Breast feeding and going back to work - help!

[GeorgieJo]

Hello, hoping someone can help.

My 11 week old son is ebf but I will be going back to work part-time in two weeks. I want to carry on breast feeding for as long as possible, but I am not sure how. Really grateful for your advice!

I will be leaving him 930am - 430pm Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

At the moment he usually feeds at 7am, 1030am, 2pm, 5/6pm (cluster feed), 11pm and 3am. So when I am at work I will be missing two feeds, sometimes three if I get delayed.

It was a struggle to breast feed in the first few weeks and I am really proud that we persisted. I'd love to carry on for longer but I am not sure it is realistic to pump properly at work.

(I have bought a double pump, but it is loud and takes ages for me to get a full feed - given than I am working reduced hours I don't think anyone will be impressed if I disappear for 45 minutes in the middle of the day. Plus I am not quite sure where I could do it discreetly...)

If I don't pump properly while I am at work, will my supply diminish or could I pump enough before and after the office to keep it up?

Could I start using formula for the mid-morning and early afternoon feeds and stick with bf for the others?

Really grateful for any suggestions or advice. Hoping that others have found a way to make it work.

Thank you!

I don't have any personal experience, but I'd really recommend reading La Leche League's 'The womanly art if breastfeeding'. Its got very detailed information and recommendation on exactly this situation. If I remember right, the advice is to build up a freezer stash of expressed breastmilk beforehand, and then pump/breastfeed as much as possible to maintain supply. If you've got any La Leche league leaders or meetings nearby, then you might be able to borrow the book. I've also been recommended this book for inspirational reading and real-life stories of women who continued to breastfeed when going back to work in diificult circumstances: www.amazon.co.uk/Hirkanis-Daughters-Mountains-Breastfeeding-International/dp/0976896923/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388596570&sr=8-1&keywords=hirkani

Have you discussed expressing at work as an option? You might be surprised how accommodating they are.

The law is on your side and you are entitled to breaks, a place to express and storage facilities. I expressed twice a day when I went back. It was obviously odd at first but my colleagues were really supportive and it just became normal after a few weeks.

I think you might struggle to keep your supply going otherwise and might be at tusk of mastitis.

I went back when my LO was older (5 months) and bf around work & ff the missed feeds. I don't express. I dropped a feed a week, had to drop 2 too but then sometimes a 3rd one is missed but I bf this one wherever possible. LO was feeding from me in the morning then I'd express if she didn't take both sides. Then next feed depends on if I'm at work or not, then the next two are always ff. After that, I bf in the evening and through night if she wakes. I've had no problems so far. Also if I have expressed, I mix it with the ff but don't always. HTH x

Bf when you can and ff the missed feeds. Babies are flexible, just take plenty of breast pads and a spare top to work. Your baby ill adapt but your boobs might take longer :)

Thank you!

Really good to hear that other people have managed to mix feed.

Am going to start trying to drop a breastfeed this week, so he gets used to having a bottle.

Good luck with returning to work. When you're expressing now you probably haven't missed a feed, so it takes 45 mins to get a full bottle. Once you are working and miss that 10.30 am feed its likely that by lunchtime you will be very full and be able to express loads in just a few minutes. With a double pump you may master doing it whilst eating your packed lunch if you have a suitable room! You'll feel a lot more comfortable too. I expressed once a day at lunchtime, though at home ds fed more frequently. HTH

I went back to work full time when DS was 14 weeks and am expressing the missed feeds - boobs would adjust eventually, but at the moment I get really uncomfortable after 3-4 hours. Expressing gets a lot faster as well, used to take me ages to get a couple of oz, now it takes 6-7 minutes for 2 bottles.

I have been back at work for 5 weeks, my DS is now approaching 6 months. I am working full time, but taking my lunch hours to breastfeed the baby (luckily nursery is close enough to the office to facilitate that), but he is having 2 bottles of formula a day, one mid morning, one mid afternoon (with taking lunch hours to go to feed him, I really don't have time to express in the day). I am however breastfeeding before work, lunchtime, and bed time/through the night if he ever wakes. On weekends, I don't seem to be quite producing enough to drop the formula altogether, but can manage to keep him well fed with just one bottle of formula on a Saturday and Sunday. So, mix feeding certainly working really well for us, although he suddenly started doing HUGE poonamis the week I went back to work as prior to me working he was ebf.

Good luck, hope everything works out well for you