Taking a break

[prufrock]

I am bf my 8 month old dd morning and evening - and very occasionally in the night if she wakes. She takes a bottle fine when she is at nursery. I have to go away on business for 4 days soon. I know she will be fine - its me I'm worried about! Will I be able to start feeding again when I get back? Is there any need to express whilst I am away - I really don't want to have to and I don't get engorged anymore.

TIA

Going on what happened to me when ds finally gave up b/f, I could still express milk about six days after he stopped, but couldn't ten days later. You might find that even though you don't get engorged any more normally, a break of four days might leave you feeling a bit uncomfortable at the end of it. Maybe you could compromise by expressing once midway through the trip?

Hi Prufrock
I would play it safer by expressing even, if only a little, at the times you normally feed. I'm sure a break like that would have some kind of effect...

Prufork, if you intend to continue feeding when you get back from your trip, I would recommend expressing once a day while you are away. Even though you don't currently get engorged, you might be surprised what happens after several days of not feeding.

You might also want to wear some breast pads even if you don't normally use them - just in case !

Prufrock - definately express while you are away - you will get full breasts over a few days. If you don't express your body will think that you have stopped feeding and will shut down production. There is an inhibitor in breastmilk that actually stops the body producing milk when the breasts get overful. Also it will be easier to pick up where you left off if you express. You don't need to store it , and if you hand express you will not need to take a pump with you.
Good luck.

Thanks for the tip about breast pads - that could have been quite embarrasing.
Mears - I've never and expressed, although I know the theory. I'm presuming that if my breasts get engorged enough to need it then it will be quite easy to get the milk out?

Prufrock if you intend to express, I would practice before you left home! I found it really really hard and only managed it with an electric pump - but you probably don't want one just for this trip. I would happily give you my Avent hand pump (never had any joy from it) but you may be squeamish about things which have had contact with other people's body fluids.

It's easy once you get the hang of it. Remember it is not a good idea to let your breasts get engorged because your milk production will be affected.
Look at previous thread on hand expressing.

I found the Medela electric pump (you can buy them in Boots) to be extremely easy to use - I know it's a lot of money for 4 days (30 odd pounds I think), but maybe you will be able to use it again with another baby or you know somebody who will? It's also possible to rent them too (I think), I will look in my baby directory to see...

Thanks florenceuk - I have a hand pump and on a good day I could get out 7oz in 15 mins, but I am trying to pack light so I don't have to wait for luggage so didn't really want to take it. Hand expressing can't be that hard - with no baby to look after I'm looking forward to lying in swish hotel baths and relaxing. Now, if I express in the bath, does breast milk have the same skin moistursing properties as asses milk