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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

How am I going to juggle uni and breastfeeding?

46 replies

WantAnOrange · 09/05/2012 19:46

My baby is due on the 10th october, but I am due back at uni on the 24th september. I will be in 1 and half days a week. I will obviously have to take some time off but Is it even possible to breastfeed in this situation?

How early on can you introduce a bottle of expressed milk? Will this confuse the baby?

Are there bottles which are better suited to using alongside breastfeeding?

Will my supply be messed up if I can't feed for a whole day each week?

OP posts:

StrangerintheHouse · 09/05/2012 19:59

How long are you taking off?

You really can't tell beforehand how easy it is going to be to establish bf (it is easy for some women), whether your baby will be one of the ones who has no problems switching between bottle and breast from day one and how robust your supply is.

Is there anyway someone could bring your baby to you so you could breastfeed during your breaks on the days you are in?

littleweed10 · 09/05/2012 20:01

Related to who is looking after the baby when you're in uni - is there a nursery on site at your uni? At the one I work at, BF mums are welcome to go down to the nursery to feed. Completely agree with stranger, there are a lot of ifs and buts, just depending on how your baby will get on.

Original poster

WantAnOrange · 09/05/2012 20:03

I don't have any planned time off. I'm going to play it by ear! slightly mad

I breastfed DS for 8 weeks. He was a good feeder but I found it very painful. We didn't attempt mixed feeding so I've no experience.

The uni is a little to far away for people to be travelling back and forth with the baby. It's to much to ask of a child minder and DH will (hopefully!) be working full time by then.

OP posts:

Original poster

WantAnOrange · 09/05/2012 20:03

There is a nursery at uni but I wouldn't use it. The baby will be with Dad or childminder.

OP posts:

littleweed10 · 10/05/2012 11:56

If there's no way baby can come to you it's expressing or mixed feeding then?
If you want to express milk you'd need to do that in the day too. I know an employer should provide a reasonable place for a woman to express milk - ie not a toilet- and someone to store it ie a refrigerator. But not sure what rules are in place in the case of a student at college/ uni...
It might be worth asking your student support team for advice on the provision the university can provide? SU can be also helpful if you need additional support?

littleweed10 · 10/05/2012 11:56

Somewhere not someone. Flipping ipad

nickelhasababy · 10/05/2012 12:30

You'll be fine BFing in lectures.

Make sure you sit to the side, and have one of those dictaphones - you probably won't need to BF most of the time (perhaps your breaks will fit around it), so you can write your notes most of the time and then record them by dictaphone and write them up later if you need to BF in lectures.

I've got my DD at work with me - we came back to work at 4 weeks. We've managed fine, and most of the time people don't even notice she's eating!
(and we're here 6 days a week)

Once your baby is old enough to be annoying in the lectures, it'll also be old enough to leave for a couple of hours.
(and that might be when you'll need to use the nursery at the uni - then collect it at breaks to feed it)

littleweed10 · 10/05/2012 12:41

I think op said baby won't be coming up to uni...

littleweed10 · 10/05/2012 12:42

Or am I confused...

monkeymoma · 10/05/2012 12:45

I can't remember exactly when we established EBM, think it was 6ish weeks, kellymom gives very good tips for bottle feeding breast fed babies - it's different to formula bottle feeding, you need to do things like make them "root" for it and switch arms so that they don't then only BF on one side

I BF through uni (2 days a week) but from 5 mths till 13 months so a bit different), did need to give tutors heads up in long sessions so I could leave to express in my car.

One of my tutors also BF while lecturing, she put her child in the uni nursery so could pop over

monkeymoma · 10/05/2012 12:47

oh and I picked a CM that was near the campus, not near home, so baby came in car to near uni, had a BF in the car, went into CM, I went to lecture and 5 mins after lecture was BFing baby in the car outside CM's again - had the CM been near home there would have been much bigger gaps between BFs because of traffic

also, that early it would have been hard for me to be so geographically far from the baby, it helped to know he was only down the road while I was at uni

nickelhasababy · 10/05/2012 12:50

but i was working on the impression that she wanted to but didn't know if it would be acceptable.

monkeymoma · 10/05/2012 12:52

(then when the baby was bigger and longer gaps were okay, I moved him to a nursery near home)

Original poster

WantAnOrange · 10/05/2012 14:32

I will not be able to take the baby with me. I don't think it will be possible for someone to bring baby to me inbetween lectures to feed either so really this is about bottle feeding a breast fed baby, is it realistic or am I going to mess up the breast feeding?

My tutor is supportive and will help me find somewhere to express.

I'll take a look at Kellymom.

OP posts:

littleweed10 · 10/05/2012 14:37

People can do very well expressing milk for when they're away from baby. Do ask your uni for support, they should support you, and if they don't, any students union would probably be thrilled to take this on as a welfare issue to both support you and lobby on your behalf.

monkeymoma · 10/05/2012 14:37

EBM bottles didn't mess up breast feeding for me, did bottles from a few weeks old and BF for over a year! so long as you express for every bottle given IYKWIM it should be fine x

nickelhasababy · 10/05/2012 14:40

why won't they let you take the baby with you?
have they discussed that with you?

why won't you be using the creche?

(just trying to get background)

Original poster

WantAnOrange · 10/05/2012 15:37

The Uni are very supportive, no worries there. It's not appropriate to take my baby with me. It's a uni department in a local college so it's small class groups, not big lecture halls. We never just sit and be lectured at, it's usually group discussion and group work. A baby would be a distraction. Each session last 4 hours, with a half hour break in the middle.

I personally would not put a child in a nursery. Full stop.

My plan has always been to leave the baby with Dad or childminder (who my DS already goes to).

My worries are that the baby won't accept the bottle, or that I will end up FF all the time.

OP posts:

nickelhasababy · 10/05/2012 15:39

I don't see why the baby would be a distraction (at least not to you! )
I have DD here at work with me, and I find it just as easy to do my job, including looking up things for customers, fetching books for them etc with DD (and yes, sometimes I have to walk around the shop with customers while she's feeding)

Not saying you have to, of course, it's entirely up to you, but something to consider.
:)

monkeymoma · 10/05/2012 15:41

anecdotally, the people I know who tried to introduce EBM bottles fairly late (like at the end of standard mat leave) found it difficult, but if it's introduced early it's fairly easy

there are a few things to make it easier:
don't give the first bottles yourself, get someone else to give it when you're not in the room
if they reject it, play with the temperature. DS took it fridge cold
if they still reject it, boil then cool it, it changes the taste so much that they don't associate it with "mummy milk" and don't reject it looking for you when they smell it - this stops it being anti bacterial though so then needs to be treated like formula for the purposes of storage etc

5madthings · 10/05/2012 15:46

i think as its only one a bit days per week it could work, the baby could take a bottle of expressed milk, feed before you go out and could you nip back at lunchtime and feed again? there are cups and allsorts you could even syringe feed the baby if you had to.

tbf tho i was at uni when i had ds1 he was born at the end of aug and i started my 3rd yr when he was a few wks old, i did it for 3wks and then ended up taking time out i took a whole year so i could focus on him for that first year and bfeed etc. i was leaving him with dp when i was at lectures and he wouldnt take a bottle, but many babies do. the issue was not so much the lectures more the reading and essay and dissertation i had to do, i simply didnt have the time, i could only study when ds1 slept and he didnt do that much!

you may have an easier baby tho! baby may well take bottles and as its only one day a week then you can feed from breast the rest of the time, i think tbh you can only give expressing a go and see how it works out, check with your uni about taking time out, you will want a couple of weeks when baby is born just to physically recover and spend time with baby and establish feeding etc.

i also agree with mabye taking baby along, i did that a few times and a tiny new baby is fine, they just feed or stay snuggled in arms/carseat and they werent a distraction after the intital 5 mins of coooing over him from everyone else :)

monkeymoma · 10/05/2012 15:50

I do think though, if you want the baby to take the bottle on uni days, you should introduce a bottle every day. I found bedtime best, DH would give it then I would express for the next day

Original poster

WantAnOrange · 10/05/2012 16:07

Taking baby is out of the question. There is no way my uni would go for that. And, in a Early Years Education class, BIG DISTRACTION! Lol, we are baby people.

I will be taking a few weeks out but haven't planned how long yet.

I think it's a good idea to offer a bottle before I go back, so I know that baby won't starve!

Taking time out of uni isn't an option. I was planning on going back part time but if I swtich, they will charge me the new fees . If I stay on full time I can get all the way to my Honours on the old fees, and thats a big difference.

OP posts:

nickelhasababy · 10/05/2012 16:13

it sounds like the bottle feeding is your only answer then.
It's good that you've thought through all the possibilities.

Practise expressing before it arrives (apparently it helps with starting labour, so don't do it before it's due!)

make sure you try a routine going when you first have it - once your milk's come in - there's no point trying before that.
There are loads of videos available about how to express and how to bottle-feed a BF baby.

Do practise with the baby every day.
the best time to express is in the morning - you will most likely be able to feed the baby and express a full feed, whereas as night ,it's much harder.

It shouldn't affect your supply, but it's a good idea to feed the baby after you've expressed on that side (mainly because expressing isn't as efficient as feeding)
When you practise with the bottle, try to choose the same time every day to get used to it.
and when you're at uni, express the same feeds as you're missing (this can be kept in a fridge or coolbag-with-ice-packs until you go home, then you can freeze it or refrigerate it for the next day.

nickelhasababy · 10/05/2012 16:14

I think the most important thing is always to express the feeds you're missing.
because then your body knows those feeds are still needed, and your supply won't be compromised.

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