How to breastfeed returning to work?

[Crazydiamond106]

Before I had my baby I thought I would just breastfeed you till 6 months and then (gladly) switch to formula. However I really love breastfeeding and especially with the risk of coronavirus I want to continue to offer her maximum protection after I return to work when she’s 8 months...

Can anyone tell me how they did this? She’ll be in nursery 2 days and my mothers 2 days per week...do I feed morning and night then express for the daytime or is it easier to use formula? If I use formula in the day do I need to express at work or will my body get used to just producing for the morning and night? ...if I do formula during the day and my body adapts...will I have enough milk to feed her all day on weekends or need to still use formula?

Lots of questions but just can’t get my head round it! I’d ideally like to express and stick with just breast milk but also need to be realistic with how easy that’s gonna be...very occasionally I may have to work away for a couple nights also.

If I do express what sort of volume do I need for a feed at that age? The formula quantities seem huge and pretty sure I don’t produce that much! I can only express 3-4 oz at a time now.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Baby will be 8mths when I return to work.

I expressed at work, and found I got far more the I did at home because baby hadn't fed for hours. It will vary from person to person but I was away from home about 10 hours and expressed once in the middle of the day. If I was busy I sometimes missed pumping, but it got a bit uncomfortable.

I got around 10oz when I expressed at work (usually 4-5 at home), which I split into 2 bottles for DH or childminder to give. He had solid food aswell, with lots of cheese and yogurt for dairy, and fed slightly more when I was home, but not massively.

After 1 DS had cow's milk when I was at work, and breastfed when I was at home and my supply adjusted accordingly. So if you choose to give formula instead of pumping I yours would to.

Fogot to say, before I went back to work I gradually built up about 3 work days worth off milk in the freezer. I then took out the oldest milk as I needed it, and replaced with what I expressed that day.

I aimed to add in the same amount as I'd taken out, which I think helped my supply stay matched to DS's consumption. But having the extra frozen ment I had some leeway if I didn't pump, or had to go out unexpectedly.

I'm dealing the same dilema as the OP but the baby will be 4 months old by the time I get back to work. I'm totally clueless...
It is unlikely that I will be able to express as much as he needs during the day (I'll also be away for 10hrs as well as doing some business travel -CV permitting-).

I was planning to supplement with formula during daycare (maybe with a bottle or two of breastmilk) and keep breastfeeding when at home.

Would my milk supply readjust itself (only producing milk in the evenings etc) or is there a risk of progressively losing it all?

My experience was the same as ForeverBubblegum's. I did two daytime expressing sessions to get around 16oz of milk. I'd feed directly morning and night, and there would be 2 more feeds during the day when I was at work. That was more than enough, in fact I pumped more than he ate and ended up throwing away a huge freezer stash. You pump so much more when baby hasn't fed for hours.

You can possibly get away with pumping once, especially after 9/10 months when milk intake starts to reduce. Then on your days off you can just feed directly.

Tips:
Get a pumping bra and a double electric pump if you can
Build up a freezer stash, BUT first try to make sure your baby will drink defrosted milk

Good luck!