Will I need to express at work to maintain supply?

[neontetra]

I wondered if anyone could advise me? My baby has been ebf up till now, up until the last week when I've started to get her used to a bit of ff in preparation for my dreaded but unavoidable return to work in a few weeks. When I am working during the day she will be ff, but I'd still like to bf as much as possible so ideally I'd like to bf all evening and night feeds and an early morning one. To maintain sufficient supply, will I need to express at work? I presume the answer is yes - that my body can't learn to provide milk just in the evening? I'd like to avoid expressing at work if possible, but if it is the only way I can continue to bf I'll have to sort something out. Any advice gratefully received.

How old is dd? How long will you be at work?

I went back to work full time when DC2 was 10mo. She had formula in the day with her childminder but I do all feeds when I'm around (evenings/nights/mornings and day feeds at the weekend). I haven't had a problem with sufficient supply or with being so full I've had to express at work for comfort (though I did make arrangements just in case I felt I needed to).

Unfortunately she is only young - will only be five months when I go back! Not my ideal scenario, but still. I will be leaving house at 7 and getting back about 4.

I worked p/t when my DS was 5.5 months, and my supply was fine - one feed first thing, one feed last thing (and any extra I could squeeze in), but I did only work 3 days initially. I did start off by expressing but it was such a faff I stopped - my supply was fine.

With DD I went back to work when she was 8 months. Again, all fine with supply and no expressing.

What you could do if you're worried is nip into the loo and hand express for a few mins, maybe a couple of times during the day? No equipment, no mess (just hold a wad of tissue to your boob!) and no one will notice. I did this when I had to go on a business trip for 2 days/nights and didn't want to stop bf-ing. It worked!

I'm no expert but I'm pretty sure your supply is well established by now.

I expressed at work for 6m with each of mine. Supply wasn't an issue, more for their ebm the followingbday

Thanks all - and the hand expressing is a good tip, birdsnotbees!

I expressed at work (once a day) for my first month back at work. I stopped after that (he was a year old) and then fed ds morning (if he was awake), when I got in from work and then in the evening/at bedtime as required. My supply just adjusted to this and I fed for a year like that. Good luck with your return to work.

I'm going back soon (ds is 8 months) and my plan is to express at least 3 times at work- once before I start, once at lunchtime and once in the afternoon, and store the milk in a little koo-di fridge bag, this way I can just use the disabled loo near my office and won't have to trek anywhere far to find a private room or a fridge. Then ds can have whatever I've expressed the next day and presumably my supply will be ok... I think if you don't express your supply might go down a bit but I'm sure after 5 months it will adapt to what you need and you can carry on feeding when you're at home. I hope it works out well, I'm also dreading going back