Working long days and breastfeeding

[BelinaTheChicken]

DS2 is 7 months, currently working night shifts and giving him formula when I'm at work ( can't express well). In two months I go onto day shifts, working 2-3 12 1/2hr shifts a week. Will my supply be completely messed up if I don't feed or express on these days? Work is pretty flexible so I can request to not have two in a row, and he still feeds 2-3 times a night, will this be enough to keep my supply up? I have an hour break so I can express then if I have to. DS2 has a milk protein allergy, so want to keep feeding for as long as possible.

Yes I went back to work when ds2 7 months. I bf as normal (he bf lots and lots!) on my days off and I expressed once at work but by 8-9 m I dropped the expressing. I was out of the house 7-6 3 days a week, once a week it was 7-9 now I remember.

And he bf until 2 yrs.

That sounds promising! Hopefully won't have to do the expressing for too long, I hate it and get hardly anything anyway. I don't express on the night shift anymore, but I'm very ready to feed him when I come home

How do you express? Some women find hand expressing easier then using a pump and it's less of a faff if you are needing to do it at work as well and don't need a pump.

I'm out of the house for 12hrs and DS will only take 3oz of EBM during the day at nursery then feeds hourly overnight to make up for it

Yes, IME. I was asking a similar question a few months ago. I am out of the house 6.30am til after 9pm on work days an average of 3 days a week. I also do a few nights each month. I have never managed to express more than 2oz in a hour so expressed milk wasn't an option either. Responses to my previous thread were not very optimistic, but I thought I would carry on as long as I could even if it was only a couple of weeks. 2 months later we are still doing ok. On work days I get up at 5.30 and feed her for 30mins trying not to wake her. She is asleep when I get home but usually wakes at some point for a feed. She drinks formula from a cup during the day and does fall asleep for DH despite being fed to sleep when I am here. There were some uncomfortable days initially but my supply has adjusted to accomodate both work days and at least 3 feeds when I am home.

My DS is the same age, my days aren't quite as long as yours (i'm out of the house for 10 hours). I expressed in work for comfort for the first 2 days but didn't bother after that as I could only get about half an ounce anyway (odd as I can get up to 5oz if I express at home!), I've been able to feed him on my days off no problem even after working 5 days in a row.
Spannerpants- your DS sounds very like mine although thankfully the feeding isn't just as frequent overnight!

I got up a half hour before ds (4.30am), expressed then (most milk can be expressed at this time). But I was crazy - already so sleep deprived that I barely noticed a but more.

Don't forget in 2 months he'll be eating a lot more solids too, so work on introducing a good healthy range in the next 2 months.

A bit, not a but.
Also, my days were far shorter, so a different situation.