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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

Any breast feeding nurses?

13 replies

Writerwannabe83 · 11/09/2014 14:39

DS is 5.5m/o and EBF. I am a nurse but currently work in a 9-5 role four days a week. My initial plan was to return to my job when DS was a year and felt happy with that as I would still be able to breast feed in the morning and evening/night time.

However, the opportunity has arisen for me to get another job which would pay more and enable me to spend more time with DS and cut our childcare costs in half. The only problem is that I may have to return when DS is 9 months old and due to the nature if the job for 2 days of the week I will be gone for about 14.5 hours. DS will be asleep when I leave the house and asleep when I get back so won't be able to breast feed that day.

I don't know how I feel about that because I don't know if it's feasible to carry on randomly breast feeding if for 2 days a week I'm not going to even see DS.

Are there any other BF mothers out there who are nurse, or work long shifts, who have managed to maintain a BF relationship despite working long hours as I described.

OP posts:

Waffles80 · 11/09/2014 16:37

It might not be useful or even logistically possible, but employers are required to allow you time to breastfeed - could you express at work? I know how busy nurses are and how demanding a shift must be - so again, this might not be feasible, but worth a try? Will DS take a bottle?

Original poster

Writerwannabe83 · 11/09/2014 18:06

He doesn't take a bottle but we have started introducing a sippy cup which he drinks really well from. We still have to hold it for him (though he does hold the handles) but he transfers the water/EBM really well, hardly dribbles any of it.

OP posts:

weebairn · 11/09/2014 18:34

I'm a medical SHO, I went back to work at 10 months last time, which included the usual long shifts and night shifts, weekends etc. I did a job share so 2-4 shifts a week depending on the rota. She was on about 3 feeds a day at the time - morning, evening and in the night. So sometimes she would miss some or most of them. She was a good eater and ok with food and water if I wasn't there, with DP or nursery or my mum. On my days off she fed a bit more and I encouraged that.

My boobs hurt quite a bit for about a week, but settled down.

I never expressed - if your work is anything like mine you'll understand why I couldn't even face the thought…

Bf gets surprisingly adaptable as baby gets older. I ended up night-weaning at 14 months because I was cracking with tiredness. We still fed till 20 months and only stopped because I was pregnant and the milk changed and she didn't like it. It's one of the best things I've ever done. The return to work was definitely the hardest bit, for me (I had quite an easy straightforward start to bf - very lucky). Baby and my milk supply coped absolutely fine with me going back to work though, it was only me who found it hard.

Good luck, it's really tough in jobs like ours x

Toadsrevisited · 11/09/2014 18:52

I teach and went back full time when DS was 7 months. He is still on EBF and feeds morning and nights, with three small meals a day at nursery plus lots of water from sippy cup. He refuses formula. It's only been a couple of weeks but it's going well- boobs are ok, we're both happy and sleep is as before. I feed at 6am and then not until 530pm. I was really worried but it's been great, and bfing when at home is lovely. At weekends he has a daytime bf or two too with no problems.

happypotamus · 13/09/2014 09:41

I posted basically the same question 3yrs ago.
Most of the replies were about the legal right for time to express, which didn't help because I work on a ward where we don't always have time for lunch breaks never mind taking extra time out for expressing whatever the legalities. I never succeeded at expressing anyway.
DD was 9 months old and still breastfed to sleep when I went back to work, and I had no idea if/ how it would work out. I also left the house while she was asleep and got home about 15hrs later after bedtime. Initially, I used to get up earlier in the morning and give her a quick feed while she was still asleep and managed to put her back to bed without waking her (which meant I got a cuddle in before work too, which was nice). That depends on your baby though and whether he is likely to sleep through the feed and go back to sleep. After a few months DD stopped going to sleep after that morning feed so I stopped doing it, but it probably helped both of us with the change. Then, she would often wake for a quick feed when I got home too. I don't know how DH got her to sleep at bedtime when she had been used to feeding to sleep. I don't really have any tips on how to make this work, but just wanted to post and say it can happen despite all my expectations. DD and my milk supply just seemed to adjust. I still fed 3-4 times a day on my days off, and continued to feed her until she was 2.9yrs (although by then it was only bedtime and not every bedtime as I was at work at bedtime 2-3 times a week).

Original poster

Writerwannabe83 · 13/09/2014 12:27

Thanks everyone - I guess it shows it can be done and maybe I'm over thinking it. Part of me is considering just stopping the BF altogether in order to avoid any issues but I wouldn't want to do something I would regret

OP posts:

Superworm · 13/09/2014 20:31

I expressed on the ward in my breaks in the handover room. It was odd at first, especially as I was new but it was fine.

Fed DS before I left then again when I got home. Still breastfeeding two and a half years in

Superworm · 13/09/2014 20:33

Just to add, people were really supportive too which was nice. I got to hear everyone's breastfeeding stories.

Original poster

Writerwannabe83 · 13/09/2014 22:45

I'd have to leave the house at 06.40 and wouldn't have the heart to wake him to feed him before then. Same when I got home at 9pm, I'd feel like I was waking him and disrupting his sleep just to make my life easier

When I started BF I didn't even think about whether BF would
be practical upon returning to work but now that the time is getting closer I'm finding it very daunting and stressful.

OP posts:

Superworm · 14/09/2014 10:29

Try not to stress too much. They change a lot between 5 months and 9 months. Breastfeeding a baby on solids is totally different and much easier than EBFing.

While DS would snooze in until 8am at 5-6 months, at 9 months he was waking much earlier. It was also nice to spend sometime with him as working LD's mean they potentially haven't seen you at all. If you do two in a row, it feels like a lot for both of you.

Going back to work is daunting, it's such a big change but you find a new routine and they adapt pretty quickly.

Madratlady · 14/09/2014 11:20

On your long days could you express before and after work to keep your supply up?

Original poster

Writerwannabe83 · 14/09/2014 11:29

I was thinking that would probably be my only option. To be honest I'm worried about engorgement and pain during the day!!!

OP posts:

weebairn · 14/09/2014 13:52

I had hideous problems with engorgement before 6 months (despite never leaving the baby for any amount of time) but no major problems with engorgement returning to work at 10 months. It was a bit painful for the first week and I wore my biggest bra. After that it was fine. I didn't express at all, and didn't leak at all either.

Both your body and baby's needs change a LOT between 5 and 9 months.

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