EBF mamas returning to work
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Unclear how old your baby is. That makes a big difference to how much milk they need per day. I returned around 10 months, pumped at work until she was 1, and did morning and evening + night breastfeeds. Stopped pumping during the day at 1 and switched her to cows milk but continued breastfeeding morning and evening (and nights until she dropped this around 16 months) until she was about 20 months when I stopped completely. Pumping at work is really disruptive though and I didn’t enjoy it even though my work was well set up for it.
I’ve weaned onto cows milk a few weeks early to help with the transition to nursery and will continue to BF at night (boobs permitting). Baby is nearly 1 so seemed like the most logical thing. Do what’s best for you and your baby and that will be fine! Xx
I continued to breastfeed my first when he started nursery - he had water and solids there then breastfeeds when we were together. I will do the same with my second. Babies adapt surprisingly well to nursery and usually eat and sleep just fine x https://www.facebook.com/share/15nNPbKXWZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Pumped when at work, nursed when at home. Baby refused bottles for awhile but figured it out.
I went back to work at 12 months but continued breastfeeding until 16 months. By that point, I was reducing my feeds as I introduced more liquids and foods and only breastfed in the morning
@Jennifer he just turned 7 months
Thank you ladies, I feel less anxious about the transition now.
(Mine also had complete bottle refusal as a baby, then at nine months when I went out for an appointment, she just took one from my partner. I think, because she had been eating food, she was more open to having different things in her mouth… Nursery are quite skilled at getting them to drink, and you can try different types of cups if they still don’t like the bottle - eg ours also used a tum tum.
I continued to EBF both my boys after returning to work, first took bottles of expressed milk and had a dummy, but my second child doesn’t have either- I’m still EBF him. Both were still exclusive contact nappers and boobed to sleep too. I didn’t have to change that at all, they transitioned fine and settled in different ways at nursery.