[JBaby]

I've been back at work for a month now, so ready to share my experience.


Number of working days per week-
3 being Monday, Wednesday and Friday


Age of baby on return to work-
5.5 months


Baby's diet-
Almost fully Bf, just started baby led weaning with a few bits of sweet potato, teething rusks and broccoli usually once per day, but some days nothing but bf

Any preparation before starting work?
Already had a pretty sizable freezer stash of EBM that hadnt been used because baby hates bottles.
Immediate preparation was trying everything to get her to take a bottle of EBM.


How was baby fed in your absence?
When home she bfd around 11am and 3pm but we found that she would only really take one bottle around midday while I was gone and then would usually feed when I walked in the door. Have just introduced BLW at lunch time as well.

How did you manage your breasts at work?
Have a medela swing pump, which I take in a pretty cooler bag along with one 150ml bottle and one 250ml bottle. I express 7 minutes on each side during my lunch break and I usually get 150ml from the boob I fed in the morning with 200-250ml on the boob baby didnt take much from.

I miss 2 feeds but only express once. I am starting to phase out expressing completely now that my breasts are adjusting. I am going to start expressing for comfort only and will feed baby formula when the freezer stash of EBM is gone.


Any impact on bfing, supply and managing bfing when not at work?
I've always had a slight oversupply and very slow effect (took 8 weeks to stop being completely full when night feeds dropped to one) so I wasnt expecting much of a drop. Though I am very happy that my supply has dropped enough that I shouldnt be forced to express at work if I'm too busy etc.

I havent noticed any supply changes on my days at home, still seem to have plenty.

[Stan the Fan Man]

Hi! I have been back at work now for over 6 months.

Number of working days per week 2.5-3 DAYS

Age of baby on return to work 5.5 MONTHS

Baby's diet SOLIDS INTRODUCED PRIOR TO STARTING WORK (3 MEALS PER DAY) BUT MOSTLY MILK TIL ABOUT 8-9 MONTHS

Any preparation before starting work? HAD TO TRY TO GER HER TO TAKE A BOTTLE. ONE DAY SHE JUST "GOT" IT!

How was baby fed in your absence? BOTTLE FED WITH EBM AND EVENTUALLY FORMULA TOO

How did you manage your breasts at work? INITIALLY EXPRESSED ONCE PER DAY FOR THE FIRST 3-4 MONTHS WITH A MEDELA FREESTYLE PUMP AND STORED EBM IN THE COMMUNAL FRIDGE.

Any impact on bfing, supply and managing bfing when not at work? DEFINITELY FELT MY SUPPLY DROP A LITTLE BUT AS HER SOLIDS INCREASED IT DIDN'T SEEM TO MATTER. ONCE IT GOT TO THE POINT THAT 20 MINS OF EXPRESSING YIELDED LESS THAN 100ML I STOPPED EXPRESSING AT WORK.

Now, at 12 months, I feed morning and evening and sometimes once overnight on the days I am away and on the days I am home I just demand feed, which is probably 1-2 feeds during the day. I went back expecting it to be the end of breastfeeding but we have had great mix feeding success

[~Mintie~]

Oh I've never seen this thread before! I've just gone back to work so here's my story:
Number of working days per week- 3

Age of baby on return to work- 10.5 months

Baby's diet-
Solids 3 times a day, 4-5 breastfeds. Prior to returning to work he was demand fed

Any preparation before starting work? No really though we should have as it took us a bit of time to work out how he liked to drink EBM, and we had a few days of refusal.

How was baby fed in your absence? At first, he refused all EBM, then they worked out he really needs to drink the bottle as if he is breastfeeding, ie with almost the entire teet in his mouth, rather than just sucking on the end. Since they worked it out he's been fine.

How did you manage your breasts at work? I get 2x30 min lactation breaks at work, but fitting these in has been difficult so I've been expressing both sides in 1 30 min session. Luckily most of the time it's enough time to express between 100-150ml each side.

Any impact on bfing, supply and managing bfing when not at work? Not much impact as yet, though it's early days. I have noticed it's much harder to express in the evening now, as I'm so exhausted.

[Bluenomi]

Another one who never saw this! Though I think it was started after I went back to work but at least I can post for others

Number of working days per week 5 full time

Age of baby on return to work 6 months

Baby's diet just breastmilk. She started solids just after starting daycare

Any preparation before starting work? Some expressing and a few failed attempts at the bottle

How was baby fed in your absence? EBM in a bottle which was a total failure. I work in the same building as daycare so went to feed her once a day until she dropped all her daytime feeds at 16 months

How did you manage your breasts at work? I went to feed DD! No expressing at work, I did that at home after work.

Any impact on bfing, supply and managing bfing when not at work? It didn't effect my supply at all and she was a nightmare on solids the whole time so I don't think daycare effected that.

DD took months to accept the bottle and not long after that I gave up expressing since I couldn't keep up (I never had supply issues when she fed but am one of those women who can't express much). I swapped her to formula which she point blank refused so in the end we dropped all bottles at daycare and she just got 1 feed from me and solids, cows milk and water.

A co worked did a similar thing but she didn't bother with bottles at all and would go and feed her son 2 or 3 times a day.

[Rachie22]

I usually pump in the evenings and store the milk to be used throughout the day.

[Felix101]

I've been back at work for nearly 4 months now.

Number of working days per week: 3

Age of baby on return to work: 8 months.

Baby's diet: BLW - solids, 3 meals plus snacks, plus 3-5 breastfeeds a day (including 1 overnight)

Any preparation before starting work: started expressing and freezing milk, tried and tried and tried to get DS to take milk from a bottle, a sippy cup, a normal cup, etc (all to no avail)

How was baby fed in your absence? Solids and water, occasionally taking 10-50ml of EBM from a sippy cup twice a day (more often than not it ended up tipped down the sink tho as he wasn't interested... Sigh)

How did you manage your breasts at work? Up until this week, I expressed once a day, usually after lunch, for about 20min. I've stopped expressing this week (he's toying with cows milk in a sippy cup instead, but he eats loads and drinks plenty of water so I'm not too concerned) and have found my boobs adjusted quickly! Day 1 they were pretty full by end of day, but by the third day they had adjusted completely.

Any impact on bfing, supply and managing bfing when not at work? Not so far, but we'll see how we go now I'm not expressing during the day - I can't imagine it will have any impact tho, as he really doesn't feed much during work hours anymore anyway - usually only once at most.

At the beginning I was so worried as he wouldn't take EBM, but he has been fine all along. In the early days he would reverse cycle and feed more at night to make up for the missed feeds during the day (and eat and drink loads of water at daycare), but now it's just business as usual