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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Can you work full time and breastfeed?

66 replies

MamaG · 07/02/2008 14:06

8 years too late for me, but I've always wondered if what I was told was right

I successfully BF my DD but finances dictated that i had to go back to work full time when she was 14 weeks old. I told the HV that I planned to feed her in the morning, then express at work and then feed from getting home - so, 8am ish feed, express through day and then BF from 6pm onwards

She told me there was no way I'd be able to do it and to get her onto formula. So I did. I often wonder (now I'm older, wiser and not as "yes HV" as I was) if I could have continued?

OP posts:
EffiePerine · 07/02/2008 14:46

I used the first aid room and it was fine, but DS was 6 months and I gave up expressing altogether when he was 10 mo as he stopped having milk during the day. I was very glad to give up expressing tho - not only the sidling out ( I had a natty case for my pump) but the time and effort involved in washing the pump and bottles and remembering to take it with me to work and nipping out for emergency containers when I forgot the bloody thing.

Mikafan · 07/02/2008 14:56

Its not easy, thats for sure. Its a total palaver but I actually sometimes welcome the respite and enjoy expressing and reading a good book at the same time

FioFio · 07/02/2008 15:37

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MommaFeelgood · 07/02/2008 17:15

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VictorianSqualor · 07/02/2008 17:32

It's definitely possible, and I think (am not sure though) that employers have to let you express? Or something like that anyway, I'm sure someone will know the legalities of it.
What's not possible(very often) is getting a health visitor who is as determined as you to continue breastfeeding and are often very happy to advise the full switch or at the very least mixed feeding.

FioFio · 07/02/2008 17:36

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VictorianSqualor · 07/02/2008 17:44

My health visitor was strange, she was from a different planet I'm sure, and had been to school with EXDP's mum so would discuss things with her in the street

Judy1234 · 07/02/2008 17:47

In 1983 I bought a book on breastfeeding and work which was very useful and I did it from when they were little. I did express at work (and by the time i Had the twins I was mostly at home so the nanny brought them to me for feeds which was much much easier and nicer) but I'm still glad I breastfed the first 3 and expressed. Your milk can adapt too if you don't express.

At weekends and holidays they just entirely breastfed and I've never once given a baby a bottle of anything despite having 5 children over 23 years.

evenhope · 07/02/2008 18:39

I'm expressing at work. I'm working 3 full days ATM (8am to 4pm ish). I take the pump in an insulated lunch bag, and I express in the first aid room. They bought me a mini fridge

I did have a man walk in on me the week before last, which was annoying, but as I sit with my back to the door I doubt he saw anything (he was more embarrassed than me- so he should be after ignoring the "engaged" sign on the door)

I found it difficult to relax enough to get the milk flowing to start with, but now I take a book in with me and I find that thinking about DD crying does the trick.

Judy1234 · 07/02/2008 22:18

Yes, I remember all that trying to relax, think of the baby etc. I used to get reasonable amounts each time. Can't exactly remember now but half a little bottle 3 ounces, 4?

And some people just stop the day feeds and feed at other times when they are around which is another compromise.

Fennel · 08/02/2008 09:21

I used to find it more effective in getting a let-down reflex if you thought about sex rather than the baby. The health visitor didn't suggest that one though.

Mikafan · 08/02/2008 10:12

I'll have to try that one next time I go down to express Fennel, am having a hard time at the moment what with AF starting today

theyoungvisiter · 08/02/2008 13:12

I agree with Fennel. I could never "get it" by thinking about DS, I just used to start stressing about what he was up to!

What worked for me was 5 mins boob massage (hand swipes down towards the nipple), vigorous nipple stimulation, start pump, twiddle other nipple, think about something sexy, then take a deep breath and exhale, and as you exhale imagine the milk flooooooooooooooooowing down boob towards pump.

Worked every time after I perfected the routine. I regularly used to get 6 oz in one session, but sadly DS never took a bottle so it all went down the sink.

OrmIrian · 08/02/2008 13:13

Yes. But mine had formula when they were with the CM. I bfed them at weekend and at night. Best I could do.

Fennel · 08/02/2008 13:24

Zoe Williams is writing in the Guardian today about how her milk spurts when she thinks about Ewan McGregor. You could try that.

IAteRoseMaryConleyForBreakfast · 09/02/2008 11:26

Ooooh this is an interesting thread. I was going to come and ask about expressing - I'm working part-time at the moment just for this couple of weeks, then F/T (9-6.30) thereafter. I'd planned feeding DS (6.5m) in my lunch break (which I get most days), and expressing what I can before work each morning so DP (SAHD) has something to offer him in the longer periods when I'm away. I can get 3oz max each time I express. DS has been starving at lunchtimes when I get in. He's not taking much by way of solids as we're doing BLW.

I'm a bit worried I might be compromising my milk supply. Basically I have issues using formula - nothing against it but I'm so bloody minded I want to avoid it having got this far. I don't mind extra night feeds - DS wakes 2 hourly most nights anyway so we're co-sleeping much of the night.

At his age is this sutainable?

cmotdibbler · 09/02/2008 21:21

I went back ft when DS was 17 weeks, and expressed at work until he was 14 months. Didn't need to use any formula, and still bf at 20 months.
A double electric pump makes life a lot easier, as does a good book.

kama · 09/02/2008 21:39

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chipmonkey · 09/02/2008 22:28

MamaG, I remember telling my GP that I was expressing at work for ds1 ( He is 11 now) She looked aghast and said, "chipmonkey, why are you doing that, give him formula!" But I had a book, you see, which said "It is perfectly possible to breastfeed and work" so I did what the book said. I really think that health professionals back then didn't have a clue! I never got much with the pump before I went back to work, but once I did go back I found that because I was away from ds1, there was a lot of milk in my breasts at the times that I would normally have fed him.
But why are you beating yourself up about this now? Hindsight is a wonderful thing but you can't turn back the clock. I have often regretted not being more bolshy when expecting ds1 and think that if I had been I could have avoided a CS but there's no point in worrying about it now!

3andnomore · 09/02/2008 22:37

hmm, mamag, you were given shit advice and you acted on it, as you didn't realise that you were given shit advice....I know, that 11 ago, I was given shit advice, too, and acted on it....and at the time I didn't have the Internet...and well, it just would have taken to much energy to try to find out if I was given the correct advice, and also, well, at that time I still trusted the advice I had been given...

so, my advice now is...don't beat yourself up, as you did what you thoguth was for the best...

Original poster
MamaG · 09/02/2008 22:39

Thanks all

I actually feel much better about it now - its not like I've cried every day about it for 8 years, but I have to say it bothered me

OP posts:
monkeytrousers · 09/02/2008 22:39

God, my mind boggles. You have to be some placid, self sacrificing person to do it without risking other relationships and mental health. If you are such a person - you deserve a medal!

monkeytrousers · 09/02/2008 22:44

LOoking at a photo of Ds helped me with let down.

The main problem was DS would never accept a bottle, full of expressed milk or forumla. He never did. I ended up with a suplus in the freezer which went to waste.

monkeytrousers · 09/02/2008 23:07

Here's a recipe for Panakelty a very old Northumbrian dish. I'd add about half a pint of veggie (or whatever) stock and oven bake rather than pan fry. That'show my mother used to make it. Panakelty

monkeytrousers · 09/02/2008 23:07

oops, wrong thread!

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