Continuing bf after returning to work at 6 months

[sleepyhead]

Ds2 is 17 weeks and I'll be returning to work part time (3 days) when he's 28 weeks old.

After a tricky start, bf has been going really well and I'd like to continue to at least a year as I did with ds1. I was off for a year last time though so I've no experience of how this tends to work.

Ideally I'd prefer to feed directly the days I'm at home as expressing is such a faff. I'm guessing I'll probably have to express at least once at work or risk leaking all over the place. This shouldn't be a problem.

I also work quite close to home and ds2 is being looked after by dh so there's the option of me going home for lunch some days, or ds2 and dh coming to me.

My main question is how many feeds should I leave with dh? Ds2 is demand fed atm but I think the rough pattern is 5 feeds a day. I should be able to do 2 of those first thing and when I get home from work. I'm wondering if as we'll have started weaning by then whether he might be down to 2 extra during the day?

I'm not averse to the odd bottle of formula so we'd probably keep some cartons of ready made in. I don't have a lot of freezer space to keep a large stock of frozen bm.

I'd be really grateful to hear about your experiences with this. Just starting to get my head round the idea of going back so soon

My son was a bit older as he was 8 months when I went back. I used to leave two feeds a day and would pump twice at work. I can't remember how much he fed at 6 months though. He also started getting some formula as my MIL used to be anxious when I only left two feeds but he was absolutely fine at CM on two feeds. I breastfed him until 14 months in the end.

I went back to work ft at 4.5 months, and continued to bf until ds was 23 months Expressed at work, direct fed all the rest of the time

Ds only had 3 daytime bottles for a few months (all demand fed), but what you could do is have 3 120ml bottles in the fridge, and freeze the third/use it next day if not used until you are all confident as to what will happen.

If you choose to bf at lunchtime, then it might be that ds2 will just wait for you and not have ebm at all, which would be fine

I went back when ds1 was 7m and left 2 feeds and pumped twice a day at work.

I went back ft when DS was 5.5 months and continued to bf till he was 23 months.

I expressed as much as I could in the run up to build up a good stock. I expressed once a day at work (stupid work). DS refused the bottle for ages, so our cm spent time giving him milk from a spoon/cup, although he eventually did get the hang of bottles (Breastflow brand worked in the end).

By the time he was 6 months and onto solids, I figured he may as well have formula while I was at work.

However, he continued to be only breastfed when he was with me. My supply seemed to adapt really well. I think it really helped with bonding to continue bf. although he reverse cycled like a demon!

Thanks for the replies! I'm glad that it looks like feeding directly when I'm at home will be possible. I was still bf when I went back to work last time and ds1 did feed during the day on my days off when he didn't bother with milk at nursery, but obv milk's more of an issue at 6 months than 11.

I think I'll see how I get on with the expressing - I find it pretty easy but I do hate it. To many memories of the early weeks with both ds's. Maybe I can move to ff on work days after a couple of months without it affecting my supply or leaving me too full and leaky. Then again, I am quite tight and can see me resenting spending the money on formula...