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Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Infant feeding

Return to work but continue breast feefing?

15 replies

NippyDrips · 18/02/2013 20:55

I am returning to work 4 days a week. Ds will be 9 months. I am hoping to continue breastfeeding fully on the days I am with him and morning/evening on the days I work.
Is this possible, does supply just adjust?
Also he is a bottle refuser, any tips for changing this in the next 8 weeks gratefully received.

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takeaway2 · 18/02/2013 21:02

Entirely possible. And if your child doesn't take to bottle it's not the end of the world. You can move to a sippy cup. I bf both my kids. The first one till he was 2 and second one still feeding and she's 2.5 years old. And I went back to work ft at 6 months.

The supply adjusts (although it might get a bit tight the first week or so - could you get a pump?). Good luck. It's fine!

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scrivette · 18/02/2013 21:04

Will he drink from a sippy cup or proper cup/beaker?

I returned to work when DS was 8 months and expressed twice a day at work, will you be able to express? At first I was getting 12 oz a day but over the next 8 months it dwindled down to just a couple so I stopped expressing. I have been at work a year now and still breastfeed morning and evening.

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rubyslippers · 18/02/2013 21:06

I had a bottle refuser

Returned to work when she 8.5 months and fed her before and after work, plus a dream feed until she was 11 months

Fed her until she was 3 years old

Your LO may feed more when you're around so don't be surprised about that

Good luck

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AndMiffyWentToSleep · 18/02/2013 21:10

Mine was a bottle refuser.
I went back to work three days a week and he wouldn't drink milk or water from a bottle or cup whilst at nursery, apart from the odd sip.
He was fine though! He wanted to feed more when I was around but it worked out ok.
I was quite obsessed with him drinking at nursery though - with hindsight I wish I'd chilled out!

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PoppyWearer · 18/02/2013 21:14

Don't get too stressed by it. My DC1 was a bottle-refuser when I went back to work at 6mo. She continued to refuse bottles until almost 9mo, I just fed her morning and evening.

At 9mo she cracked and started drinking cow juice from bottles and sippy cups.

Getting her to stop taking bottles was a whole other saga...

But seriously, I got very stressed and upset by the bottle-refusing, and it was a complete waste of my energy and blighted my ladt month of maternity leave. Our nursery was very good about it and very helpful. It might be worth talking to your one and check they are used to dealing with it?

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NippyDrips · 18/02/2013 21:38

Thanks for all the replies, they have put my mind at ease (well a little bit). It's good to hear of all of these bottle refusers who survived the day at nursery.

I will be able to express at work but was planning to do so more for comfort reasons and tail it off rather than to supply milk for nursery, I was planning to send cartons of formula to nursery.

I will give them a ring to ask if they have had this problem and how they usually deal with it. We are in an area with a shockingly low breastfeeding rate so not sure if they would have come across it a lot.

Will my milk supply be able to keep up with ds if he wants to feed more on the days I am home or will it have reduced and I will have to give formula?

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takeaway2 · 18/02/2013 21:43

Just wanted to add that both my kids were bottle refusers and the supply did eventually dwindle but I did feed them for 2 years and more. It will come back on the days that you are home. Expressing is more for comfort. If you wish to express for supply then you'll have to start now!!

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PoppyWearer · 18/02/2013 21:45

My supply was fine.

Don't forget that you can also supplement with other dairy foods like yoghurt and cheese, and also cows milk with cereal all helps.

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NippyDrips · 18/02/2013 22:14

I will hopefully just express the minimum needed to stop my boobs exploding. I am the first mother to request breast feeding breaks so will be enough of a curiosity!

I feel much less panicked now, thanks everyone.

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BurnThisDiscoDown · 19/02/2013 09:25

I went back to work when DS was 8 months, he just rearranged his feed times for when I was there, so 1 before bed, 2 during the night, and 1 on waking. He didn't take bottles and I couldn't express, so no milk at all during the day! He was fine though, he was eating quite a lot if solids though so I think that helped. My supply wasn't affected because he still fed like a demon on my days off!

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NippyDrips · 19/02/2013 11:05

Thanks disco, we already have night feeds because he is too easily distracted during the day so I imagine they will just carry on.. good job I love him eh.

Did your son take water from a cup during the day? I will feel better if he is confident in that so I know he's not getting dehydrated.

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Meloncita · 19/02/2013 11:43

You may find DS accepts a bottle at nursery even though he doesn't at home. However I would get him used to drinking water out of a sippy cup at this stage if he doesn't already and he may well take milk from it too.

Personally speaking when my DS started nursery at 9 months, I started off trying to send in expressed milk but as I wasn't able to express at work I found my supply reduced and I ended up switching to mixed feeding, both on nursery days and days at home.

Also if your DS hasn't had formula before, I would try him on it a few weeks before you go back to work to check he likes it. My DD wouldn't touch formula when I went back to work and I was absolutely knackered from all the expressing. I eventually tried her on a different formula which she was ok with and I was able to mix feed then but I wish I had sorted that out before going back to work.

Good luck

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NippyDrips · 19/02/2013 14:42

He used to take formula from a bottle as I used to give him an odd bottle of formula when he was small and my nipples were sore and when we had thrush. We didn't give him one for awhile as we had no need to and ever since he has just refused. He just chews on the teat. Will try him again tho to check he still likes it, I hadn't even.considered that aspect.

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oscarwilde · 20/02/2013 12:15

I returned to work at 7 months and DD1 who had been mix fed from work decided to become a bottle refusenik at that point. As I had to travel long distance for work, continuing to BF in any capacity was not an option. I was stressed out of my mind.
GP and HV were fine with it provided we got enough dairy into her daily meals, yoghurt cheese etc.
She refused milk (all types formula, cows, BM) through every type of bottle and cup going (from anyone who would feed her) in the month before I went back to work. I just had to wean her and she went cold turkey at 7 months. I was 6000 miles away by then . She is very healthy and sturdy child and guzzles her milk now. Brat.

DD2 is going the same way...............

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NippyDrips · 21/02/2013 19:51

I bet that was a stressful time! Glad to hear she is doing well now.

I am going to stop stressing and see how it pans out.

then quit my job in a panic and live in a box cos we can't pay the bills but happily breastfeed my boy