Benefits of mixed feeding when return to work and how to do it?

[jasperc163]

DD (15 weeks) is BF with bottle of ebm in evening. I am returning to work 3 days pw at exactly 6 months so am planning to introduce formula around 5.5 months (unfortunately not able to express enough to give ebm to childminder).

I am presuming that to give a couple of bf a day from this point onwards is still going to give significant health benefits? I assume it would be very difficult supply wise to feed more on days i don't work?

What is the best way to go about dropping to 2 feeds - is 2 weeks sufficient time to get sorted before i go back? I have supply problems (taking domperidone but not sure how much difference it actually makes) so am a bit worried about still having enough milk to do 2 proper feeds morning and evening?

thanks

I am taking domperidone and dropped to two feeds a day before I went back (at 8 months) - at that point she was taking 4 feeds a day, first thing, mid morning, mid afternoon and before bed, so I just swapped the mid afternoon for a bottle first, then the mid morning one about a week later, so yes two weeks. Kind of hard for you to plan just now I imagine as the feeding pattern will probably be different in 6 weeks time - hopefully easier to predict by then!
Expect it would be best if you could swap the evening bottle of ebm for a breast feed too if you'll be back home by then..

Interestingly enough since dropping to just 2 feeds a day i've found i don't need to take the domperidone so much. If you don't think it's doing anything, you possible need to up the dose, they tend to start you on 2 tablets a day but i had to go up to 8 before it had an effect when I was feeding more..

I think there are definitely advantages to keeping up partial b/feeding, not least with the swinzen fluzen going round..

hi there
thanks for info. Yes I am on 8 - think i need to stop it and see if there is a difference or not!
Glad to hear you managed to drop down in about 2 weeks as dont want to introduce formula any earlier than that if possible. I give the ebm at the moment because i dont have enough milk in the evenings to get her to settle (have to express it at 2am :-( ) , maybe it will be different if I am not feeding all day, i dont know.

atm we have very little routine - i have a feeling this may not change for a while.

i think you'll just have to wait and see how your supply holds up. i started two feeds a day but not until more like 9.5 months. good luck!

thanks chandelina,

anyone here who did this earlier - around 5-6 months?

Hi jasperc. I went back to work at 3-4m with DS and 5m with DD, working 3d/week like you. I managed to express part of their needs by using the pump whenever I felt uncomfortably full at work. This stopped me getting mastitis and meant I didn't have supply problems for their morning and evening feeds. I got fed up with expressing after a while but since they were on a lot of solids at that stage it seemed to be ok.

Daytime feeds on my first day after 3d at work were hard as my supply had definitely dropped by then. By the next day it was back up to normal. DD eventually did a 'reverse cycling' trick which meant she decided to lie next to me feeding all night, and not take much daytime milk. Apparently this is quite common but luckier mummies get them to do it in the evening / early morning rather than the small hours.

I weaned DS at 15m and did notice an increase in calls from the nursery for minor ailments. DD went on for longer and I had fewer pick-your-child-up calls. So it's probably worth trying to continue BF for purely selfish career related reasons as well as the health / kid benefits

thanks mariagoretti
I am wondering if I am going to have to take the view that i only do 2 feeds a day 7 days a week whether working or not as my week is do disjointed...

4 days incl weekend not working and so can bf
2 days on average working away from home but not able to express as in meetings /someone elses offices (long day 8-6 ish)
1 day on average working from home so able to express but dd will be at childminder.

Does the body just settle down so that you have 2 good feeds a day or does it not work like that?