Returning to work & breastfeeding

[Olive2019]

My DS (6m) has been exclusively breastfed (well we've recently started to introduce solids but 99.9% of this ends up on the floor/his clothes).

I plan to go back to work when he's 8 months and would like to continue breastfeeding him morning/evening/night but give him formula milk during the day. I was just wondering whether anyone had any advice for when/how I should start introducing formula during the day so it doesn't affect my supply at other times?

Also did anyone do this and continue to breastfeed during the day at weekends or does 5 days off during the week completely deplete your supply during the day?

Any tips would be gratefully received! He can already take a bottle (thanks to tips from Mumsnetters) but I've only given him expressed milk so far.

Thank you!

Can you express at work? When I went back to work after my first daughter was born (she was 5 months), I expressed once at work at lunchtime, stored in the fridge and then took it home in a cool bag. I had also built up quite a supply of milk before I went back (stored in the freezer) and she never needed formula at all and went straight into cows milk at 12 months.

I only went back to work 3 days a week, but my supply was perfectly able to adjust to working days and non working days. The expressing at work obviously helped with that, though I did stop that after a few months, as she started to feed less during non working days too.

When I returned to work I pumped twice a day so he could have that at nursery. I hav a pretty family friendly employer though.

I think giving formula during the day instead of expressing would have affected my supply, but people are different so you might get lucky.

Thanks so much for your replies.

Can I ask how much milk you'd get at each session and how much milk you'd need to leave for a day (8am-6pm)?

When I express I usually only manage to get about 50-70ml (although can completely vary - sometimes I've only got 30ml and sometimes I get about 100ml). On the occasions I need to leave him for a few hours I have to plan in advance and pump over several days/sessions. I can't see how I'd manage to do this when at work - I think I'd just be worried about him having enough!

Thanks again.

I went back at ten months and did express at work for the first month (to relive fullness as well as to have milk to leave!) but found things stabilised a lot. He could drink water by then obviously and a wee bit of juice, and adjusted his own feeding so he would have one before I left for work and then pounce on me when I got home. We didn't use formula, though he was closer to one than yours and once he was 1 just used some cows milk but mostly he just waited for me No issue with feeding more at the weekend and supply.

To be honest I don't remember how much I used to pump (it was over 20 years ago), but I'd say well over 100ml in the early days but less than that as time went on.

It wasn't enough for her to drink while I was gone, but she was a lot younger than your son will be so she obviously needed more (though she did have some solids, as the advice in those days was to start introducing solids from about 4 months). I also stocked up the freezer well in advance (if I remember correctly, breast milk can be kept frozen for 3 months) and I used to pump on non-working days too to keep up the stocks.

I think I used to give the childminder about 4 bags of milk a day (I was also out from 8-6) and she also had 3-4 emergency bags in her freezer that she could thaw if needed.

Thanks @Fifthtimelucky - that's really helpful. I think I'll need to combination feed given the amounts he'll need but I'll try and build up a supply of expressed milk between now and then anyway.

If he will be weaned at 8 months, and is also breastfeeding/ has no allergies, you don’t necessarily need to put him on formula milk (which is essentially fortified cows or goats milk). Cows milk by itself should be okay and probably easier too

Mine both just had water/food when away from me- both went to creche around 8months old- my supply adjusted. I'm still feeding 15month old a couple of times a day when he's with me. My first is a terrible eater too but she ate at creche...so I wouldn't worry about that.

DD2 was 6m when I returned to work and carried on bfing morning, evening and occasional at the weekend until 13 months.
I never had much success with expressing, so went to the pre made formula (powder seemed to cause tummy problems), which worked well for nursery.

I would suggest starting 4-6 weeks before you go back to work, depending on how many feeds in the day, dropping one every 1-2 weeks so it's a gradual change for the both of you.

DD1 was also 6m but decided herself at 8m she was interested in carrying on bfing and generally wasn't a big milk drinker so quickly moved onto just food with the odd few oz here and there

With my first I expressed at work and got loads of milk as I was skipping feeds so had no plenty as i obviously wasn't feed in this time.

With both I managed to feed morning,evening and weekends for 2.5 years and even went away for a week a couple of times without issue and returned to feeding. Breastfeeding is surprisingly versatile if you exclusively done it for a awhile.

I combi fed from similar age for same reason as you OP. I did not express during the day. My supply was not affected. I introduced formula (follow on milk) a few weeks before going back to work so I was able to gradually cut down on bf to avoid mastitis. I also used flexitime to work half days to start with. I leaked the first full days at work so used breast pads and massaged a bit to avoid mastitis.

I continued bf until LO was around 14 months iirc, LO weaned themself off with the evening feed last to go.

I went back at 8.5 months to 3 or 4 12 hour shifts a week. I fed him (sleepy feed) at 5.30 before I got up. I put him to nursery with a Tommy tippee sippy cup and 3 little cartons of formula, of which he always drank one, occasionally 1.5. He also ate breakfast, lunch and dinner there and 2 snacks. My husband picked me up from work around 19.30 and I would go home and feed DS to sleep then he would feed twice during the night.

I hand expressed for the first week to stop me leaking through my uniform/for comfort. I was fine until about 5pm and then started to get a little engorged. On the 3 or 4 days a week that I wasnt on duty I fed him completely on demand (I think it was usually about 8 times across 24 hours). My supply completely settled after that first week. We continued to feed that way until 17m when I weaned him.

We didnt do any settling in days at nursery, he had one morning with my MIL which was the first time we had been apart but I didnt gradually introduce formula as such. He never really loved it all that much, really preferred feeding from me when he could.

I went back to work and expressed for a month so my DS was exclusively breastfed. Then dropped that so he had formula during the day and breastfed morning and evening. Can't remember how I was at the point of changeover but my body adjusted ok. Did that for a further 6 months until he was 1.

Thanks so much everyone - I really appreciate it. I know it’s going to come around so quickly so it’s really helpful to hear from those who have been there before!