Breastfeeding and returning to work

[Peony9876]

I have an 10 month old who is fed on demand although feeds are usually at around 6am, 8.30am, 11.30am, 2pm, 4pm and 7pm plus 1 in the night.

He eats a lot of solids and although it seems like he is breastfeeding a lot I am not sure how much milk he is actually getting.

I am wondering about what I should do when I return to work in a month. I will be going back 3 full days. If I don't do the day time feeds on these days can I still feed him during the day on the 4 days I am not working? I don't have any desire to start expressing and am assuming on the days I am working he can either drink water or cows milk?

I work near home so come home to do a lunchtime feed or work 4 shorter days if that helps with milk supply.

What happens to milk supply if some days you feed and other days you don't?

Hi @Peony9876
When I returned to work when my DD Was 11 month's old I was feeding less during the day than you, but more at night. I think on demand was probably about 7am, 2pm, 7pm and a few times at night. Like you I didn't really want to express.
I spoke to my local breastfeeding support worker who recommended feeding DC immediately before dropping off to childcare and immediately after when you pick them up. And then continue to feed on demand as normal. I was really concerned about my DD not drinking cows milk at nursery because she flat out refused it at home. Turns out it was because she has a dairy allergy so I expressed one bottle in the evening for her to drink the next day. She never touched the expressed milk, it always got thrown out.

Your boobs are going to be very engorged and sore if you don't get rid of milk somehow in the first week or two. I had to hand express a few times in the toilet just for some relief. It also resulted in some blocked ducts that were very sore.
My solution for the first week (i also work 3 days) was to take annual leave for 3 half days. So one day one of work I picked DD up at 1pm, day 2 I pushed a bit further and picked up at 2:30pm and day 3 was 4pm. I fed her immediately on pick up but it really helped regulate my supply so I could cope with full days at work without having to express.

Because you won't be demand feeding as regularly as you are currently you supply will adapt and you will likely produce less milk. But I certainly wouldn't worry because if you continue to demand feed when you're DS wants/needs you'll have no problem sustaining your milk supply.

Good luck with returning to work!

Hi, I returned to work just over two weeks ago now (3 days a week, gone 7am-5.30pm) and my daughter just recently turned 1. Her feeds in the day when I’m off are variable as It depends if we’re at home for her two naps...I’d feed to sleep at home but if we’re out she often Falls asleep without. But she does still feed a few times at night. So I decided to pump once a day at work as I’m prone to blocked ducts and that seems to be doing the job nicely. I do it around lunchtime and use a haakaa on the opposite boob to the one I’m pumping to speed things up a bit. I have noticed that I feel a bit less full in the day now so I’m hoping not to have to express at work in a short while.
I haven’t bothered sending any milk to nursery or grandmas as she eats and drinks water well. Plus she flat refused expressed milk last time I tried a couple of months ago. I tend to use the milk I express for her cereal the next day or something. Good luck with the return to work x

I returned to work when my son was 1 year and I worked 3 days a week (12.5 hour shifts). On the days I was at work I had to express every 3-4 hours because otherwise my boobs were about ready to explode. I had to do this for a good few months before things settled down and I could go a whole shift without needing to express.

I continued to breast feed as normal for the other four days and did so until he was 2.5 years old.

You will be fine to feed on the days you are with your child but you need to start thinking about how you will manage expressing at work if you need to.

How long will you be away from your child? I.e How long will you have to go without breast feeding him?

When you first go back to work your breasts will still be making milk as per your child’s normal feeding pattern, so if you are missing potentially three feeds and not expressing it may get very painful and put you at risk of mastitis.

I went back to work when DD was 6 months and expressed twice a day at work, 5 days a week, which was grim I will admit. At maybe 10 months I cut down to expressing once - way more manageable. When she turned 1 I stopped altogether but was able to keep feeding the rest of the time and still going at 21 months. I have had mastitis to be fair, but I've had it more times than I now remember since she was born and I think I'm just really prone to it.

I’m just starting to return to work three days a week - baby just turning nine months old.

She has been doing some long days in preparation over the past couple of weeks. I haven’t needed to express while she’s been away so far. I feed before I take her and as soon as I pick her up. I seem to have enough supply still on the other days though it’s still early days.

So far unfortunately the nursery staff are struggling to feed her formula. She became a bottle refuser early on at home and still seems resistant to taking it even from other people. She is eating regular food there well so I’m hoping as she becomes older she can manage just with that at nursery. Good luck x