Breast Feeding and going back to work

[dennya]

I am going back to work in just over 3 weeks. I am a teacher and am back for a week then have the xmas hols. I have exclusively breastfed dd (19wks). I can express no more than 3oz (max) a day and she has not taken from a bottle. She only will have a couple of oz's from a tommee tippee trainer cup. She is with dad for the week I go back and I am really anxious she will scream the place down with hunger as there wont be enough expressed milk and she will only take couple of oz's from cup. Is it time to introduce formula? Is it time to persevere with a bottle again? any advice would be gratefully received.

Don't know but bump for you, am sure someone can help.

I had a very similar scenario. Could express brilliantly, but dd wouldn't have a bottle or cup, despite all my efforts. She didn't scream the place down, just waited patiently for me to return home. After 3 days of thinking 'if I'm not there she'll have the bottle, as she wont have a choice', I decided to start giving her solids. She was 5 1/2m at the time (can't remember it in weeks ;)). A touch early for solids, but considering the fact that at the time my ds was her age the recommendations were 4-6m I just went for it.
The daytime solids gave me peace of mind that she had at least some nutrition while I was away. If she has solids in the day it might not be necesary to give her formula either. I didn't. I bf my dd 1st thing in the morning, 1st thing after collecting her and again in the evening. Those were all big feeds & she thrived on this routine, so I suspect that she still had plenty of milk. I also made sure she had had other forms of dairy produce during the day, as a way to boost her calcium intake.
It also sounds like your lo will be nearly 6m around the time you go back for that 1 wk. It doesn't sound worth it persisting with a bottle, I would go straight for a beaker, as this is the recommendation for babies past 6m anyway.
Hope this helps. You're definitely not the only one who's had such a dilemma ;)

I am in a similar situation and posted about it but only got one reply! I think the idea of weaning a bit earlier appeals to me too.

Ditto Belgianmama.

I went back to work when DS was 4.5 months. The advice at the time was to give solids from 4 months so we had already got into a routine of mainly solids in the day with additional water from a cup (he never entertained formula from any receptacle!). His main bfs were in the morning, evening and during the night and he was fine. (BTW, bf him til he was 14 months.)

I am currently on ML with DD and going back to work part time in January. She will be 6 months but I will start giving solids in Dec when she is 5 months otherwise I will have the same dilemma as you as she has never taken ebm from a bottle. But she is a big baby (91st centile) so I think she'll be fine, plus HV agrees with this approach.

Hope this helps.

Took my lo a good 3 months to sort herself out with taking a bottle - even now (8 months) she'll only occassionally take 4 oz from it, usually only 2/3 oz. She has bf am & eve, and lots of milk sauces/yogs etc. I weaned slightly early ( 5 1/2 mths) for similar reason.
Although I know I am BAD

We've used a doidy cup for my dd's water, and I now rather wish I'd just gone st to a cup for her milk, (which I did for ds) but didn't move him from bf until more like 7/8 mths...but when I started trying to introduce ff (3 mths) she wasn't really up for a cup...

If I was you I would go formula, dennya but that's b/cos I hate expressing/don;t find it easy to fit into my day ... & I work from home!!

Don't know if that helps... but good luck...

Thanks everyone. Deep down I know it will be alright, but today dd has fed loads and it has made me very nervous as to what she will do if I am not there. For the week before xmas I suppose my dh could pick me up in my lunch hour and i could drive round the corner away from students view and give her a quick feed in car if necessary.

If people have started to mix feed at this stage (5mos ish) have they encountered any problems? Or does anyone have any tips?

Introducing solids is a tricky one. For the first year babies get most of their nutrition from milk formula or breast. Have you tasted baby rice? Yuk. The calories in baby rice compared to milk is negligble. I am no expert on this though. Seems a shame to get so far bf. I had a similar problem. I rarely got more than 3 oz, until I got an electric breast pump. It isn't a miracle cure, because I still only got 5 oz TOPS on a good day, but better than nothing.

Ooh and forgot to say I had a NIGHTMARE getting her on to a bottle. In the end I refused to bf until she took the bottle and she got the picture. Have to say now she won't take it from anybody other than nursery.

i am a teacher
ent back whe ds2 was 6 months....exprsseed ar wotk for a year
will try to search some of my threads for you
took ds2 ages to take a bottle
MAM teat
standing up facing outwards cracked it

ditto mam teat but use it on Avent bottles

dennya - expressing is a knack and you just need to mater it. I posted on Amijee's thread as well. Hand expressing can be much more effective than using a pump and much quicker. Your baby can get the milk out so can you. Sometimes it is a case of mind over matter. It s better to express small amounts throughout the day - they soon mount up into full feeds. Your baby will take milk when you are away if she is hungry. Can her Dad bring her to you at work for a feed at lunchtime? You only have a week to cope with raelly. If she won't take much EBM from a cup it is unlikley she will take formula. Stick to the cup - she will get better at it. You could try a bottle again if you want but considering she will be about 25 weeks old after the Xmas holidays it would seem hardly worth it.
Babies cope better than mummies you know.
I personally would see how it goes rarther than intoduce formual and early solids. You may well be surprised.

hand expressing technique

expressing whilst feeding was much more effective for me
I did one express at work and expressed every time i fed too when i first went back

it was really hard going at first as ds2 was only just starting on solids but it got easier

20 months now and still going strong
on the 2 days I work he doesnt feed in the day
I did go back full time for the first 6 months though

breast compression helped for me too...
will find a link

Thanks. Think will persevere with expressing and trying to build stocks up for that week and leave dh to deal with it. Thanks for hand expressing advice as well. I will give that another go.

Expressing is definitely a mind over matter issue. I found that if I expressed while doing something totally unrelated, like reading a magazine, I forgot about it relaxed & my letdown would come. Once I got let down I easily filled a 4oz bottle. If I stared at the pump or my breast I just got worked up I didn't get anywhere, looking at pictures of my ds or dd didn't work either. Maybe you should try & experiment with what relaxes you & gets your letdown going? 2nd best for me was expressing while my ds/dd was feeding of the other side, but it does require about 3 hands to do that!
Jennster, my dd was clearly more stubborn than yours, because I did the refusing until she fed from the bottle as well & she still refused. As I said before she'd rather spend 8h in nursery patiently waiting for me than feeding from that bottle! Now @ 3 she's still equally stubborn...

I agree with Belgianmama about forgetting about what you are doing. I find doing Sudokus and crosswords works for me.