Breastfeeding and returning to work

[LillyLeaf]

I'll be going back to work in September when DS is 13 months. I want to continue to breastfeed in the morning and before his bedtime. At the moment he also has an afternoon feed and 1 during the night feed (most nights), so he'll only be missing out on the afternoon feed while at nursery.

Will he still need an afternoon milk feed at nursery? Can I breastfeed the afternoon at weekends? Or will my boobs not have enough supply if I'm not feeding during the week on the afternoon?

When should I start weaning him off his afternoon breastfeed?

At 13 months you might not need to do anything - by that stage, when I was there, we fed, when I wasn't, she was fine. I went back at about 11 months, for the first few weeks I sent in expressed milk but she wasn't bothered so I stopped. Kept up morning and evening till about 18/20 months, dropped morning feed v gradually and painlessly at 2.3.

You may not need to wean off the afternoon feed. Will you be able to express at work if you start to feel uncomfortable in the afternoon?
You will be able to maintain mill supply during evenings and weekends, you might find that little one will feed a little more often in the first few weeks.
My son didn't ask for milk at nursery and was fine with water at that age.

I returned to work when still bf my DC. My first was still feeding a couple of times in the day but was fine with moving to just morning and bedtime when I went to work, and boobs/supply adjusted without any fuss. My second fed less in the day but still at night so was less of an issue. Although was more of an issue sanity-wise! You might find by 13 months they drop the afternoon feed anyway. I found that returning to work was the catalyst for dropping bf altogether (albeit gradually) - DC1 at 14 months and DC2 at 16. But it’s definitely doable.

He will adapt and so will your supply- you don\t need to stop the afternoon feed.
My now 2 year old just breastfeeds like crazy (sometimes) if I am there, but is fine if I am not... Your milk will still be there.

At the beginning you might need to express for comfort, but otherwise you don't unless you want to. I never expressed, my son just has water in my absence.

You might find that when you come home your little one wants a feed straightaway and more often... (although different babies will react differently...)

I went back to work at 13.5 months.
You don’t need to change anything, my DD adjusted fine. We did morning and evening feeds on nursery days, and on demand on non nursery days-your supply will sort itself out at that point.
DD just has water at nursery.

At 12 months I swapped the afternoon feed for a cup of cow's milk and carried on morning and evening for a bit longer.

watch Workin" Moms on Netflix

At that stage I just fed morning and evening. Not during the night. Supply didn’t go away at all. I don’t think they gave him bottles at nursery anymore at that stage.

I went back to work full time when dd was 9 months. I did 4 long days so I was with her 3 days. I pumped once a day until she was 12 months and sent that to nursery with some formula. At 12 months we stopped formula and pumping, and I continued to breastfeed on demand on the days I was with her. My supply adjusted.

At that age you won't need to do anything. I went back to work at 5 months, expressed until about 9 months, carried on BF until 3 and a half, fed morning and night on working days, fed whenever wanted on non working days

I've been back at work 3 months. It's been surprisingly easy. DS has cow's milk at nursery, I feed him as soon as he comes home and in the evening/at night/first thing. Then at weekends I feed during the day as normal.

Funny thing is on Mondays my breasts get huge during the day cos I guess they've adjusted from the weekend and they're wondering where he is! By Thursday/Friday that's stopped happening.

Thanks everyone, this is so reassuring. Sounds like he'll be fine and my boobs will adjust. He's breastfeeding a lot less now anyway so hopefully it will work out OK. Hopefully he'll also drop the night feed when I return to work.