Going back to work and still breastfeeding - help needed!!

[yelnats]

DD will be 6 and a half months when I go back to work 2 and a half days a week(Mon, 1/2 day Tues and all day Wed). She is Almost 5months at the moment and is still exclusively breastfed - I don't want to give her 'solids' early but dont want to have to express at work nor feel full and uncomfortable, but would ideally still like to breastfeed when I'm not at work. My mum will be keeping the kids overnight on a Monday so that they are not getting lifted out of bed too early for 3 mornings in a row but i am worried that I will need to express for comfort on the morning that dd is not at home to feed. I wont have time to express for when I'm not there so any feeds that she gets when I'm not there will be formula.
Will this work? Will I need to express for comfort?

Also - she had over the past 2weeks started getting up for 2/3 feeds during the night when she had previously been sleeping from 10pm to 4/5am. (We co-sleep - which I want to stop for going back to work).
Sorry for the long post - any advice/tips greatly appreciated as i really dont know how this is going to work.

i would say that she is probably waking because shes getting ready to wean.
I would try to express to keep you supply up for when your not at work, Even if you throw it away, but what a waste. My dd is 6mths, i work part time and when i get home at 4.30 i have to feed her straight away so don't know how you will manage 24 hours plus. Hope tis helps.

hmm yelnats i think your supply is well enough established to feed more erratically, but not sure how you will manage the very long separation. think you need to ring one of the helplines for proper individual advice. do you have numbers?

Hi there, it'll have to be trial and error.

I have two dd's with dd1 i returned to work at 3mths so expressed frequently as i wanted her to have my milk that young so my supply was massive and i had to express every four hours whilst away from her for my own comfort. After 6mths or so, i gave her formula when i was at work and my supply reduced a little and i could go fine with erratic feeding - i bf her until she was 2.

DD2 - i just didn't have time to express being second child and i went back to work at 6mths so wasn't so bothered about her having formula then. But i think because my supply this time has not been increased by pumping, i find my supply isn't enormous, and whilst i can always feed her when she wants, on occasions i end up giving her a top up bottle cos she won't settle and she has these mannerisms that i've got to know mean there is no more milk in me! this works fine for me and my supply doesn't dry up, just seems to be limited if i've missed more than two feeds a day, the only way round it would be to express at work which i don't/can't do.
If i were in your shoes re the overnight stay, i would be inclined to express once before you go to bed just to remind your body to keep producing milk, but you'll have to try it out you may find it doens't cause you a problem at all.

you may need to express for comfort but it's also a good idea to expess to keep your supply up if you're going to be missing a couple of feeds

you mentioned that you want to stop co-sleeping when you go back to work. why?

my ds just turned 1yr & i recently returned to work. he will not drink expressed milk during the day but feeds the minute we get home and also has an extra feed at night and a feed in the am. he has just altered his feeding cycle to suit the new routine.

i find co-sleeping helps with this and also gives us the chance for that closeness and one-on-one quiet time that he misses out on during the day. wouldn't give it up for anything!

i think you should continue rather that stop co-sleeping. i found that co-sleeping certainly helps because i have to work.

also, how early is early? I think that your child would get used to the routine of getting up early 3 mornings in a row and can do later the other four, esp with co-sleeping. babies set up their own routines if we let them, as long as we are willing for some give and take on our part too.

I was hoping that stopping the co-sleeping would maybe stop her feeding in the night - a case of if it's not there on tap then she might settle without a feed as I am not convinced that at 5 months she should necessarily still need a feed in the night more a habit than anything else -though I might be wrong - any experts around - Mears/Tiktok?

She has stayed over with my parents on 3 occasions so far and each time I have woke up very early (5/6am) feeling very full and had to express loads for some relief and as soon as I am up and dressed i go straight round and feed straight away and am always uncomfortable for the remainder of the day.

I will leave home at 7am for work as I travel circ 25miles to work.

then you may want to search mn archives and google with words like 'breastfed, breastfeeding, baby, sleeping through' and see what the research and other people's experiences are.