Returning to work but baby won't take bottle and my body doesn't produce enough milk to pump!?!?

[AnnaDeParodi]

In need of advice pleeeease...

I will be returning to work in September but DS, who will be 8 months old by the time, is exclusively breastfed and will not take formula in a bottle (nor do i really want to give him formula) but the problem is I cannot pump enough milk in order to store away until i go back to work!! I've tried various things including different pumps; milk supply increasing vitamins; breast massage before pumping; hot shower before pumping but nothing!! :( I can only pump 2oz from one breast and 1oz from the other! However, when DS nurses he manages to get the right amount out.

I have just started weaning DS onto solids which is proving to be successful and hopefully by the time I do go back to work in Sept he won't need as much milk. I will still give him milk in the morning and evening but what should I do inbetween?

Have any of you mummies out there had an issue similar? Would love to hear your stories and what you did.

DS is very attached to his breastmilk and very impatient at the same time. He will cry nonstop until he latches on. It worries me to think of him crying for milk when I'm not here :(

Help!

It is long time until September you know. I had a bit of worry like this a few years ago, with DD not taking formula. I bought lots of different formulas and found the one that tasted as much like my milk as possible (I know but I was desperate). In case you have not tasted it, breast milk is very thin, and sweet, many of the formulas feel a lot thicker to drink. The one that felt the thinnest when I drank it was Hipp Organic, although this has changed its recipe now so I could not tell you if this still holds true.

However, your baby will be eating solids, milk feed frequency should be reduced somewhat at this point, so hopefully it will not be so much of a problem as you might think.

How much are you hoping to express? 3 or 4oz is probably enough for one feed isn't it?

@Iwillorderthefood thanks for the advice, i might give the Hipp a try, so far i have only tried Aptamil and SMA.

I hope you are right amount it not being as much as problem as what i think. :)

Have a great day!

@fledermaus, DS drinks 6-7oz in one feed. I only pump max 3oz when my supply is at its greatest (first thing early morning) if i try during the day i only get a few droplets.

I am returning to work on Monday with a 10 month old, and Iwilloderthefood is right, September is ages away to get things sorted. My daughter takes water in the day now from a sippy cup and I was breastfeeding her in the morning and evening. We also tried a few formula milks to see which she would have and she has that from à sippy cup now too. But it was only from about 6months on that we even started using a cup properly. You have loads of time so try not to worry.

Have you tried expressing by hand? I found I got next to nothing out using a pump but could express loads by hand. I think the pumps just don't suit some people.
Also my dd wouldn't feed from a bottle if I was there, but settled quite well if I was somewhere else and would bottlefeed expressed breastmilk happily.

Oh, and the change in food consumption in just a month or two with babies is massive. You will be fine!

6-7oz is a very large amount of breastmilk - exclusively breastfed babies under 6 months average about 25oz a day, so 7oz would be about a quarter of his daily intake.

Babies do tend to drink quickly from bottles though and take more than they really need. You can reduce this problem with "paced bottle feeding" though, where bottle feeding mimics a breastfeed.

Dd never took a bottle, and I managed to get her onto hipp organic which I had been told was closest to breast milk. She ended up going straight to a sippy cup rather than taking a bottle.

By 8 months he will be eating some solids and may take water - his nursery or childminder will be well used to helping children get the nutrients they need.

I bought a hand operated battery pump and pumped every few hours at work which meant there was a reasonable amount for the next day. I also stored some frozen in advance too in case of emergencies, although as you say by 8 months the baby is likely to be eating some other foods too. I never bottle fed a baby in my life - as soon as I got home they would always want a feed and immediately before I left (and of course in the night - I never had a sleeping baby). However they would take breast milk given by our nanny from a bottle. I am sure it will be fine.

I went back to work at 6 months and expressed. it was hard at first but my body seemed to get used to the regular expressing.

Both of mine had 5 ox max per bottle and I think I left 2 bottles per day, with a few bottles worth frozen for emergencies.