Hello ladies!
I am back to work in 8 days - not counting much!
After EBF for 25 weeks we introduced formula in preparation for me going back to work. After a few battles she now takes her formula well although I still want to maintain the morning and evening feed for as long as I possibly can!
(I did think about trying to express enough and I did try to express at work but it was a disaster and I would rather spend 15/20 mins getting my marking done at lunch time and have an extra 15/20 mins at the end of the day to spend with LO)
I have currently cut out all breast feeds during the day (unless its needed - we timed a journey wrong the other day and she was hungry mid travel so I breast fed her rather than mess around) but am still doing the first thing in the morning and bed time feeds.
Has any one else done this or has any tips to help me maintain this for as long as I can. I LOVE breast feeding her and want to do it as long as I can esp working in school - as much immunity to bugs I can give her as I can!
Thank you x

I would love this info too. I'll be stalking this thread.

Yup I'll be stalking too... any advice would be greatly appreciated, especially those with an older one to take care of too! My elder DS was 2 in Dec. I am due back at work in July which isn't tomorrow I know but have been very anxious about returning, and expressing isn't an option for me.

My LO still won't take a bottle though, I am curious as to what your secret is... how did you do it? My hubby thinks just refusing bf until he is so hungry he takes the bottle is the way to go, but I don't agree with this , too traumatic . But if you did this how did you go about it? Will be keeping an eye on this thread for sure xxx

We had 2 issues - one was the bottle then once we had that sorted she refused formula!
We tried so much stuff for the bottle - a few key ones are:
* OH giving it to her and me keeping out the way!
* We would give it to her when we knew she would be hungry ie getting in from the dog walk - again I would keep right out of the way so she didn't know I was there and OH would give her the bottle and this generally worked the best as it was a natural time for a feed.
* Sometimes I would express a couple of oz and give it straight to OH to feed to her so it was the right temperature from me
* Holding her completely differently - we sit her with her back against our tummy and she's facing out so its a completely different hold so she isn't associating it with breast feeding.

We got there in the end. To be honest I would go out (not far so you can come back quickly if it doesn't work, just a walk round the block or something) so OH can have a go without you. I just couldn't bear her crying and would want to step in and feed her. When I was on a KIT day (I came home to feed her at lunch time so we could have got by without the bottle) OH offered it to her, she screamed so after 5/10 mins of trying he left it and he calmed ehr down and played with her then after 10 mins tried again and she took it. I couldn't have done that and would have had to step in to feed her!

As for the formula what finally worked was giving it to her in a sippy cup - my sister suggested this so LO wouldn't be expecting breast milk which is what she was associating the bottle with. Once she had taken it from the sippy cup which she did first time, we then tried a bottle and that was it! Also used to make her purees with formula to get her used to the taste.

Good luck and lets hope we get some replies soon!! xxx

I returned FT when eldest was 8.5 months and exclusively BF...I maintained morning and eve feeds once bk at work then BF throughout day at weekends. She self weaned about 16/17 months as my milk changed/dried up due to pregnancy.

I expressed once or twice a day for a while at work but then I just didn't get round to it (have very demanding job) and luckily my supply managed to adapt and LO got enough.

I'm back PT with youngest and express once around lunchtime and will do this as long as get the time

Sweetpea you're an angel, that's sound advice. Might give this a go tomorrow! Oooh will get this cracked soon for sure, I'm feeling really confident about it now. If others can do it we can too!! Xxxxxx

Thanks heaps for this! Am hoping to go back part time; just waiting for my employer to come back to me.... but I think the answer is going to be a no . Will be looking for another job if they do, but can't just up and leave with no job to go to. So, it's nice to know even full time some bfing can be done. Yayy!! Xxx

I just do morning and evening feeds and have done for a couple of months now since giving up pumping at work. It has worked ok, although we recently have been through a rough patch where DS would not settle at night without a bottle. I think it was mainly down to teeth and sucking the bottle seemed to help. I just BF him for as long as I could then have him the bottle to settle to sleep. Recently he has started to settle with just breast again so I have stopped the bottle and am back to just BF morning and night with a FF in the afternoon. For ages I BF the afternoon on the days I was hone but now he always has FF for that feed. Hth.