Going back to work at 10 months- advice on expressing and continuing to bf.

[mummysmellsofsick]

Do any longer term bfers have advice on my return to work?
I am planning on going back 3 days per week, Mon, Weds, Fri. DS will be 10 months (he's currently 5 mths). So far he's ebf and I've never expressed so he's never had a bottle.

I had hoped to continue to bf until he's 2, or until he self- weans but I can't see how this would be compatible with going back to work. I'm willing to express but can't see how this would work without upsetting the supply. If I expressed on Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday would I have enough milk to feed him on those days too, and wouldn't that amount of expressing increase my supply and cause my system a lot of confusion if I was then going for over 12 hours on alternate days without feeding him. I could express a bit at work at lunchtime to relieve the pressure but I only normally get the one break and I'd be out for 12 hours in total on the days I work.

I'm having trouble fixing my hours for my return (these are flexible) because I don't really understand how much milk a 10 month baby needs in the day, and I don't know yet how much he'll take to drinking from a cup.

If I were to cut his feeds down to morning and night, would he need formula/ follow on milk during the day? And how will I know at this stage whether he'd even accept formula? Most bf babies I know can't stand it.

Any advice gratefully received. I'm fretting massively about returning to work as you can tell, but I love my job and don't want to lose it plus we need the income.

I haven't done it myself but watched bf friends return to work at twelve months and they fed just am before work, when they got back and bedtime. Babies had food and water/cows milk between these times. Don't forget that by ten months he will be getting a lot of his calories from food not just bm.

Oh thank you pommedechocolat that was speedy! I'm so emotional about him having formula or cow's milk, I know he will eventually but was hoping not as early as 10 months. I suppose by then as you say he'll be having so much food that I'll be a bit less precious about it all :(

Agree with pomme, he should be fine with a morning and bedtime feed (and maybe some night feeds if he's still doing that). I went back 3 days/week when DD1 was just over a year and it worked fine. On the days when I was at home I fed morning, bedtime, and once or twice during the day as well. On work days I just fed her morning and night. At nursery she had cows milk in a sippy cup, sometimes she drank it and sometimes she didn't but I didn't really worry about it as I was bf'ing her twice a day anyway. She loved yoghurt with her meals so I felt that was a top-up for her as well.

My boobs got used to the slightly inconsistent feeding pattern within a few weeks. I didn't express milk at work, but I was pretty full by the end of the day so if I was in the same situation again I'd probably express once during the day just to relieve the pressure. Easy for me to say I know, but try to not worry at the moment about going back to work, don't let it spoil your maternity leave. 3 days a week is very manageable. I found getting back home to do the bedtime feed was a really special time for me and DD and was great for re-bonding after being out all day.

Hi mummysmellsofsick - thought I'd reply here rather than the other thread.

I am going back 3 days a week in three weeks time, and totally understand it is so hard.

At the moment, I feed him last thing at night, probably twice overnight, and if the last of those is around 6am then not again in the morning. Otherwise, he has a morning feed too. During the day depends. If he 'asks' for it, then maybe once or twice, but often not at all. I've often felt I'm offering and he's not interested, has a few 'sips' and then wants to be off, which is what has resulted in him having nothing many days.

He won't take a bottle, and so will leave formula in a sippy cup I think. If he has it fine, but I know he's ok without it too, and can feed as soon as I get in. I won't be able to express at work, so that's not an option. He's eating quite a lot and drinks water from a sippy cup, so at 10 months they won't get dehydrated/ hungry. Although I think a lot of their calories are still from milk, so it is important that they get the milk at sometime.

Someone on another thread suggested to me that he was reverse cycling, which sounds reasonable. Have you found kellymom yet? It is a fantastic resource and linked to on the other thread.

What I can say is that of my concerns about going back, the milk isn't one of my big concerns.

Is that helpful? Any other questions feed free to ask, but I'm not an expert at all, but can tell you what my experience is/has been!

I have just gone back to work 2 days a week, 12 hour shifts. It's fine! Ds at 11 months tomorrow will reluctantly take small volumes of formula from beaker, but is better at taking expressed breast milk. I express in the mornings before I leave, and the evenings when I get back. I feed him overnight if he wants it. Otherwise when I'm not working he takes 3 or 4r feeds a day.

I didn't expect to still be feeding him at this stage.... So didn't really plan for it. Luckily his nursery are very helpful.

Please don't worry about this now! Plans change, anything can happen. If you plan to express at work I would suggest you give your employer some notice so they can sort out facilities for you. Good luck and well done so far!

One thing I did was to express quite a lot while I was off full time - maybe just once a day to build up a supply which helped a lot.
Also find out what the expressing facilities are like at work.

I went back to work full time at 4 months, 5 long days a week, and I expressed three times a day at work during that time. Funnily enough I stopped expressing at work at 10 months because by that age, DD didn't need so much milk in the day, so she just had a yoghurt and some cows milk (no allergies in the family). DD managed fine with a feed in the morning and evenings, and feeding on demand at weekends.

If you do need to express at work then it helps to have a fridge and a quiet room available. I had an office, and some mums use the First Aid room.

This is all very encouraging thank you. I've got myself in a state about feeding him when I'm back at work following a nightmare where I left him and he almost starved... It's good to hear your voices of reason and experience .

Nightmare as in dream not real life nightmare (just re read that it sounded wrong). Thanks all, lots of helpful suggestions and I'm feeling much more confident that I'm doing the right thing going back.. Not that I have loads of choice. I'll try not to let it hang over me for the remainder of my maternity leave

I work full time, DD is 12mo, and I'm still bf with no formula and no expressing. At 10 months, my DD was already off milk during the day. Both at home in the weekend and in the nursery. She's fed first thing in the morning, when I get home, and through the night. (On good nights, it's 3 feeds a day. Don't ask me about bad nights). She just has food and water during the day. She is exclusively self fed as well, if you are thinking (or doing) BLW.

So it's entirely possible to keep bf after you return to work, without any need to faff about expressing.

HTH.

OneLittleBabyTerror that was exactly what I was hoping someone would say!! I keep looking at the breast pump but so far I can't face it and the thought of washing bottles etc, planning ahead is not appealing. But it's very useful to hear about 10 month olds' eating and drinking habits to give me some idea of what he might be needing.

mummysmellsofsick, I went back to work three full days and two half-days a week when DS was 8 months. He was never very keen on bottles and VERY keen on boob. However, he was totally fine without boob or bottles in the nursery. The nursery staff always said that he ate enough "normal" food and drank enough water not to need any formula or expressed milk. He also does not seem to miss boob when I am not around (but still yells for it when he sees me). I am sure your DS, at 10 months, will be just fine. And expressing is a pain in the arse anyway.

BlastOff I've just read your links, couldn't read them on my phone... I think I'll actually hope for reverse cycling (I may have changed my mind by then of course!) so that he can get most of his milk directly from me. Actually he's always fed a lot at night and I have encouraged it as he has a lot of reflux in the day but keeps it all down at night.

SmileItsSunny, worldgonecrazy and tomlervaine I'm pleased working is working out well for you and DCs. I will find out what expressing facilities at work would be like, and I will see if I can build up a bit of stash in August just to tide him over until his birthday, when he can have cow's milk. I'm quite allergic to cow's milk, it gives me eczema so I don't want to give it to DS until I have to. Must look up research on this as I vaguely remember reading something about cows milk being linked to diabetes too but can't remember where. Might not have been a particularly well proven link.

Patronsaintofducks that's also vv good news... I'm finally breathing a sigh of relief as I had obviously been worrying too much about this. No one's dcs have died of lack of milk due to them going back to work. Hurrah!

OP I really worried about this too, but I'd just second what most other people have said. I've just returned to work and my DS is 10 months. On days when I'm at home he feeds on demand but only really has 1 - 2 feeds a day. He still feeds with gusto before bed and during the night. I express once a day in my office at work and he drinks this milk the following day from a cup (never took a bottle). If I didn't express I would be quite uncomfortable I think, but it's a bit of a faff so when he's 12 months I'm going to give him cows milk in the day and not bother expressing. Everyone told me not to worry but when your DC is 5 months old, 10 months seems an unimaginably long way off! Good luck, I'm sure you will be fine.

Oh, and my DS ate virtually nothing until I went back to work and his appetite really improved and now he eats much better!

Gosh Guineapig you must have been worried if he wasn't eating much till you went back to work. Glad to hear it's all going well anyway. I'm just on the verge of thinking I might actually enjoy going back

The only thing I'd add is that I found expressing very stressful (DS was only 7 months old and I was back full time) as it seemed to make it harder to get back into work - when I stopped (and let DS have other milk - i think around 11 months?) it was a relief - and letting him have other milk during the day when i wasn't there didn't stop me being able to feed him at other times.

Also rather than going straight from b/f to cows milk and worrying about the allergy you could give him formula or goats milk maybe?

I'm telling you, mummysmells, work is a heck of a lot easier than being at home with baby all day. Being a mum is tough and hats off to anyone who does it full time. I was so dreading going back to work that I forgot there were things I liked about it- catching up with colleagues, being able to eat my lunch in peace and generally feeling like me again and not mummy! I'm sure it won't be as bad as your expecting. By 9 months-ish I was starting to feel ready to go back.

I went back to work when DS was 10mo, was away from him for approx 10 hours a day and I didn't express, he never took a bottle anyway and only started drinking a decent amount (usually water) from a cup after 12mo despite me offering it for MONTHS. He had no milk while away from me and very little water tbh though he was eating LOADS of fruit, and I really do mean loads. I fed him morning, when I picked him up and bedtime (and usually once through the night).

I guess what I am saying is that things with a 5mo are very different from with a 10mo and I remember the panic too as so much of your life is taken up with feeding that its hard to imagine a time when it won't be.

DS is now 17mo and feeds morning and bedtime (sometimes), occasionally has a little cows milk in a cup, and drinks water no probs. It. will. work. out.

Don't worry, it can be done. I had my DD back in the days when we only got 6 months paid maternity leave, so had to return to work when DD was 5 months.

My DD never took a bottle, and so when we weaned, I introduced formula to her. She had this in a sippy cup, and never took a bottle. She never really took to formula (as a drink either). So we mixed it in with porridge and the like... and I fed her before and after work, and again before bed.

We continued bfeeding until DD was about 18 months, and she chose to self wean.

Good luck with it, but I'm sure it'll be fine.

Oh more replies thank you... I'm happy to hear all these very positive outcomes & different solutions, and yes I am sure being at work will be more relaxing than chasing a 10 month old around all day! DS had fun playing with his empty sippy cup the other day, I'm looking forward to trying some water in it when we start weaning next month.