Back to work soon and looking for advice

[~*Nicole*~]

I'm nervous about going back to work and continuing to BF. I had begun a bit of pumping even though I found it hard to find the time with two older ones at home and BFing on demand. I had about 9 bags of anywhere from 3 to 6 oz each in the freezer. Then we went on vacation and my mom watched our cat and accidentally left the freezer door ajar. All the milk has been trashed as it defrosted. So now I have two bags in the freezer and I really need to pump and store more soon.

Anyway, that being said, my mom will be watching the baby. I go back to work October 12th which only gives me about two weeks. I can pump at work to keep supplying her with milk, but I don't know how that will go logistically because I don't know what my teaching schedule will be yet. DD2 will be 3.5 months old.

I'm nervous because DD1 started preferring the bottle between 3 and 4 months and began to refuse to BF when I was home. I ended up quitting and I regret that. DS had reflux and MSPI so ended up on prescription formula but prior to that he did go back and forth between breast and bottle really well up until he was about 6 months. I didn't pump though, and he got supplemental formula during the day and BF morning, evening and overnight.

I'd really like to stick to only BF this time around and I feel like I don't have much experience making it happen while juggling work and pumping. I'd really love to make it to at least a year and with my track record that feels like a lofty goal.

How can I make it work?

[Apple001]

Hi Nicole,

I'm a FTM and I was also nervous about leaving my baby because when I was a baby, I refused BF after a bottle.
I made sure to buy a BF-friendly bottle. There are several of them on the market, but I picked a Comotomo bottle because it is so cute and mimics BF including let-down (you can squeeze the bottle)! At least a thought of BF-friendly bottle made my leave a little easier.
I actually was in the same situation as you: my mom was looking over my DD and I'm also teaching - so I couldn't pump whenever my baby was eating. However my teaching schedule allowed me to miss only one feeding session. My DD was BF-ing fine after one bottle a day. 


Kate.

[Katet]

I found with DS1 when I was pumping to store milk that pretty much getting into the habit of a pump at night helped & first thing in the morning (the times he would keep feeding from me) , at the beginning I was pumping air for 5+mins a night, but after a few days I got more & I kind of had a 7pm feed for DS1, then a 8pm pump session (store milk) & then he'd feed later & so my body got into the habit of producing more milk than it needed & I found once I was at work I did pump during the day (I worked 3 days) but I didn't get as much at night because DS1 was feeding longer & so the I had the supply KWIM

[~*Nicole*~]

I'll look into those type of bottles. I have some small Tommy Tippee bottles. She likes them and takes milk great. Even took cold milk before. I like the idea of a bottle that mimics let down so she doesn't get used to immediate milk and remembers she has to wait a minute.

I'm going to try to pump more but she's been eating too close together recently.

[ENMS]

No practical experience with working & pumping, but I give my DD2 a bottle a day and was advised to 'pace the bottle' to make sure she does not prefer it to the breast as I really want to BF. When you pace the bottle you have to hold baby to a sitting position and hold the bottle horizontally. That way the milk flows more slowly. You can see the attached video. I don't do the whole stopping every few minutes though. LC also said to keep the nipple as slow as possible. She advised the Dr Brown's bottles level 1 as one of the best nipples for the BF baby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH4T70OSzGs