Work/travel and bf baby

[rubyanddiamond]

I took a whole year of maternity leave with DC1, and switched to cows milk at 1yo, so didn't have to worry about combining work/travel/feeding/expressing. Now, DC2 is here and I plan to go back when he is 8mo, so I'm wondering how to make it work - I'd like to carry on bf till 1yo again.

1. How easy is it to give up bf in the day at 8mo, but still carry on in the evening/night? What if I don't express? I never had much luck expressing with DC1, and I know the nature of the place I work will make it hard to express there in the day (large open plan office, lots of glass, no real privacy!).

1. There's the possibility of a week long trip when DC2 is 10mo - has anyone managed that sort of time away and still maintained breastfeeding? Would I need to take DC2 with me? If it's not really feasible, then I can arrange to have the trip delayed or to take DC2 with me, but I need to to plan soon.

ruby, I went back to work when ds1 and ds2 were four months old and when ds3 and ds4 were six months old. Maternity leave in Ireland improved dramatically between ds2 and ds3!

With all the boys I expressed. One thing I will say is that if I ever got a breastpump out on a day when I was at home with baby, I never produced much. However, when I was away from them so that they were missing feed, I produced loads. I personally found Avent pumps better than Medela pumps for milk production, especially when ds3 and dd were in NICU/SCBU.

I do know people who never expressed and still fed morning and evening. A lot of older babies don't drink much much during the day anyway. and by six months your milk supply should be really well established.

I left ds4 when he was five months old for four days. He latched on again straight away and fed as if I'd never left. I would think you might have to do a bit of expressing while away though to maintain a supply but as far as I know, it takes three weeks of no feeding for your supply to decline altogether.

I think I left ds3 for five days once but can't actually remember for sure. He would have been much older though, over one.

Can't answer 2 but 1 is definitely fine- I went down to morning & evening feeds only around 10 months- prior to that I pumped during the day at work. Now, at 14 months, my son feeds twice in 24 hours when I'm at work, but if he feels like it, up to 5 times a day on my days off! As long as you're feeding each day your supply will cope. Just as an aside, I found expressing easier with a hand pump rather than an electric one, though I know most people are vice versa. Good luck!

See my post on this thread for reassurance re return to work.
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/breast_and_bottle_feeding/1820290-Advice-Needed-about-BF-and-Return-to-Work

As for going away.., I left DS with daddy for 3 days when he was 4mo & for 2 days when he was 9mo. They were fine. I was too! The breast pump was used as often as I normally fed & the hotel froze my freeze blocks so I could bring it home with me!
You will be fine for bf although you may not want to leave LO for a whole week on a personal (ie not bf related!) level.
Good luck returning to work.