Back to work and breastfeeding

[Mugsybalone]

Hi there. I think I'm just looking for some reassurance or success stories for those who have gone back to work and are still breastfeeding and whose little ones don't take milk other than through breastfeeding.

I'm back to work in six weeks and currently feed 4 x a day. My daughter also eats three good meals a day and takes a minimal amount of water from a cup.

I need to drop the mid morning and mid afternoon feeds as I intend to keep going with the early morning and bedtime feeds for the time being. So my plan is to drop the mid afternoon one first and give is two weeks to readjust and then drop the mid morning one. I'm not sure what to offer her in place of the feeds. I'm thinking of taking her away from her bedroom where I usually feed her and give her a cup of cows milk and a snack of some sort. Mealtimes take a while so I expect this will mean we spend most of the day at the dinner table. Do you think it would be possible not to offer anything or just water and then more at normal mealtimes? I obviously want to make sure she's getting enough during the day (don't fancy going back to night wakings!).

Thanks in advance for any input!!
X

With ds1 i went back to work when he was 6months. I expressed once during the day and took the expressed milk to nursery. He chose not to take it and i ended up donating it to a milk bank.

I continued to feed him until he was 4 and half years, i had no routine with feeds, he asked and i fed him.

How old will your daughter be and are you going back full time? DD was 9 months when I went back 3 days a week and was (and still is a bottle refuser). She goes from approx. 8am-6pm with no milk on the days I'm at work; eating 3 meals and only having water at nursery. She is very ready for a feed when we get home (and still feeds during the days when I'm at home with her) but on nursery days she seems to manage fine. She's now 14 months and up until last month I was expressing once a day at work for my comfort but in the last few weeks haven't needed to. My supply seems to cope with the different needs on different days. Not quite the route you are looking to take but just wanted to say that in my experience they can adapt to different situations and so you may find that even if you struggle to drop feeds when she is with you that actually this won't be a problem when you are at work. Good luck with it!

My DS1 didn't like cow's milk till 15-16 months. I went back to work 3 days a week when he was 1 year, he fed few times a day when not in nursery, but was fine full day in nursery without a feed. I guess he was drinking more water there. I also was fine, did not need to express on work days - I think by 1 year the supply is well established and easily adjusts. I assume your daughter is over 1 year, as you talk about giving cow's milk.

I went to work for three shirt days at six months. My ds just had food and water at nursery as he wouldn't take a bottle. We gave him porridge with bm and yoghurt and cheese for dairy. He bf morning and night. Also once in the night till 10mo.

I went back full time when DD was 9 months. I had dropped to 3 feeds in preparation and then switched to the lunchtime feed to a bottle of formula. My plan was to feed morning and evening as she was, in theory, night weaned. She went back to feeding many times over night so at 11 months I stopped and went straight to cows milk. I did think about expressing at lunchtime but couldn't face it in reality.

Thanks for all your help. Yes she's just turning one next week and I expect she's much more adaptable than I think!! It's good to hear people manage in different ways!

With DS1, I went back to work at 13 weeks. I fed him at lunchtime at the childminders, for about three months, and expressed mid-afternoon. My employer bought a fridge just for my breastmilk.

I fed him at home at around 6pm and expressed from the other side (this would take seconds). The expressing meant that I had two full bottles for the childminder. Saying that, DS would do much of his sleeping during the day, and then be awake for me in the evening ("reverse schedule nursing"), so he had very little ebm - but it was there if he was desperate.

With DS2, I went back to work when he was 8 months and just did a couple of weeks of lunchtime feeds. He was fine with just solid food during the day and a little bit of ebm, which I have expressed with his teatime feed.

I went back at 10months- fed morning and evening and DD managed with water and solids. She wouldn't (and at 20months still doesn't ) take any milk or yoghurt, she has recently started eating cheese. She managed, and after a few weeks my supply settled. I didn't pump at work and I did feed on demand when together

Mine had a mega feed as soon as I walked in the door after work. He fed another year after I went back so adapted well.

DS2 was almost one when I went back to work 3 days a week. He was eating well by then, but still having feeds during the day. I sent in a bottle of EBM in with him each day, which he usually took from the nursery staff. We switched to cows milk at nursery after a few months.

He tended to want big long feeds as soon as I picked him up from nursery, and he started waking for feeds at night a lot more than he'd done before I went back to work. No issue with supply, he's 2 yrs 3 months now and still breastfeeding.