can i work these hours and still BF???

[skidaddle]

DS is .5 months old and ex BF - I go back to work in 2 weeks and really want to keep BF but don't know if it is realistic to hope. I will work 9-5 three days a week plus 2 afternoons (2-5pm). I could conceivably pick him up from nursery at lunchtime on the days I work all day for a midday BF. I have been expressing (hand pump) since he was about 3 months as DH looks after him every afternoon for a couple of hours - so-far I have had no problem expressing enough for him and he has taken the bottle well.

So my question is: can I be away from him for such a long time and only give him BM? When I express I usually get 4-5oz but he downs 7-8oz easily each feed so I obviously have to express more often than he feeds IYKWIM. Will my supply go down if I am expressing rather than feeding so often? Has anyone else done it? Any tips? Thank you.

[Caz10]

hi skid! not exactly the same hours etc, but i got some good advice here

[youareamazing]

Message withdrawn

[skidaddle]

thanks both

caz - will have a look at your thread, thanks. You're only going back for a couple of weeks though, aren't you?

youareamazing - thanks for the advice - I already have a room to express in and can use it as often as I like during the day. He feeds a lot in the evening and 3 times during the night usually so I am definitely producing a lot of milk at the moment.

My fear is that as I express more and feed him less my supply will dwindle as I am sure he extracts a lot more milk from me than my breast pump although of course I don't know that.

I know once he is eating a lot of food it will be easier because he won't need my milk so much - it is really the next couple of months that worry me - any other success stories much appreciated!

[skidaddle]

oops, op should read\DS is 5.5 months old, not .5 months old - that would be a little early to go back to work...

[skidaddle]

anybody else got any tips? Success stories?

[weasle]

hi, no advice but in similar situation. going back next month when ds 6.5 months 3 days a week 8-6ish.

i really can only express drops so am resigned to some formula. am thinking of it as another food stuff. i may be able to express when away from baby i suppose.

dh totally unsupportive of me continuing to bf at all. told me today i should be starting formula this week so i have stopped bf by 6mo

so it will be a battle!

have heard of success stories on here before though. good luck

[skidaddle]

hi weasle - sorry to hear about your unsympathtic DH - if it helps I found that i could express LOADS more when away from DS because my breasts would be feeding him at that time normally, rather than trying to fit expressing in between feeds - have you tried this? It might make a big difference.

I know there is nothing wrong with formula and a few feeds a week is hardly going to harm your DS or mine but I really really want him to have my milk and I get upset at the thought of him glugging down a bottle. Maybe it's irrational and who knows if I'll be able to express enough but I am definitely going to try.

Good luck with going back anyway and I'm sure you will be able to continue to BF him mornings and nights - never mind what your DH thinks about it - it is you that is doing the feeding!

[sophiaverloren]

I went back to work when DS was 5.5 months. He was excl bfed until 6 months and only drank bm (as opposed to formula) until 11.5 months when I ran out of EBM (had been on holiday and lost the routine) and gave him cows milk. Continued bfeeding until he gave it up at 15 months.

So - there's a success story, if it helps.

More detail: I worked from home a couple of days a week and expressed like fury! But even on office days (2 days), I expressed 2 or 3 times (depending on meetings etc) and that, together with evenings, weekends etc, made it perfectly do-able. Your working pattern is very similar to mine at the time - mine was 8.30-5.30 3 days a week and 2 afternoons.

By the time he was 10 months, I went away for 2 days with work - and forgot my breastpump. NOT advisable, ended up having a lot of showers (!), but he and I were perfectly fine.

If you can use these 2 weeks to build up a bit of a supply in the freezer, it will help because sometimes you just can't be bothered (and it gets so it is less pressing to skip a pumping session or 2)
Hope that helps. It's a couple of years ago and memory is fading fast, but we did manage it!

[skidaddle]

sophia - thank you so much for your success story!!! I have already built up a stock in the freezer and am planning to express at work at least 3 times a day so that sounds very similar to what you did. I'm so glad it worked out for you and am now confident that i can make it work too - thank you

[sophiaverloren]

Glad I could help! I know that I would have liked to have heard that sort of thing before I embarked on it.

I really believe a positive attitude is very important if you are going to do this. It is not easy, but becomes habit surprisingly quickly. And then suddenly isn't necessary any more before you know it!