Please reassure me everything will be fine with expressing when I go back to work!

[canmummy]

I don't now why I'm panicking really but I go back to work in 2 weeks and dd3 (aged 8 months) is going to nursery 2 days a week. For one reason and another I'm actually off sick at the moment so she's going to nursery while I stay at home and rest.

Now for the last 2 days that she's spent at nursery I've hardly been able to express any milk - about 5/6 oz for the whole day. And while she's been away from me she's refused to drink more than 1/2 oz at a time of ebm. Is my supply ok?

Also, she's teething (3 have actually broken through) and she's bitten my left nipple 3 times . It's getting a bit sore but not too bad - will it just heal on it's own do you think?

Anybody?

Or am I worried for nothing?

I can't help with the expressing, although at this age I think it's ok the amount she's taking during the day as she'll probably make it up when she's with you.

The biting I do know about unfortunately! I've had a few nasty bites from ds and I was amazed actually how quickly they healed with no intervention required really. I also find that the biting stops once the teething eases up.

Should be fine . At this age, she'll be taking less milk and more solids anyway. I went back to work at 6 months and DS was quickly onto one small bottle a day with more feeds at night/first thing in the morning.

Prefering you to a bottle is another issue - you may find she reverse cycles and takes most of her milk at night. I stopped expressing altogether at about 10 months cos DS wasn't taking v much and it was a bit of a faff. Now he has cow's milk during the day (11 1/2 months)

i never expressed, but i did go back to work 2 days a week when my dd was the same age as yours. she drank formula at nursery & i b-fed her as normal when ever she was with me. i ended up feeding her 'til she was 18 months. so don't despair, breasts are marvellous things & adapt surpringly well & you will be fine!

if you're off sick, that could be why you had problems.

Relax and just see how it goes.

Iwas back at work f/t from 4.5 months - and managed to express until ds was 12 months old.

Good luck

I'm sure it will be fine - after all, you only need to express as much as dd wants to drink during the day, and its not like she won't be getting water and solids.
I went back ft at 4.5 months and expressed until DS was 13 months (he dropped all the EBM feeds of his own accord then), and we're still going at 16 months.
A good dose of Lanisoh does wonders for bitten nips.

Thanks, I'm just off to pick her up now - hoping she's taken a bit more ebm today (but I only sent a small amount in so on the other hand hope it was enough!). I'll let you know how she's gone on. I've expressed 4oz and 3oz today for her to have on Friday.

I think I'm panicking even more as she has a cow milk allergy so can't have formula - I've been told not to stop breastfeeding! (not that I was planning to but I'm finding this quite a pressure!)