How do you manage to keep breastfeeding when you go back to work?

[BoffinMum]

Planning ahead, as I am only due in April, I find I am a bit more committed to feeding DC4 for longer than the other three since reading the thread on how to increase participation rates in bf. But as I mentioned on the other thread, there are two obstacles I have never managed to surmount:

1. How do you stop them biting you once they have teeth? Mine always bit me repeatedly. Those little teeth are sharp!

1. When you go back to work with a 5 or 6 month old, how do you stop your norks leaking in the day when you have no baby to put on there to regulate things? I've tried pumping but never successfully got into a daily rhythm with this.

Any tips gratefully received.

You can teach a baby Bfing "manners" by removing from breast when they nip and refusing to allow them to continue for a couple of minutes. They soon get the message. DS BF until 22 months (I went back to work when he was 9 months) by which time he had all his teeth.

I mixed fed DS (milk wise - he was already on solids) as he was that bit older and used breast pads to stop leakage. I was able to go back to underwired bras by that point though. I didn't pump but just fed morning, bedtime and during night if he woke. My supply was pretty well regulated and established by then though. It took about a week for my boobs to get used to no day feeds and then they were fine.

I went back to work 3 dpw at 6 mo and fed until 22mo - I pumped once at lunchtime, and used washable breastpads. But on days with ds I just fed when he wanted as normal - seemed to work fine.

As soon as DS bit, I took him off, said ow, and didn't let him go back on for a minute. He only bit a few times as he loved his num nums.

I went back to work when DS was 4.5 months - pumped 3 times a day at first (much easier to pump when pumping to replace feeds), and wore breast pads until I was confident that I wouldn't leak.

I fed until he was 23 months, demand feeding when I wasn't at work

So do norks have an internal biological clock system then, so they can turn off during the daytime if trained to do so?

I have only ever demand fed you see, so haven't given timings any thought. I think that's where the problem has arisen.

I am very pleased it is possible to train them out of the biting. I hadn't thought to take them off for a couple of minutes - I assumed they wouldn't be able to make the connection.

teeth - nipping is a stage they go through and you can quickly train them out of it, although they do often return to it if they teeth. DS got his first tooth at 4 months so we had a long old haul of it, and I did get nipped a few times. I heard a good tip on here which was do NOT pull away, as that can seriously damage the nipple, but press their face (gently) into the breast so they can't breath, they will then unlatch of their own accord and dislike the sensation. Then don't allow them back on for a few minutes. They soon get the message. When they are older (say a year) I recommend stopping the feed altogether if they nip otherwise it can become a game.

I went back to work when DS was nearly a year so I don't know how it works with a smaller baby, but he was still taking significant amounts of milk and my boobs did adjust. He was feeding morning and evening plus 2 or three times in the night, and then on demand on days when I was at home. I got slightly engorged during the day but not painfully so and only needed to express once for the first few weeks. If you think about it, it's no longer a period than if your baby sleeps through the night (I wish!). A friend went back when her baby was 5 months and pumped twice a day, once at lunch and once mid-afternoon. She just factored it into her work day like a meeting!

Your supply will definitely respond to the level and times of demand, so if you no longer feed during the day they won't end up like rocks (not after a week or so anyway). I agree that if you are expressing instead of feeding rather than trying to do both you will get a lot more out (I did this a few times when DS was very tiny and I had to go to university).

If I have another child I will have to go back to work when they are 6 months old max so I will be trying to express during the day. But mixed feeding is not the end of the world, if you manage 6 months breast only you will be in a minority of less than 1% of women in the UK!

(sorry, forgot to add, with pumping every day (inc while at home with ds) provided sufficient for all milk at nursery for probably 4 months - then started a little mix feeding when necessary)

I found yelling 'Ow' very loudly made ds pop off anyway with surprise and solved the nipping that way - he only did it possibly 3 or 4 times in the 22 mo....

Agree with all the posts, but would like to add that when expressing regularly I found a double electric pump really made a difference. It means you can take more advantage of the let down on both sides at once. Much quicker and more productive.

Good luck when the time comes.

Any recommendations for double pumps? This one seems to be the swankiest but it also costs as much as a small family car IMO.

Medela Freestyle

You want an Ameda Lactaline - mine did a year of Mon-Fri pumping, survived being packed across the Atlantic a few times, and a number round europe, and then went onto another home in perfect working order. And I bought it second hand in the first place.

Another vote for the Ameda Lactaline here. I pumped 3 days a week (varying shifts, between 8 to 12 hours) from DS being 6 months old. He gradually decreased the amount of EBM he took from ten months and I stopped pumping at 12 months. Still BF (twice a day and somtimes at night) at 18 months. I also found expressing substitute milk much easier than squeezing in feeds in between demand feeding at home and even though I was very anxious about it, my supply always managed to keep up with DS. I remember reading on some thread to remember that you only need to have enough for the next feed.

As for biting agree - same thing here - taking him off for a few minutes seemed to settle it down. (At least until the past month when he seems to be getting frustrated with preg supply dip).