Going back to work and feeding morning and night- any tips from those who have managed it?

[spiritofstlouis]

I'm going back to work in 3 weeks when my DS will be 7 months. I've gradually cut back to feeding morning and night (plus one 3 am ish feed) but am worried about how practical this will be when I am working. Ideally I'd like to cut out the night time feed so he's properly hungry at 7am but I don't quite have the heart to do so- at the moment he's not terribly hungry in the morning so my first worry is that I'll have a stressful time trying to get enough down him that my breasts will be relieved from the night- still getting engorged at the moment.

Also- now he's on solids he doesn't drain both breasts before bed and I can express a good 5-6 oz which is enough for a daytime feed. Am I realistic to think my supply will continue to be good enough to do this? I'm afraid that as soon as I go back to work my supply will start dropping and I'll have to stop breastfeeding...

sorry this is so rambling! Any advice or experience appreciated.

My son is 1 and I work full time and feed him at 6.30am, 6pm ish when I get home and again in his bath before bed. I usually give him another feed at 11pm ish if he wakes up.

I work full time and so far it hasn't been a problem. I was part time when he was 7 months and my norks seemed to know which days were my working days.

I never bothered expressing. He had a FF during the day but he mostly waited for me. It'll be fine, don't worry about it.

I don't see why you think your supply will suddenly drop off. From what you say your supply is very good. FWIW I went back to work when DS was 15 weeks( less maternity leave entitlement back then) and I used to feed him on arriving home (this didn't last long) at bedtime, through the night (as required) and in the morning and had no supply problems. This settled out after a couple of months to about 7.30 pm and 5.30 am which was DS's favoured getting up time at that age.

With DD I went back when she was 5 months and fed morning (6.30am), evening (7pm) and probably about 4 am (so not dissimilar to you) and continued with this until about 11 months gradually dropping the feeds.

I went back to work when my dd was six months old. I would wake her up, breast feed from one side, and then express the other to create a bottle that she could take to the CM's. At work I would express both sides at lunch time and store the milk, which she'd take the following day (so three bottles in total the the CM). I used to feed at 5:00 but stopped that after a while as she was then starting to have something to "eat" of an evening. I'd b/feed before bedtime.

Like TheDuchess, I do not bother expressing. Ds has formula at nursery.

Your breasts might feel full towards afternoon as your body adjusts. But within a week, they knew the drill. I would have handexpressed if they got too uncomfortable but never got to that stage.

Ds really cut back his feeds now that he takes so much solids and formula at nursery. But when he suddenly started feeding more night and day when I was with him at home because he was ill, my supply came back up.

Wonderful, this.

Thanks for all the reassurance... I think the wonderful but scary thing about breastfeeding is that you have to trust your body (and your baby) but I find it hard not to worry especially when you can't see anything happening. You'd think I'd have learnt after six months.