Back to work and BF advice

[slothprincess]

I'm sure this question has probably asked loads of times, but I wonder if some more experienced BFers had help me.

I'm going back to work in 6 weeks ( :( ) when my baby will be 9 1/2 months old. We're doing BLW and she's not eating much anything so is still having 5-6 feeds over 24 hours. I'm going to be working 3 1/2 days a week and want to keep the morning, evening and night feeds and she's going to have formula while I'm at work.

My question is, do I need to start cutting down daytime feeds now in order to change my supply? I was out all day without her at the Olympics yesterday and was quite uncomfortable by the time I got home and needed to express asap. I don't want to be engorged and uncomfortable at work.

Also, do I need to keep to the same routine of not breastfeeding her in the day when I'm not at work?

Thank you.

i fed my dcs through the day when at home and expressed at lunchtime at work (and wore double breast pads). the chanfe in routine didnt bother my 2 dcs but meant i made the extra milk whilst i was working so needed to express.

I was in a similar position at 11m (he eats like a horse now).

I expressed a bit for comfort at work at around 2pm, but fed on demand when he was around. He had a bottle of formula at about the same time at nursery. Storage and transportation (90-mins door-to-door) of pumped milk, and sterilisation of equipment, was all just too much for me.

But by God he made up for it when I wasn't there, by significantly increasing night feeds. I was a zombie on about three hours' sleep a night. If I'd known better, I'd have co-slept to get more rest.

Good luck. It's far worse in the imagination than in reality.

Thanks for taking the time to respond :)

Sorry I don't have anything constructive to add but you've asked exactly the question I wanted an answer to!!!

I went back to work at about 6/7 months for both kids and they both bf till 23 months (the second dc is still bf!). They adjusted pretty well. You need to express the milk to keep the supply going and of course to have milk to give your baby when he needs it. I'd suggest expressing soon and storing them in the fridge/freezer so that your nursery/childminder/whoever is looking after baby will be able to feed him that in his baby rice/bottle etc.

good luck! it's all good!

If you can manage to express once in the day (even if you chuck the milk), then you can just continue as normal the rest of the time. Its quite possible to eat your lunch and pump, so it doesn't need to impact on work time if thats a worry.

Thanks very much for the further posts (and good luck amieis ).

I work out and about in the community, doing home visits and stuff, so I'm a bit worried about how I would manage to express. It's definately something for me to think about but I'm not sure I'll be able to make it work.

Maybe you can make sure that you have a set time for lunch at your desk/office so you will be able to pump. alternatively you can get a manual pump and do it in your car?? I know it's difficult to have 'lunch' sometimes in a busy work day but you'll need to be strict with yourself. even if it's 30-45 min.

I had a meeting in London once whilst on maternity leave. And together with my work bag, I also had a separate bag with a cooler etc for the milk! I explained that I needed to express and they'd set aside a meeting room and I sat in there and expressed. I had to signal to the guy to stop the meeting as well as I felt myself engorging!!

You could just drop all the feeds except the morning and evening ones you can do every day, and not worry about expressing or formula. I did this and both dds were fine with food and water all day, but did feed for a long time in the morning and night, which was fine and quite reassuring.

I went back to work at 7m, I expressed 2x a day (sometimes only once if I was busy) with a double pump and carried on bfing as normal evenings and weekends, and it was fine. I stopped expressing when he was 11m, and still carried on feeding as normal at home till he was 18m. Your supply will adjust even if you don?t want to express at work, as it will be quite robust at this stage.

If you don't want to express, I don't think you need to bother dropping feeds to get used to it, just make sure you have lots of breast pads and maybe a quick hand express in the loos for comfort at first.

It will be fine, honestly.

Thanks guys, that's really helpful.

Just to add - I expressed at work for DD1 who would not drink formula. It was miserable! I had to sit in a toilet cubicle whilst colleagues yelled questions through the door!
With DD2 I started to give one formula feed at midday for a couple of weeks before returning to work. After a while it slows your milk production. You shouldn't be too leaky at work then!!
I shall be doing the same with DD3 in a couple of weeks.

Thanks Beck, I've given it lots of thought and think your solution is probably the one that's going work best for me.