Going away for two nights without baby when breastfeeding

[Catlover1812]

My DD is 14 weeks old. I have been ebf until several weeks ago. She has been going through major growth spurts so we are now combination feeding as formula satisfies her more. Because of this (and not surprisingly, since she knows she can get more milk from a bottle) she sometimes refuses to feed from me. But certain feeds in the day, morning for example, she'll happily feed from me. My DH and I are going to a wedding at the end of the month and I'm considering leaving her with grandparents for the weekend, for 2 nights. It would be the first time we've left her overnight, but I'm fine with it as I know she's in good hands. However, I'm worried about my milk drying up completely. I know it has already started to dry up because of the combination feeding. I expressed yesterday when baby was napping and could barely get a few drops out. I know baby is more effective at getting milk from the breast than a pump, but I wondered if anyone had experience of this? How can I keep my milk supply up, or is two days too short a time to worry about it? Thanks in advance!! X

I spent 3 nights in hospital when my DD2 was 7months old. They leant me an expressing machine (I discarded the milk) so I could keep my supply up. It worked.

That's so good to know, thank you. I'm just worrying that expressing won't work (it has in the past but not so sure now I'm worrying my milk is drying up). Guess it can be done though x

If you can get an electric breast pump they are usually quite good, however if you feel you won't be BF much longer they can be pricey for decent machine so it depends on whether you'd make use out of it.

It's definitely possible to keep a supply going, it may wane slightly for a bit after you return from your weekend away but if you encourage feeding enough when you get back you may be able to reestablish.

I'm sure it's different for everyone but I found I got much more milk out by hand expressing, instead of using a pump.

I think if you can keep expressing it'll probably be fine. You may need to for comfort reasons also.

Thanks all, really appreciate it. I have an electric and a manual pump which I use when I can. I just got worried yesterday as I couldn't express much whereas usually I can get at least a feed's worth. Maybe it was the wrong time of day. Either way I will just pump whenever I can and hope for the best x

Could you try and express (hand) whilst baby is feeding from the other side? Even if it's a gentle small amount, may make you feel reassured that it's not drying up x

That's a good idea, I'll try that. I'm just going to express (hand and electric) whenever I can, and feed the baby as often as I can to build up my supply. I'm on holiday at the moment so I can just sit down and feed literally all day! X

Good luck La Leche League are a really good breastfeeding support group who can help and have breastfeeding experts who can give personal advice if you feel you need it too