS not hugely interested in his day time feeds anyway but I haven't tried to drop one. Maybe I should see how it goes dropping his late morning feed and just head on in there with the turkey twizzlers instead .

I know exactly what you mean about resenting cutting down on bf just to return to work. I restarted work last week, 2.5 days a week, and ds has literally 1oz of formula mid am and mid pm on nursery days, he holds out for 'mummy gold-top'! (Due to the nature of my work, there is no way I could express - and believe me, I thought it all through very carefully indeed).
When I returned to work having had dd I successfully bf her first and last thing each day until she was 14 months, so I hope it works out this time too.
Good luck to you going back to work, btw! It's an adjustment.......

In the same boat Houseofgruffalo. nasty old buildings with no space to do anything without everybody knowing ! might give it a go - will probably have to pump at work anyway for a while as I am determined to feed ds untill the last possible day feed so envisage a few days of discomfort initially.If I manage to sort something out I might try to fit it in as and when like mszebra says. Otherwise I will give it a go on days off and weekends. I think this might work as I seem to be able to boost my supply quite quickly if needed. Just another question though if thats OK, although ds is theoretically demand fed he never demands ! from birth I have had to offer and even now only has a 6am, 10.30, 14.30,7pm and occasional night feed do you think this is Ok at 21 weeks ? He's peeing fine and poos every couple of days weight gain is 8 - 10 oz a week so I'm not really worried but are other babies like this or am I incredibly lucky ?

I'm not an expert, but it sounds like he's doing really well!

Thanks houseofgruffalo.I think he is its just that on some threads you read about 3-4 night feeds even at 7,8,9 months and 5,6,7 day feeds. Like i say, I think I am just really lucky