Breastfeeding and returning to work questions - any advice gratefully received!

[abic]

Hello,

I am going back to work part time in four weeks. My DD will be six months. I have a couple of issues and was wondering if there was any advice or suggestions anyone could make!

The first one is that I have been exclusively breastfeeding, and hope to express and continue feeding (though I am open to anything), but my DD refuses to take a bottle. She will take a cup, but as soon as she realises that she isn't getting any of the good stuff and the cup is the main event, she gets very upset!

The other question I have is that I should be able to work five mornings for the first fortnight, rather than three full days (which is what I will be doing eventually). Is this a good idea - to ease us both into it - or would it be better to just bite the bullet?

Thanks in anticipation of good advice!

Abi C

If she is 6m, you may find that she is happy to go without until you get home, and then cluster feeds for a bit (especially if you do the morning thing). She may take a bottle from whoever is looking after her better than she would from you, too. Is there any hope of ducking out of work to feed her?

I went back to work at 6m with both dses, and was able to mix either leaving work for a bit to feed them, or expressing and they took from a sippy cup or bottle or some such. If I was ever not able to get there and for whatever reason they didn't have EBM, they usually just coped fine but made up for it when we got home or the next day.

Thank you, that's pretty reassuring, I just keep panicking she'll starve herself!