How do you cope with frequent night wakings when you have to go back to work?

[Chocolocolate]

I HAVE to go back to work full-time when my baby is 7 months old.

She is currently 4 months, fed breast-milk via a bottle (seems to be relevant to sleep) and is waking every 1.5 hours. She's never done more than 3 hours.

I currently cope with this by going to bed at the same time that she does (8pm), but will need to be studying at this time when I go back.

I also have to express milk in the middle of the night.

How do people manage? I'm dreading it.

Well you have a few months yet and so by then she may well be going longer periods. I sympathise as my DS was a really frequent waker and I went back to work (grudgingly) when he was 7 weeks old (sole earner, crap employer) :(

It was hard but you get through it and again at 7 months there is every likelyhood that she will improve, particularly as she will probably be taking some/more solids on board also.

How would you feel about mixed feeding if ebf becomes un-manageable?

My DD (15mo) I ebf for a while when working full time (again from 7 weeks old) but at about 4 months old started mixed feeding and found it so much easier. I tried to 'compensate' to her by part bf for longer than the 6 months I fed my DS for - he was ebf all that time but once it came to 6 months I quickly weaned him to formula. For me, I think I put myself under so much pressure to do as much bf as I could that it really was unhelpful and probably took away from some of the pleasures of having a young child. However, I do know that for some it is bf or nothing - if this is the case for you, ignore my bit on mixed feeding .

Good luck

It was rough, I have to be honest. Things that helped me ease back into work were:

• Good childcare.
• DP sharing the night responsibilities / taking turns to get up in the night
• being realistic about your lifestyle for the first 6-12 mths , ie. you will work, you will be a mum, you will not really do anything else.
• Lowering expectations of yourself dramatically. When you come in from wrk, sitting down and cuddling your baby / having a cuppa and a chat with DPabout your day...NOT stressing about housework or what is going to happen tonight or tomorrow!

Good luck. It is do-able. I didnt go back until my firstborn was a year old, but was back at full-time work when my second child was 5 mths old. I found the earlier return to work easier!

Remember your DD will be nearly twice as old when you return to work as she is now.

It's tough! You will hopefully find that your DD can go pretty much through the night by then. I went back to work when my DS was six months old, and can remember sitting crying about two weeks beforehand as I just couldn't see how I could cope with feeding every night from 8pm until nearly 10pm... And then he suddenly started going to bed at 9pm then 8pm and going through. Hurrah.

Mags is right - be realistic about what else you do (hobbies, housework...). Get a cleaner if you can.

It does get easier, I promise!

If your not breastfeeding bu then I would get on the red bull. I just used to buy those cheapy red bulls I love them and they will make you feel great even when you have so little sleep you feel like you might die. I went back to uni when DD was 2 weeks old last time and was working as well soon after that I wouldnt of known what to do if it wasnt for red bull.

Maybe not ideal but keeps you going and I really believe I would of got poor grades and been crap at work without it.

It is tough but in some ways it's easier being at work after a bad night than having to carry on with the childcare. It was for me in an office job anyway, with plenty of coffee and tea. Depends where you work.

Like molly I would have to admit that I did get a good amount of assistance from caffeine.

Haven't had caffeine since before she was born as someone told me that is passes to your baby via breast milk and makes them MORE irratable.

I initially wanted to breast feed for at least two years. As dd won't latch on and I'm therefore exclusively expressing, I'm not sure how long I'm going to manage to do it for.

Have people found that switching from breast milk to formula has helped their babies to sleep better?

I'm worried I'd feel terribly guilty if I stopped.

I would imagine by 7 months you won't be needing to wake in the night to express. You could also consider night weaning at 6 months and just keep a dream feed at 11? I did this around 4 months.

On here for tips too (and I'm on baby no 2!)

But, just as an answer to the bf/ff question. Yes, you will feel guilty. Maybe for a long time, maybe not, but don't let guilt make you do something which makes family life harder. You've done tremendously well already in, what sounds like difficult circs.

Try to look at your situation unemotionally. If a friend was asking you for eg. What would you advise them to do?

It may not make baby go longer between, but it might.

Cheeky bump, for the evening crowd.

I went back to work when my DD1 was 8 months old and still very unsettled at night- not easy! I had weaned her onto solids by then but continued breast feeding in the morning and giving a bottle in the evenings so that helped. I totally agree about not being ambitious socially/with hobbies etc for the first six months or so whilst you all get used to the new 'normal'. Try to enjoy the rest of your mat leave and ask if you can have a staged return to work rather than just starting back Monday at 9am. Good luck :)