Return to work - how much to express, how to store?

[monkey2014]

I'm going to be working two days a week and am trying to work out how to do this. Ive never really done expressing because ive found it hard to fit in time to do it and never had a need to until now.

How do you work out how much milk to leave? Ive just read an article that says 2-4oz per feed, and to work it out based on 1-1.5 oz per hour. Does that sound right?

On the nhs page it says you can store milk in the fridge for 5 days. Do you keep it in lots of small pots? Baby drinks little and often i think.

He can drink from a sippy cup and an open cup. He clearly recognises what cups are/how to use, so i wondered about getting him a different colour sippy cup maybe? Or is that pointless?

Thanks :)

Just found the kellymom page, sorry googling skills clearly rubbish!

What age is your little one?

Hell be 10 months when i start work

What are your days like? Mines just waits for me to get home despite all the practice!

I have just started back at work. Ds is 8.5 months. He has a bf at 6am then 6pm, 7.3pm and a night feed. He has just upped his solids during the day and has water! Seems fine with it :-)

I think the "1oz per hour" rule of thumb is aimed at non-weaned babies so you'll probably need less than that depending on how your DS/DD is taking to solids. You'll find you get a lot more milk on days when you're not feeding so don't worry if you're getting smaller quantities while you're still feeding. I'd try to build up a bit of a freezer stash (if you do smallish bags they defrost quickly in warm water) in advance. I work 3 days and the milk from the last day goes straight into the freezer on the last night and is then defrosted the evening before I'm back at work.

We use the bigger (300ish ml) bottles for storage and then decant the right amount into a smaller bottle for a small feed. Do you have access to a room to feed in/fridge to store the milk? Your employer should be helpful about this. I use insulated jackets which are great to keep the milk cool - pop both the expressed milk and the jacket into the fridge after expressing and then take out before you leave. (Don't make my mistake and pop a bottle warm milk into the jacket, that will keep it warm which isn't what you want!)

Having a freezer supply will probably make you feel better but he may not take it. I've got a substantial freezer supply but my baby just doesn't take it from anyone apart from her Dad. She just eats large meals and a huge yoghurt when I'm away. She's fine.