What's the earliest you'd consider going back to work if you BF?

[BertieBotts]

This is academic really as am not yet pregnant but I am musing.

Theoretically. If you did a job where you would be "on" for 2-3 hours at a time and could have DH bring baby to you for a feed in between, and/or access to a pump and a fridge (possibly doing the first when baby is younger and moving more towards the second when they are older).

How young? Would it depend on how long the day was?

I know that it doesn't really matter what other people would do, just interested in canvassing opinions, reasons or experiences. I have a DS already who was breastfed so I do have some idea of how I might find things, but that was 7+ years ago and I didn't have a job to go back to, so no time pressure.

Very earliest would be 9/10 months in my situation as dd was a prolific bottle refuser and only fed on demand so couldn't into a schedule. I didn't actually go back til 13 months by which time she only bf overnight

Depends on how much the hypothetical baby eats/whether they'll take a bottle surely?

DS is 3 months now and goes about about 2 hours between feeds so I reckon by 6/7 months I could leave him and he could have a little bit of food/water until he got taken to me.

Fair point about bottle refusal. Hadn't really considered that angle.

My dc never had bottles but had bm/formula from a cup at 6 months. I was back at work then and bf evening/morning. And, unfortunately, at night.

4-6 months. It would be hard but doable. I would consider expressing regularly for a bottle though in advance to avoid the above.
You'd be knackered though if it was nearer the 4 month point. I also add the caveat that 8 months more realistic if baby has reflux or other higher needs...

I have a 4 month old dd (17 wks) and went back to work last week. I stored enough milk for a frozen feed per day and a few spares but she pretty much feeds every 2 hours still and I have found it difficult to express enough now I'm back at work. She also has reflux so sometimes needs more if she's been sick lots. In addition to what I can express (usually 2 -3 4/5oz bottles) She is now needing 2 frozen feeds a day (I'm home just in time to stop it being 3!) so my stores are dwindling!! She still wakes for night feeds too. She tends to have much more in the morning than the afternoon so now debating whether to give a bottle of formula if she runs out of fresh ebm and one frozen or start baby cereal just in the morning and see if that helps.

I've just gone back to work and DS is 5 months. Luckily I'm only part time, and he'll take a bottle so it's not too bad - in a month he'll be weaning properly anyway and then from experience with DD it gets a lot easier. After a day in work, when I get home my boobs are ready to explode!

I went back when ds was 10 months. He was ebf, a bottle refuser and allergic to milk. I would feed him in the morning, express at lunchtime so he had milk to put on cereal, would drink off a spoon the following lunchtime, fed him straight after work at 5 then again before bedtime.
He ate food the rest of the time and was fine! Would have struggled to do this much younger!

I went back full time when DS was four months old. We carried on bf til he was a year old.
It was hard to express enough at work, but we managed somehow.

I went back at 5 months for a few weeks but I was off for the summer so really 8 months. My little man was not a bottle refuser but he really did not have anything, maybe 3 ounces, when I was away he reverse cycled feed morning, evening and through the night and ate solids once he started them. I could not pump either and I was happier not doing it anyway.

He fed to 2.5 although we knocked night times on the head about 17 months

Yes, 9/10 months for me. Bottle refusnik, milk allergic kids.

20 yrs ago I had to return to work when dd was 16 weeks old....(and this was after emergency CS!)
She was ebf and refused to take bottle from me , however had no choice but to go back to work full time (NHS)....maternity leave was not as generous as it is now!
I dropped her off at childminder for 7, ( where she would take bottle from childminder)25 mile car journey to work, then worked 8-4, picking her up at 5..... Rushed home to bf her....
God knows how I managed to keep this up till she was 11 months old when she stopped bf!......

Oh I hadn't seen these new replies, thank you.

It's really great to hear from people who have gone back early and made it work. I don't mind doing some mixed feeding as I wouldn't want to be a slave to a pump (pumping once or twice wouldn't be so bad).

Seems like 4-5 months (what I was thinking) is a fairly common one for "early" early.

Thanks all

Hi bertiebotts!
I BF DC exclusively for 6 months and then did BF morning and night and she had formula in the day at nursery. I presume I would do something similar again this time (once I get a BFP!) and do an expressed bottle for night feeds for dp.

I went back to uni and work at 6months

I went back to work ft when ds was 16 weeks. I expressed 3 times a day at work till he was 7 months, then twice till 10 months, once till he was 12 months I think. He never had formula, and bf till he was 23 months.

Wow CMOT - impressive :)

Well, I don't think it was impressive - it meant that I kept bfing so I could co sleep and not wake up at night, didn't have to wash bottles at weekends, and meant I took breaks at work. I'd sit and double pump while reading/eating/drinking my coffee so it was quite nice

Sounds great