Back to work, what to do re breastfeeding?

[sadmad]

DS is 9 months, I start back at work in a few weeks and he'll have 2 full days away from me. He's still breastfed maybe 3 times in the period I'll be at work plus then evening/night/morning feeds. He's never taken a bottle and doesn't seem to be learning very quickly with a sippy cup or open cup either so not sure there's much use pumping as he wouldn't be able to drink it anyway. He's managed ok being away from me for a full morning so missing one of the feeds, but I've not tried a whole day yet. Is he likely to starve? Or get dehydrated? The two days are Wed and Fri so not consecutive. He'll be with MIL one day and nursery the other. Don't want to subject either of them to a screaming starving child. And then of course there's what effect it'll have on my supply. Any words of wisdom? He eats 3 ok sized meals a day and is a big boy so no concerns about weight gain on a long term scale more on a day to day basis.

I went back when my DCs were 11 months so not quite the same. DC1 would happily drink a sippy cup of cows milk from
12 months, whereas DC2 has reacted by just feeding more when I’m there (so unfortunately through the night 🤦‍♀️). It didn’t affect my supply at all either time - at the weekends and when I wfh I continue to feed throughout the day as normal.

You may find that when you aren’t around your DC becomes more receptive to drinking from a cup! If not then make sure he has plenty of liquid through foods so he doesn’t get dehydrated, and really work on offering water at least - he should really have been drinking water with food from when you started weaning. Mine enjoyed open cups from the start, plus the free flow sippy ones. DS hated straws but Dd loves them so maybe try different cups too.

As a last resort, your MIL or the nursery can always try spooning a bit of milk or water into his mouth. When I first went back to work DS was happy to drink from an open cup if I held the cup but was a bit reluctant if anyone else held the cup so he ended up drinking off a spoon sometimes. DS is much more willing to drink his milk if a bit of pureed fruit is mixed in. He’ll probably settle into a pattern of drinking hardly anything while you are away and cluster feeding when you are home to compensate. Put him on a high fibre diet; DS was constipated when I first returned to work because he didn’t drink enough.

It might still be a good idea to pump at work in order to prevent leaks but once in the lunch break should be enough and you’ll probable get away with a cheapy manual pump. If he won’t drink the milk you can always mix it with his food.

I went back to work when mine was nearly 1 so a bit older, but I found she would eat and drink better without me around although still didn't drink much and this was 3 days a week. She was fine, they won't starve themselves and will just have a big feed when you get back!

Thanks both! Have been trying him with water in various cups since starting solids but never convinced any actually goes in. Hadn't been too concerned about it until now. I'm sure DD was better at drinking from a cup/through a straw at this age but then maybe I had more time to spend teaching her! He managed maybe 20ml of almond milk (just cos this is what I have on my cereal, I know there are better milks for this age) in an open cup just now. Maybe this is progress! I rarely get that engorged feeling anymore so hoping I can make it through a day without pumping as I really hate it. No doubt he'll make up for it in the night 🤦🏼‍♀️

Good tip re high fibre. He eats a lot of fruit so this should help hopefully!

I went back when mine was about nine months, and had the same worries. I tried expressing and various other things, but he wasn't that keen on a bottle as he hadn't had to do it much before. I found that he ended up having water from a sippy cup, plus some solids as we'd started with those by then. I still fed him before and after work, and on my days off, and we just sort of worked it out. It felt like a huge stress at the time (so I really sympathise) but it just became part of our routine that he didn't have it during the day on those days. He definitely didn't lose weight, and my supply seemed to adjust ok, although there were still a few 'hard boob' moments partway through the day initially.

I went back to work when DD was 8mo and still breastfed. I would feed her in the morning before work, then she ate at nursery and I would feed as soon as we got home again. This tapered off after a few weeks and she went down to breakfast and bedtime feeds and then once in the night.
She was shit at learning to drink, took her a while but she got the hang of bottles with straws best, the ones that you flip up, not necessarily kids ones, about £2 in Asda. I think for the first week she was a little dry but she fed from me plenty til she figured out that she could use a water bottle.

I had to go back at 6 months for 2 x 8 hour days - my little boy wouldn't take any bottle but had started to take a free flowing sippy cup. Before you go back, do a few hours with you being away so MIL and nursery can try your little one with milk alongside solids. Always offer water too.

If you're expressing for these days, I found the haakaa good to build a stash - I made sure to freeze the milk in 1 or 2oz portions though so you don't waste too much before he gets used to drinking more.

In case anyone else stumbles across this thread with the same question, we're two weeks in now and it seems to be working out alright. He feeds at 5am then 8am before I leave him, then when I get back to him after work then again at bedtime and doesn't seem to be any worse for it. The other days I'm feeding maybe 1 or 2 extra times during the day but they're smaller feeds and probably a bit more for comfort than cos he's hungry. Supply seems to be fine too. Pleased it has gone so well, I had been stressing lots about it. These babies are more adaptable than we give them credit for!

High fibre without enough water can also cause constipation. So yes, fruit and whole grains are great but you need him to be taking in sufficient liquid for that fibre to get through the digestive system. But liquid is also found in food. So juicy fruits have lots of liquid, things like bananas have less, yogurt has more liquid than a slice of cheese, etc.

Oh just seen your update. Sorry for the irrelevant post. Good to hear it’s all going well!