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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:

5madthings · 10/05/2012 16:17

re the fees, my uni tried to pull that one and i got some advice and legally they couldtn do that, might be worth looking into :)

Original poster

WantAnOrange · 10/05/2012 16:17

Those are great tips. Thankyou.

I think supply might be ok. I'm 18 weeks and leaking already! I had a very good supply with DS and expressed a little then, although I didn't do it much because I didn't really need to.

OP posts:

Original poster

WantAnOrange · 10/05/2012 16:18

5madthings I can have baby on site and feed there, I just can't have baby in lectures so I would still need to leave the baby with someone else.

OP posts:

5madthings · 10/05/2012 16:39

do check out the thing about the increase in fees tho i dont think they can leagally bump you up to the higher ones if you end up taking time out or going part time!

monkeymoma · 10/05/2012 16:44

they can't do that, I took a year out before baby (not baby related) and went back part time after baby, I was charged historic fees based on when I first started even though I was in classes with people paying more. they did charge me more at first but had to refund it

can't remeber the proper term for it, historic fees isn't correct, but it was something like that..

monkeymoma · 10/05/2012 16:45

legacy fees??? don't think that's it either
something like that?

5madthings · 10/05/2012 16:49

yes i was same as monkeymama tho i took a year out due to having a baby and i am pretty sure they have to charge the same fees you intitally signed up for and cant charge you more, but i also dont know the proper term, maybe speak to your student union advisor or someone like that hwo will know :)

monkeymoma · 10/05/2012 17:00

Its to do with the contract you signed at registration

also for example, the new contracts my classmates signed was a commitment to being available for lectures any time between 8am and 8pm mon to fri, the one I signed at the stare was 9-6 mon - fri (before they had to extend the hours), so say they put on a compulsary module at 7-8pm then I had to be allowed to choose an alternative module which was on betwen 9 and 6 if I wanted to, whereas my classmates couldn't. Same as my fees.

Original poster

WantAnOrange · 10/05/2012 17:06

I really don't know. I don't mind doing full time tbh, it'll save me a year in the long run.

OP posts:

jocie · 10/05/2012 17:09

what times are you at uni?
if you take say just 4 weeks off that would prob give you 5 weeks altogether as i presume your uni breaks up for oct 1/2 term? (obv this is banking on babs being on time!) they say it usually takes 6 wks for bf to be established so you'd be nearly there!
could you feed babs just before you walk out of the door and as soon as you get in (am thinking that the times youd be out would be roughly 9-4?) babs might only need 2/3 feeds imbetween those times ( basing this on you feeding bout 8am and then thinking that babs would feed 2/3hrly)
as long as you feed LOTS all other days and express at least 2/3 times throughout that uni day then your supply should hopefully be ok!

monkeymoma · 10/05/2012 17:10

unis don't usually take an autumn midterm do they?, they start quite late into october so no point

jocie · 10/05/2012 17:14

also re bottles and which and when to introduce i introduced 1 a day at around the 2/3 week mark. I started off with the tomme tippee ones but then eventually moved on to avent ones. There are some 'breastflow' ones from mothercare that are supposed to be similar to the action of bf and iv heard others say the nuk ones are good as the teat is shaped.

Original poster

WantAnOrange · 10/05/2012 17:16

We get half terms think it's because it's a college mostly, it just has a uni building attatched to it. It takes kids from 14 right up to HE.

I will be in 9-4 on a wednesday, then 9-1 on thursdays. Factoring travel times, I could feed baby at 7:30, then it will need a bottle at 10:30 ish and 1:30 ish and I could race back for a 4:30 feed.

I just need to convince baby that this is a good plan....

OP posts:

Original poster

WantAnOrange · 10/05/2012 17:17

I may need to get a car....

OP posts:

jocie · 10/05/2012 17:18

good luck and just remember that every feed counts so don't stress too much

Indith · 10/05/2012 17:19

Sounds like you are thinking things through well :)

Generally the advice would be to leave it a few weeks before introducing a bottle but needs must. Have you considered alternative feeding methods such as cup feeding? At least for a few weeks until you know breast is well established. Since you will be feeding most of the time, I'd have thought supply will be ok. Just express regularly, try to express before your class, duringthe break and afterwards.

Anecdotally I went back to uni 10 days after ds was born and bf :)

jocie · 10/05/2012 17:20

or a moped(sp?)!!!

Original poster

WantAnOrange · 10/05/2012 17:22

Indith how did it go?

OP posts:

Indith · 10/05/2012 17:33

It was good really. Not that I'd suggest going back at 10 days, I really don't think I took anything in during those classes! Ds was a dream to feed which helped. Dh was a student too so we managed to work our timetable so that we didn't have classes at the same time as each other and I fed in the corridor outside the class. It was the following year I had to take him to classes with me when the feckers moved a seminar to after the bloody creche had shut .

Your hours make it sound pretty doable really, you will be bf most of the time. You'll just have to see how things go, I'd have thought he will just adapt and have different habits depending on who is feeding him (probably more frequent feeds with you and a bit more timed with the bottle).

Original poster

WantAnOrange · 10/05/2012 19:15

I'm feeling better after this thread, I think it's do-able now.

OP posts:

lagoonhaze · 11/05/2012 11:46

I've taken a year out to have my baby. I'm going back on old fees. My course is 5 days a week so couldn't juggle both hence year out.

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