back to work part time

[eva026]

I have just realised that I'll be going back to work in 2 weeks aaaaaa!
It's not too much because only 2 days a week for a few hrs BUT I'll not be able to pump during that time. I'm a Bus Eng teacher and I go by taxi to my student's companies to teach and my schedule has no breaks so I can get home as soon as possible. I refuse to pump in the taxi;)
I've filled the freezer with BM (driving DH nuts because nothing else fits now lol) so she will have plenty to eat but do you think it will decrease my supply?

The days I work (tues and thurs) will probably look like this:
WU BF (7-8am) then pumping session
leave house 9.30
10am work-3pm
home 3.30pm

That's at least 7hrs of no feeding or pumping!
I could in theory sneak in a 30min break to pump in a public toilet but I'd have to dump that since I cant take it with. That also means I'm away longer and will hit traffic on the way back so I'm not sure my mom will agree to stay.

The next thing I've started worrying about is DD's love of bottles. At the moment she gets a DF bottle and a bottle top-up before bed because she manages to empty both sides and is still starving at that time. My going to work will up that to 4 bottles on those days and it really makes me nervous. I don't think we'd get through another nursing strike.
The pedi suggested giving her baby rice instead of the BT bottle. I hadn't planned on giving solids till at least 5.5 months but if it will help drop one bottle feed and maybe increase the chances of her continuing to BF then maybe it's worth a try?
She will be 5mo in a week. I guess if she weans it wont be the end of the world because I can keep going another month on the frozen milk and I really didn't expect to get to 3mo of BF, much less 6!

[*Ali*]

I think that if it is only 2 days a week that you are missing a feed then you should be Ok on the supply front.
Maybe on the days you work she won't need the bottles top up at BT since you'll have more milk from missing a feed in the day.
I would be wary about starting solids so young to avoid a bottle personally.
Well done for getting to 5months of BFing. That is great

[Fiver]

At 5m, any solids you give her (rice, cereal, fruits/veg) would contain fewer calories and less fat than breastmilk, so would be overall less nutritious.

[Erin M]

I worked part time when my dd1 was a baby and skipped a Bf without pumping -- didn't seem to bother my supply at all, and like Ali said you might not need the top up on those days as you'll probably have a bit of oversupply.

[eva026]

That puts my mind at ease, thanks!

[barbaraz78]

I went working when DS was 4 mo and had a pumping session there, that DS took the day after. At that time, DS had the df (with formula every other day because I had no much milk for an entire df) and the bottle of bm during the day and sometimes another bottle of bm if I was out and my mum was taking care of him. He never had issues for taking the bottle or the breast, he always took both without problems. My supply was quite fast however, so not much difference as compared with the bottle.

[eva026]

This LO loves her bottles. I think it's because she was formula fed for the first 3 days of her life. She's already been through 1 nipple/flow confusion and nursing strike (she is still on nipple shields from that time) and every time she's gotten that one bottle too many she's gets furious at the breast and I have to take away all bottles for 1-2 days. That's why I'm so worried about her getting so much EBM.
But I guess there is nothing I can do about it, whatever happens, happens.

[eva026]

Today was my first day back. DD was an angel for my mom so phew:)
I had a 4hr break between the last feed and getting home so as soon as I arrived I pumped because DD had gotten a bottle 30min earlier (drank 100ml).
To my dismay I only got 3oz!
If this is all I am producing it's no wonder DD feeds and then starts fussing at the breast, then gets hungry 2h later. I've been interpreting her fussing to mean she is done but now I'm not so sure.
AF came back a few days ago (just finished yesterday) - could it be that?
We've been on an EAESY because she now does 2.5h A and sleeps up to 2h, so she'd never make it that long without the top up before nap time.
I've also noticed a big drop in my BT feed (she now needs another 100ml EBM), then when I pump for the DF I also struggle to get 3oz and have to supplement with my freezer stash (total 150ml).
This started a few weeks back so it can't just be AF, can it?
The only feeds without fussing are the NF and morning feed, the rest of the day she will feed, fuss - I change sides, she feeds, fusses - change back again. This goes on a few times till she gets mad and wont go on again. Judging by the amount I just got from pumping, it looks like she is fussing because she is not getting as much as she wants.
This also would explain why, for the last few weeks, she has had her NF at 3am instead of 5am, like she used to. On the amount she gets from me during the day, she can't last that long.
Am I right in being worried or am I blowing this all out of proportion?
I'm so worried I'm starving her:(

Oatmeal for breakfast every day and 1 cup of lactation tea (will up that to 2 cups) - anything more I can do?

[Fiver]

Pumping is in no way a reliable indicator of how much she's getting directly at the breast.  A baby is much better at getting milk out than a pump.  All the pump does it suck, but the baby "milks" the breast as well.  You could try doing some breast compressions as you're pumping or give hand expressing a try (that more closely mimics the "milking" action.  If you combine that with the pump, you might find you collect more.

AF can certainly have an affect on milk supply.  I usually notice a dip after ovulation up to AF when progesterone levels are higher.

The fussing could simply be that she's now more interested in what's going on around her and is a bit distracted.

[eva026]

The fussing could simply be that she's now more interested in what's going on around her and is a bit distracted.

She does get distracted but I feed her in a darkened, quiet room and the fussing sounds more like the "milk is finished" fussing she does at BT, not the "get me out of here I want to play" fussing, YKWIM?

Anyway, you think it's unlikely that at this point my supply would drop so that she's not getting what she needs?
Her weight gain also hasn't been fabulous - 350g in 6 weeks.

I was thinking of doing a formula feed for the DF and keeping my stash for work days if this is the pumping output I get.

[Fiver]

I would be surprised if it had dropped to such a degree that she is only getting directly from you the amount that you are pumping.

Same suggestions apply as normal - make sure you're eating/drinking to hunger/thirst, try to get a decent amount of sleep (not always easy with a small person!) and take some time somewhere to relax.

WRT the weight gain, has she started moving about recently (crawling etc)?  Increased mobility can be as much a reason for slower weight gain as reduced intake.  It's also not unusual for BF babies to have more peaks and plateaux in their weight gain compared to FF counterparts.

[barbaraz78]

I can share my experience, not being a bf expert: at about 5 mo my bm seemed not to be enough for df, because ds stayed forever at the breast for a session (more than 1 h while sleeping, which made me exahusted at 11 pm in the night!). So I started giving him a bottle of milk, which he finished in minutes, alternating formula and bm. I continued to pump milk at df, and with two sessions I could made the 200 mL that usually ds took at df. For the other bf sessions, I continued to feed him from breast except the one at 11 am, which was pumped bm (because I was back to work). My supply stayed up until I stopped pumping at df and I introduced solids. It dropped after solids at ca. 7 mo, but I guess that it was partly due to my af, which came back, and the fact that I was tired enough to continued with bf.

[eva026]

So far I am just keeping up by the skin of my teeth, that is the morning pumping session (always had it) plus another session at 9.30pm are just about covering the BT top up and the DF.
No idea how it will go as I work more and more though:/
I have a pretty big stash frozen because of my oversupply for the first 4mo so I'm wondering if it's best to keep DD on only BM as along as possible, ie using the stash now, or keep her getting BM as long as possible ie use formula when needed now??

I have been trying really hard to get my supply up for the last month but nothing looks to be working.
Why does pumping output suddenly go down when milk supply is established?

[Fiver]

This explains all you could ever want to know about milk production - http://kellymom.com/pregnancy/bf-prep/milkproduction/

In a nutshell, to start with, milk production is driven by hormones.  The established supply is driven by supply and demand, so the more LO feeds, the more milk you will get.  There's also an element of "storage capacity", but the article explains that better than I ever could.

[*Ali*]

Like Amanda says pumping is no indication of production. At this age a lot of the milk is produced when LO is actually feeding rather than in advance and stored like it was when LO was younger. The pump is much less effective at stimulating production than your baby is hence the big difference in what you can get from a pump and what your baby could be getting.

Personally I would deplete the fre stash now and give formula if you need to at a later date. The Who recommend EBF until 6mo so if you can it may be better to wait until after she turns 6mo and starts solids before giving formula.

The other reason is that the composition of BM changes as LO ages so what you pumped when she was younger will be more appropriate to her now than in the future. Plus she will be on solids and so make take a little less milk in 3 months time and so you may find you don't need to pump so much, especially if you have dropped the DF.

Amanda posted while I was typing but ill leave it in...