BF & preparing for return to work

[sunnybob]

Hi there,

This is my very first message so its all very new to me! To cut a long story short I have a 4 month old daughter who I have thoroughly enjoyed breast feeding and still do. I'm going back to work in 8 weeks (and counting)and she is very attached to me. I have been expressing milk, however she will only take a bottle from me or her dad. She needs to get used to taking a bottle from others however I am now struggling to pump enough. I am thinking about buying some formula to give her during the day but I also want to continue breastfeeding too. I'm really not sure what to do...any advice would be fab!
from sunnybob

Hello

I'm new to mums net too and also thinking about going back to work soon in a months time. My DS is 6 months and I was planning to give bottle but then BF morning and evenings, as can't be doing with the faff of expressing.

I, like you, would like to continue BF- I could do on 5 days out of 7 but do not want to run risk of painful and leaking boobs whilst at work.

Don't know whether I could get away with BF on days home and bottling for a few feeds on days at work. Anyway, hopefully by doing morning and evening he still gets a bit of BF.

How many days are you going back for?

Hi and welcome to MN
I think I'm right in saying (though am prepared for someone far more qualified to correct me) that employers have a statuatory duty to allow you the time to either express or bf your child while you are at work.
I went back to work when my ds was 7m and feeding mroning lunch and night. Getting out for the lunchtime feed was a pest, but it was only for 2 months before he dropped that feed too.
I gave the CM formula for emergency use, which was only needed once, but ds didn't seem to mind (though my boobs did, lol!). It helps that ds is pretty adaptable.
Does any of that help?

hi sunnybob,
Your place of work do have a statutory responsibility to help you in continuing to breastfeed. The bare minimum they must provide is as much time as you need for you to express milk at work, to avoid painful breasts / leaking etc. And they have to provide a private lockable room to do it in, a place in which to keep your equipment and facilities for steriling them too.
(It's great watching the HR Managers face when you lay all that on the line to them).

In the face of that they may let you do one of two things - a) go home in your lunch break if thats feasible or b) I think it is in Scotland and Spain that they allow breastfeeding mums to work shorter days - say 6 hours, so that they don't need to express at work or leave work mid workday. I'm sure I've read that on a BF website but can't remember my source sorry.

If you want to carry on breastfeeding then do. My workplace was shocking on my return to work and made it impossible for me to continue breastfeeding and it was heartbreaking putting her on formula after the initial struggles I had gone through to BF.

And regards taking the bottle from others. I'm sure if she as hungry enough she would do. Maybe to ease her in gently they could sling a scarf or jumper of yours over where the baby nuzzles then she gets your smells whilst feeding.

Hi good luck with returning to work. You don't mention how old you DD is or how often feeding. But it is possible to continue feeding my SIL fed her dd exclusively even though going back to work when DD was 3 mths fulltime. She fed until 16 mths. She expressed at work (they have kits with everything required which she found useful) which her nursery gave her DD in a bottle.
If you want to express you have to express every day, or else your supply won't be enough. That said, a few days of dedicated expressing should boost your levels.

When I returned to work DD was only on morning and night feeds anyway as I took a year off. With DS, decided to be a SAHM

Hello to all who replied...
I am totally overwhelmed by the interest and helpful replies..thanks so much!
I am planning to go back to work 4 days, my little one will be 6 months. 2 days a week she will be attending nursery and as I work at the nursery, after reading your messages about my rights etc I think I will request time to feed her myself during the day. I will deinately try the tip about a scarf smelling of me, as the other two days she is with grandparents, who need to be able to give her a bottle.
Another quick question...I just have a hand pump and do find it a real faff and quite time consuming, is it worth investing in an electric pump?

thanks again
sunnybob

Hi sunnybob. thats great that you work in the same place!

You will be fine its 8 weeks down the line, her feeds may have reduced and your supply will be more settled. Its entirely your choice whether to give ebm or formula - i gave dd ebm until she was 6mths (returned to work when she was 3mths) and then she had formula during the times i wasn't with her. I'm lucky that i had flexible working hours and was often able to return to feed her before my boobs got too uncomfortable, but if you're unable to do this, a quick express just to relieve your own discomfort would be fine.

I continued to bf dd until she was 2 years old, and my milk supply never dwindled with gaps, when she was weaning i could go a couple of days not feeding her and then she'd still find milk when she tried to feed!

Good luck.

I found using an electric pump a lot less tiring than using a hand held one.

I was back after 2 weeks and breastfed for a year, this was nearly 22 years ago. I took a battery operated breastpump to work and pumped every 3 hours or so and stored the milk in a cool bag which was useful on the journey back too. I just wanted her to have breast milk only and never gave her a bottle myself but our nanny did with my milk in. I also froze a supply too in case she ran out one day. That all took quite a bit of effort but once it got going I could express quite a lot but never with a hand operated pump or by hand.

With the twins 7 years ago I was working from home so they were brought to me to feed which was much easier and I couldn't be bothered always to express a lot if I was away for a long day so then our nanny gave them formula.

What I always found helpful and also nice was getting in from work and being able to sit down right away to feed - such a relief for me physically and for the baby too and then as none of my children ever slept very well, I was still feeding at night too (obviously at 2 weeks etc) so that kept up the supply.

If you don't express at work your body just adjusts to that. Just do what feels right to you and fits in with your own work.