Help! B/feed DS or parents evening??????

[chocolateshoes]

I'm returning to work next week & have a big dilema: The following week I'll have a parents evening. It starts at 5.30 & basically you finish once you've seen all the parents in the class. There is no appointment system so you can sit around waiting for a while, or you can have a huge queue. Usually you get away around 8pm.

The problem is I still b/feed DS 2x a day - morning & bedtime (6.30pm). DP tried giving him a beaker of EBM but he wouldn't have it. In theory I would still be at school when he is due his feed.

The irony is I will only have taught this class once before the parents evening. I'll have notes & results from the maternity cover teacher, but nothing personal to say. So it could be said by phone or e-mail.

Options:
I could start slightly early eg 5.15 & do an hour before driving home to feed DS & suggest anyone needing to see me rings school?
I could drive home, feed, & then drive back (1hr round trip)
I could pull a sickie but think they;ll be suspicious.

Whatever I do I'll have to discuss it with the Head 1st - she is new since I've been on leave & so I don't feel I hve any sort of rapport with her yet ( to make it worse).

Do I have any rights to some flexibility here? Does anyone have any advice?

Sorry for the ramble!

check with your local council - as a bfing mother you have the RIGHT to time to breastfeed.

My local NCT guide says "You have the right to breastfeeding breaks, facilities other than the toilets, and protection from harmful substances. Contact the Health and Safety Executive Infoline 0845 345 0055 or www.hse.gov.uk for more information".

HTH!

That does help Sparkle, thanks!

I'm so worried about what to do. Going back next week is bad enough & I am dreading leaving DS. My heart hurts when I think about it. The thought that I might not be ble to feed him as well makes it even worse...

hope it goes well, choccy...I do sympathise, my DS is rising four and I have never actually WANTED to go to work since I had him, though luckily I've been able to work part-time so I shouldn't grumble.

But it IS hard leaving them...however a little break from eachother can feel quite healthy actually. And hopefully the BFing thing will be fine- I think it's so important to MAKE employers give you this time. Your DS should not have to have his routine forced into change by your employers!!!

Hi chocolateshoes, sorry not got much advice but am sort of in the same position. I'm a teacher and I'm going back at the end of this half term. My DS is 5 months old and will only take a small bottle of EBM from the childminder (we've had a couple of practices - leaving him was horrible, even though it was only 2 half days.) He won't touch formula, so like you I am planning to breastfeed in the morning and evening. I was worried this wouldn't be enough for him (he normally feeds every 2 hours). How old is your child, and does he/she drink anything else to keep their fluids up? (DS is crap at drinking water aswell).
Bloody parents' evenings, like they aren't stressful enough!

Hi! DS is 10 and a half months so only hs 2 feeds now although I give him 5oz of formula with his Ready Brek & he has quite a lot of milky sauces. Like yours, DS was very bad at drinking wter until very recently so don't give up hope!

its ll so difficult isn't it!!

You're right Sparkle - DS routine shouldn't be imposed by my employers

Thanks - strange feeling making sure my own ds comes first after putting a class of everyone else's first for so long! Wish I could wait till DS is 10 months but it's not possible financially.
Good luck with speaking to the new head - funnily enough ours had only been in place for a term before I went off on m leave.

DD was a bit older than this when I had to do a weekend full time induction for a new job. I got very stressed about it (I cried at my interview when they told me [blush}, I even put the induction off once which meant i had 5 weeks with no pay because I couldn't start before I did it. DD was fine though, she missed out on a couple of feeds (she was still having 3 or 4 a day at the time) with no trouble. Obviously I can't speak for your DS, you know him best, but IME you will be more upset and worried about missing/delaying that feed than he will be, as a once off.

If there is any way you can work this out so you don't miss a feed that would be great, but I don't think it will be as bad as you imagine if you do.

Hope things work out.

I worked it out and DD was 11.5 months

I know Feenie it is weird isn't it. I know the 1st kid who steps out of line is going to make me feel so mad - that I'm leaving my boy to work with someone who couldn't care less....

Good luck to you!

Serenity, Thamks. The problem is its his bedtime feed so I don't think he'll sleep if he hasn't had his milk. nd poor DP will have to cope with it all!

I went back 2 days a week when dd was 7 months and I was still feeding her. When I had parents evenings I just told the kids to make early appts as I had to get home. Most were happy to do this. Tbh the parents you want to see don't come and those that do come are for the kids that have no problems. I just used to prepare notes, say what I had to say and finish with- is there anything you want to ask me. 9 out of 10 times they didn't., This kept the appointment brief and you could fly through them.

Thing is if I had problems I used the homework diary and wrote extrensive notes on the kids work so the parents could see throughout the year what was happening

Unfortuntely we don't hve n appointments system but I thought I could say to the class to try to come to me first rather than the other subjects s i have to go. I could also start erly & try to get a few in. i won't have much to say anyway as I'll have only taught them once!!!!

as you cn see DS hs been messing with the 'a' key on my lptop!