Breastfeeding while working

As a newbie I just wondered if anyone could share their experiences about breastfeeding while working - was it possible with expressing etc? How long did you manage to do it? Once the baby is here I don't think I will have the luxury of staying off work much past the 14 weeks maternity leave period, but I would like to breastfeed as long as possible/practical/as long as I am happy doing it - not sure if I am dreaming or not.... I would love to hear your comments and/or advice! Thanks

Like you I had to go back to work after 14 weeks and Like Emma my DD refused bottle (Expressed milk or what ever) at first I went home 3 times on my break to feed her and then when started solids couple of months later I dropped it to One lunch time visit! Lucky as I lived only 2 min drive from work. After DD started Day care at 1, I went there to feed her on my lunch....daycare was like 1 min drive from work.

I wish DD took the bottle then I would just express!!

I'm still breastfeeding my 14 month old and have been back at work since he was about 4-5 months old.

I expressed in the first week or two just enough to slow down my milk production to 2-3 feeds a day. I found expressing a hassle and I wasn't fussed about whether he had formula during the day so made the decision to do it this way. After a month or so he was only having one bottle of formula a day as he'd started on solids.

I fed (and still do) morning, straight after work and just before he goes down for the night with more feeds through the weekend. DP is a SAHD so I used to BF when we had lunch together which we did frequently when I first went back to work.

Hi Stogglebox
I returned to work with my first child after 3 months. She was exclusively fed breastmilk until 6 months. I made sure I had a good supply of frozen milk prior to returning to work - then when I started back I expressed at morning and afternoon tea and went to her at lunchtime to give the lunchtime feed directly from breast. I also expressed late at night to keep my supply up. I sent her to daycare with bottles all ready to go (ensuring I provided more than necessary).

It was HARD - I have to be honest. But I'm glad I did it and will do it again this time around. It's not for some people and that's ok too. It takes a lot of commitment, planning and organisation - not to say I was perfect at all.

Keep an open mind and do what works for you and baby.

Oh and re: babies not wanting to take to a bottle. I used special teats that you can only buy from Plunket that closely match that of a nipple (more so that the ones you get in shops claiming to do the same thing) and my daughter never had a problem switching back and forth.

Hope that helps a little.

Hey there - i managed to make it work, I went back to study full time when Ayja was 11 weeks old. I found what made it work was #1, making sure i had her in a great routine and feeding down-packed by then.   

Another thing to consider while preggy is what type of care you're going to use. I mean if you have a nanny or a nana taking care of bub then chance is that maybe they can bring baby to you in lunch hours etc and in between maybe baby can have expressed milk or such, so that even when you can't be with baby, in essence baby is still BF.

Another thing to think of is whether your work is baby friendly - lots of larger employers have set up rooms etc for working mums as they realise how valuable it is, and it's somewhere that the mums can express and have a fridge to store the milk so that even if they aren't able to be with baby they can keep up the expressing etc in between times. Even if your work isn't set up for that a small talk with your boss about taking a couple of 15 minute breaks every few hours and having somewhere you can go privately to express can be helpful.

I found with Ayja that since the daycare was across the road from where i was studying it wasn't too bad. I would feed her when i dropped her off, then go across at morning break, again at lunch and again in afternoon break if i had a long day. It was about a 20 minute round trip - helped by a great daycare that would have her ready for me at the right times so i just had to sit and feed. (i often felt like a bit of a piker when i left again though and left them to do the winding and to have those nice "milk-drunk" cuddles).   

I also had great lecturers that were fine with me nipping out if the daycare rung me if ayja woke in between times (i had my phone on silent vibrate and they'd ring once and hang up).

So basically try and find a daycare close to your work that is supportive of helping you to maintain breastfeeding for as long as possible, and also that knows how to store and heat breast-milk correctly (ie, not heating in the microwave!).
Or find a childcare option that can bring the baby to you at set times.

Once i went on placements it wasn't as easy as i couldn't always be there with her, and coming home after evening shift, feeding her, then trying to express enough for the next day got very hard to i did switch to formula after a time, and would feed her whenever i was with her, and she'd have bottles of formula at daycare - however she never really took them very well and wouldn't drink much - but by then was also having solids so they'd sneak my milk in with her solids. (there are always stealthy ways to do things

Also a supportive work envrionment, and a supportive partner help heaps too.

Ayja wouldn take the bottle either despite heaps of trying, so they took to giving her it from a cup, which seemed to work.

good luck. It is do-able. It's not a walk in the park, but definately do-able

Edited by mum2paris

Roksana - I was looked after by the Family Centre in Grey Lynn almost 5 years ago now. I will call them in the next day or two to see if they still sell the teats. I hope so because they were good - and I hope to buy more this time around (but they weren't cheap!).

I'll let you know.

Janine just a quick question can breast milk be heated with those electrical bottle warmer thingies? or does it have to be done with putting the milk in warm water??

Thanks everyone for your replies - they've given me lots of food for thought

I started Caleb on a bottle at 4 weeks to get him used to it. He reluctantly took it but at least he took it.

Hi
Sorry to seem negative but it depends entirely on childcare options and woek conditions. If the only childcare you can find that has a space is 20 mins plus from your work and there is nowhere to express privately or store your milk you are probably better of feeding morning and night and formula feeding in the day. Especially if like my son your baby takes at least 40 mins to feed. You will end up exhausted and starving and your milk supply will drop anyway.