Want to continue bf when returning to work, but cant express, what are my options?

[YouMaySayImADreamer]

I am soon to return to work when my ds will be 7 months old. He will be ebf until 6 months, which he is next week. My original plan was the start solids and formula at 6 months, but to keep morning and night bfs. So as of next week i would need to start introducing some formula during the day to get him used to it and into the routine that we will be following (food/milk wise) when i return to work the following month. I have five weeks to do this.

I am led to believe that my supply will adjust to just feed morning and night. The thing is, now it has come to it, i am feeling so sad that i wont be bf him through the day anymore. Especially as my last month of maternity leave is when i will be stopping, it sounds silly but i feel like im starting to separate from him in this way ahead of leaving him to return to work, and i feel so sad.

The question is, would it be possible for me to bf during the day on my days off (initally will be off the weekend, plus two days in the week until he is one). Would my supply adjust to this or drop too much because of the three days a week that im not nursing during the day?

It is definately not an option for me to pump during work hours (i know it is a legal right but it is to do with the culture of my workplace). Also, i get a very poor yield from expressing

Thank you all again, this is all very good news, I'm so pleased to hear I could do this! The last three posters in particular, your situations sound very similar to what mine will be, so this is encouraging.

I'm just trying to work out how to fit maximum feeds in...we are not weaning until next week, so I'm not sure of his meal times yet, but I would be home at around 6 so it would be good to give him a feed then, but he won't have had his tea, so if I fed him then, is he unlikely to want any tea for an hour or so? If so, i'm thinking 7 would be a little late for his tea and he would be in bed by 8, so probably too close to bed time? I would be giving him a bedtime feed too. So perhaps I could do tea at 6.30 and bedtime bf at 7.45, and possibly do a dream feed at 11ish to get an extra bf in if he doesn't wake at night?

Sorry, I just have no idea about how much babies should eat and what the milk to food ratio is!

If its any use I fed at 6 when home from work - bedtime 7 ish and dream feed at 11 ish for a few months - during weaning.
Dd has tea at nursery early though so am not sure what I would do in your shoes.
What I would say though is that it's ok to plan things in such a way that it maximises on your chances to continue BF. the weaning will take a while and milk is likely to be the main source of nutrition for a while yet.
I am No expert though and others may have better advice on the weaning front.

Yes, you should be able to feed during the day on weekends and days off and he and your supply will cope. You may find that he reverse cycles a bit during your work days, at least to begin with. My DS had formula during the day when I was at work, although it took him several weeks to be prepared to drink it.

I would probably expect him to have tea before 6.30, though -- that sounds quite late. I'd have thought a schedule more like tea around 5 with a feed after you are home would be likely to work better, but you obviously know your DS and his preferences.

I think a routine will become obvious to you as you wean over the next month - when you can fit in milk feeds and so on. I left it till then to worry about too, and it's all worked. I did and still do do night feeds, but there were not too many. Good luck

Thanks everyone! You are probably right about tea needing to be a bit earlier, i think i was just thinking that id enjoy giving him his tea, but it would probably be better if he had it before i picked him up and it would be nice to give him a feed as soon as i get in with him. We will see how we go though, that sounds like a good plan. Thanks all so much, your advice has been invaluable