Back to work - express or formula?

[Izzie74]

I have to go back to work for a week in July (don't ask!!!) then off again til September when I go back full time. It will be Wednesday ,Thursday, Friday and Monday to Thursday lunchtime. My mum will look after lo on thise days.

She will be five and a half months. Would you put her onto formula in the weeks leading up and just be morning and bedtime; or would you start expressing and freezing now so that there is a supply to give by bottle while I'm not there. I don't particularly want to have to pump while I'm at work. Will my supply dry up if I wind down leading up to that week and then try to only bf after? Is it even possible to do that?

Advice and non judgemental opinions welcome. Thank you

 

[redneckhippy]

So I've been going through a somewhat similar dilema as I will be starting an intestive school program in August and LO will be going to daycare. He will be 6 months old then. I don't know for sure how it will be, but the program is super intense and I don't think I will have much opportunity to pump during the day. I will probably want to eat at lunch break rather than running off to pump. Right now I pump in the evening (don't usually get much because LO feeds all day) and then after his first feeding after his long sleep strech (usually he eats one side and I pump the other). I should wake up at night to pump but so far I haven't. I give him one bottle a day becuase I want to make sure he takes the bottle, but if I have an extra bottle pumped then I put that in the freezer. Ideally I would like to give him expressed milk in daycare, but I'm just going to see what my situation is when it comes to that. If I can save up enough forzen milk to get him through an additional month or two on breastmilk then that will be awesome, but I'm not going to make myself crazy pumping all day to get a stach becuase tbh I hate pumping and I'd rather spend the few months I have with him before starting daycare snuggling my little man than being hooked up to a pump so he can have an extra few weeks before formula. I'm totally a huge fan of breastmilk and feel like it's been amazing for my son, but I think snuggles and hugs and even more important.

So..sorry long story short, I'm like you and not certain on how it will go, but realisitically he's probably going to get some forumla before the one year mark. In my perfect world he would never have formula, but it is what it is.

 

[toffee87]

I've just started back at work this week, my baby is 8.5 months and on solids. I only work 3 days, but I don't want to pump when I'm in work, so far he's had formula when I'm away. He's not feeding as much from me (6.30am, 10am, 2.30pm, 6pm and10.30pm). I've been fine missing the 2 feeds so far. I did 'practice' by giving him formula to see how my boobs coped. I've decided I want to continue bfing when I'm with him, just purely out of convenience x

 

[hayz_baby]

I had to return to work at 6 Months with ds2. Unfortunately I struggled to express and could never get a good supply from expressing. In the end I made the decision to stop bf and ff about a month before returning so I felt confident he would feed fine. I also wanted to have started weaning before returning bit wanted ff to be settled as well so the timing was OK as well