For people who went back to work when BF....

[blushingmare]

I just need to start planning ahead a little as am going into work next week to talk to my boss about returning to work possibilities.

I'd always planned to BF for at least a year and just go straight onto cows milk, not use formula. I may need to return to work when DD is just under 11 months (under by about a week). I haven't even started weaning yet and don't know anything about it so don't know how much milk she'd be having and when by then, but would returning to work before she's a year old mean I'd need to use formula during the day or won't she be having milk during the day by then?

I'd be going back 2 or 3 days a week. I expect the answer to this lies in finding out more about weaning, but I just need a quick answer as it may effect what I say to my boss!

Thanks.

I went back at a similar stage and in similar circumstances.

I was advised to let them know I was still bf so they could do the relevant risk assessment. No idea if they did. But I did need to tell them about needing to pump:

I couldn't safely transport expressed milk (too hard to sterilise, and too long a commute, but nonetheless I did need to express at around 3pm for comfort, which is something I formally arranged - suitable room, time, etc). He was offered formula once a day - I took the view that it was just another kind of food at that age, as he was a good eater.

We used cartons for ease - three a week doesn't break the bank - and by about 14/15m he had stopped having it.

But OH MY GOOD GOD he made up for it when I was around. Check kellymom for "reverse cycling". Co-sleeping is your friend in such situations; when he was in his own bed I scraped three hours' sleep a night.

Make sure you offer big feeds before and after nursery/childminder, and at night, and your bf relationship and supply won't suffer.

No need to wean if you don't want to - he eventually self-weaned at 26m when I was significantly pg with DC2.

Good luck!

I returned to work when DC was 5 months and a bit, I used to walk up and feed her at lunchtimes but she also reverse cycled. She would not take a bottle even though I expressed enough to send in 2 x 3oz a day. She eventually weaned at 26 months.

I went back to work when DS was 10 months and he had stopped having milk in the day by then. I had ready made stuff on standby on case but I think it hardly got used - he had a feed before I went to work, when I got home and at bedtime and in the night but I'll gloss over that

I went back to work when DTs were just one. They were offered water and cows milk in the day but wouldn't drink it. At night they both fed several times (4? 5? More sometimes. Each.) to make up for it. As someone else said, Kellymom has details on reverse cycling.

My two are still bf at 24 months. I keep thinking DS has self weaned, but he keeps coming back eventually! No idea when they'll wean :)

i go back to in 3 weeks!! my dd will be 8 and a half months. i currently do a feed in the morning at 7. breakfast at 8.30. small feed at 10 ( some days she wants this one and others not. i don't think it will be long before it goes ) lunch at 12. bf at 2 and that's a big one ( will be going home at lunch to do that one as dd is a bottle refuser ) dinner at 4.30/ 5 and then bf at 7 for bed. my mom and mil will be looking after dd on my work days and i will leave ebm for the 10 feed just incase but its more than likely gonna be a snack before long. hth

I went back to work when DD was 10 months. By then she was down to just two BFs - one when she woke in the morning and one at bedtime.

DD was a really good eater though and took to solids with gusto. She dropped her feeds easily and I guess it will depend on how your DD takes to weaning. It is possible to go back and not need to pump though!

I went back at 4m and expressed. By 10m he was rarely feeding in the day but was reverse cycling. Our nanny offered him cows milk after lunch, which is okay just not as a MAIN drink.

It is definitely doable. There were people on my antenatal thread down to morning and evening BFs by that point.

I went back to work when dd was 11 months and still feeding morning, once in the middle of the day and just before bed. I took a bottle of expressed milk into nursery for the first couple of weeks (like a previous poster said, it was good to express some milk in the day for comfort!) but she was never that keen on a bottle and didn't ever drink much of it so I soon gave up on that. I never bothered offering formula as I wanted to just go straight to cow's milk at a year. Nursery just offered her water and eventually (at 12 months) cow's milk in beakers and she gradually increased her intake of those. At age 3, she now guzzles a couple of beakers of cow's milk a day - she loves the stuff!

At 11 months, they are usually eating significant amounts of food and are often quite adaptable in terms of drinking more water/eating more food on the days you're not with them. At that age, they should be able to go without milk during the daytime and will make up for it at other times. My dd always had a long feed when I went to pick her up at 5:30 (and then again at bedtime) but never did the reverse cycling, so luckily I didn't have to deal with night wakings.

My dd eventually weaned from bf at 18 months, which was partly her decision, partly mine - she was less bothered about it and only feeding once in the morning and I decided it would be a straightforward thing to stop at that point, so I did. Going back to work really didn't make much difference to our bf relationship. I think it might have done if she'd been a lot younger, but at 11 months it really wasn't a problem.