What to do while away from DS for a week?

[kalidasa]

My DS is 7.5 months old. I went back to work a while ago so he's been mix fed with bottles (formula) during the day since then but to my surprise we are still breastfeeding every morning and evening. It's obviously something he really enjoys and now actively looks forward to/anticipates, especially the evening feed.

In the second half of August I'm going to be away from him for a week. My original plan was to tail off feeding and be down to just evening feed every other day by that point, and to use the break to stop completely as he'll be nearly nine months by then. But now I am thinking about continuing with our two feeds a day and possibly going back to the feeding after our week's break, if that's possible.

Experienced bfeeders, do you think if I expressed during the week it would work out OK? Is it worth a try? I did express a bit when he was very small and had no probs getting milk but a) have since got rid of the pump (which was silly), and b) really hated the expressing to be honest.

Any thoughts/relevant experiences? I have to say that I have never really enjoyed breastfeeding but I don't actively dislike it as much as I did and it is obviously important to DS. He was ill with a vomiting bug last weekend and he would have been much more unwell if I wasn't still feeding him as he couldn't keep down the formula at all, but could keep down breastmilk.

Not got time to post sorry, just a quick bump

Do you really want to continue? If you do I'd say it was possible. Having a chat with a Bfc might help you make your mind up and she should be able to give you tips on keeping up with your supply. Try the National Breastfeeding Helpline

Thanks jiltedjohns. That's a good idea to ask for some proper advice. I'm just not really sure whether over a whole week pumping will work to keep the milk going or not. I like the idea of carrying on for a while longer, especially as there's going to be quite a lot of change/disruption over the summer (several different trips away, quite a long time not going to the childminder because she's on holiday) and I think it might help him manage it. But if the pumping is unlikely to work I don't really want to try it just in case, given that I don't really like doing it. My supply does seem fairly 'responsive' - when he was ill and wanted to feed a lot more than normal it was obvious within a couple of days that I was producing a lot more in response, in fact it was uncomfortable for a day or so because of course as soon as he felt better he didn't want so much again.