Back to work, mix feed or ff?

[MollyWho]

I'm going back to work full time in 4 weeks, I had planned I would just switch to ff. LO will be 5 months old when I return so I will have fed him myself for 4 and a bit months. Having read about some women who continue to bf mornings, nights and days off I was wondering if those women had to express at work to stop boobs exploding? I don't want to do any expressing at work.

Any advice around returning to work will be much appreciated x

I bf and work and yes, have to express. If you don't wish to do that, your supply will settle down if you start feeding mornings and evening only. But you have to start mix or ff some time before you return to work, to give your body time to adjust.

Am on no 3 and returned to work when he was 6 and a half months. The plan for him WAS that I'd mix feed - bf morning and night and on formula/bm combo (gradually upping the formula) during the day - like his 2 big brothers (who I gradually weaned off the breast in teh day time onto the bottle for day time feeds in the two weeks before I returned to week). However DS3 is the stubbornest one yet - 3 weeks to get him on a bottle for day time feeds, which he was never happy about, then went on bottle strike the day I returned to work! So he's basically on dairy snacks and water during the day and bf morning, evening and night when I'm around. As I did the gradual day time wean with his 2 big brothers for 2 weeks, I had stopped expressing by the time I returned to work (express twice a day, reduce the time from 15 minutes to 10 to 5 then to 2, then stop - drop one session at a time - and you wont get engorged) - this time round am still expressing once a day (though have pushed out the time and reduced the time to 5 minutes to take the edge off full boobs) and am planning to stop expressing within the next two weeks.

ps bf ds1 till he was 15 months and he decided he'd had enough and DS2 until he was 26 months and he'd decided he was done - so you can keep up your supply without expressing during the day.

That's great advice, thank you. It wasn't something I had considered but I definitely will now xx

I am a sahm but have lots of friends who have returned to work and are still breast feeding, a couple have had to pump once a day for a short period which is not a bad thing as the expressed milk can be offer to your baby the next day when you're at work. Worst case you can hand express a little just to ease any soreness. (One friends employer actually gave her an additional break in the day during which to express she used to call me for a chat whilst doing it!).
After a few weeks your body will adjust and you will probably not need to express any more.
Its good to try and keep going as your baby is still very young and will benefit massively from the immunity your milk offers especially if going to nursery or child minder where LO will pick up more germs. It is also nice to bond when you collect your baby its the only thing you can do that no-one else can.
It may be an idea to introduce a bottle before you go back to try and get baby used to it but you can put expressed milk in it if you have it.
Some of my friends started using cups at six months so don't be to worried if LO doesn't like the bottle there are ways around it your nursery or child minder should be able to support you with that. In a month LO can have water in the day if need be and will up the morning and evening feeds as required, babies are very clever like that xxx
Try not to stress about it you are doing the best for your baby and things will fall into place after a couple of weeks at work.
Hope this helps :-)