Can you bf 8 mo some days and ff when at work without expressing to maintain supply?

[GiraffesMum]

Just a quick question to see if anyone can give me some advice/tell me what they did.

Am going back to work 3 days a week and 8 mo DD is ebf. Can't/don't want to express during the day at work and am happy for nursery to give her formula for the two feeds she'll need.

We're doing blw so some days she has lots of milk in the day, other days she hardly as any. As the time of the feeds and amount varies I love the convenience of bf. As she'll be getting her other feeds as bf everyday can I still bf in the day on the 4 days I'm with her and not for the 3 consecutive days I'm at work?

My questions are:
do I need to keep up the ff day routine so as not to confuse her/make sure she takes milk at nursery?

Will my supply cope for 3 days without expressing in the day?

Will it be too uncomfortable for me?

I don't know if it makes any difference but she dies love her grub and happily takes water from a cup! Thanks for any advice!

Oops - does love her grub not dies!!

I bf ds1 when I went back to work in a similar manner. I used to try to do the morning and evening feed on the 5 days I was around and did no BF on the 2 (non consecutive) days when I wasnt there because i was commuting to the LOndon office. He was on formula during the 4 days he was at his childminder. There was no confusion and my milk supply was fine. London days werent uncomfortable but i was ready to give him the morning feed the next day!! I think its worth going for and see how you go but if you have consecutive days away you might need to do some expressing to take the pressure off quite literally.

Thanks for your reply. Anyone else have any luck missing out 2 day feeds for 3 days and then resuming them for 4 days without any problems?

"Will my supply cope for 3 days without expressing in the day?"

Yes, although I found my daughter nursed in the night more once I started back at work.

"Will it be too uncomfortable for me?"

you will fill full, but hopefully it won't be unbearable.

I started working 3 days a week when DD was 8 months (Mon, Thurs, Fri). I did express at work to give her EBM at nursery, but the ungrateful madam point blank refused any bottles/milk there so there seemed to be little point continuing with all the faff involved...

However, I'm glad I did express for the first few weeks as I was v.v full by 12pm to begin with and a couple of months earlier I did 2 Keeping In Touch days and ended up with a blocked duct (ouch) after DD unexpectedly slept through ()those nights.

But by the time I'd been back a month or so, I wasn't as full and I can get away without expressing now and I feel fine. DD still feeds on demand when we're together without any problems, but as Really Tired has said, I think she does make up for it at night.

DD is 9 months and I've just stopped expressing at work. She now gets a mix of ebm and formula in her 2 bottles a day mon to fri and I bf her the rest of the time. My supply has adapted really well, but I have the following issues:

-she feeds a LOT more at night now. i don't particularly mind as i love the cuddles but it does get tiring
-I get really engorged on Mondays as i've been feeding on demand all weekend. The other days i'm just pleasantly full and it's nice to give DD a good long drink when I get in, but on Mondays i get uncomfortable past about 3pm and then I'm rock hard and lumpy by 5pm.