Getting baby ready for my return to work

[Lindsay109]

My little guy is 9.5 months old and I will be returning to work just before his first birthday. I'm fortunate enough to only be returning part time and will just be working afternoons for the first month - so he will be left for about 6 hours/day. After the first month, I will be working afternoons and one full day. He still nurses 6 - 8 times over a 24 hour period but I have noticed in the last couple weeks he is not nursing as often during the day (and his intake of solids has increased).

He won't take a bottle, but will drink a bit of expressed milk from a cup. I'm just wondering what (if anything) I should be doing to get him ready for my return to work. Maybe in a couple months time he won't be nursing as often during the day and it will be a non-issue? Any tips/tricks/thoughts?

 

[noon_child]

My LO would take a bottle - but not at nursery! Milk (whether boob or bottle) were comfort as well as nutrition so when she hadn't yet built a bond with the nursery workers she didn't want to take milk from them.

I had specifically chosen a nursery near where I work, not near where I live, so for those first few weeks I went down and bf her in my lunch break. She quickly increased how much solid food she was eating (had always been good at eating solids) and after a month or so wanted to play when the others were having a bottle, and was happy drinking a cup of milk, so I stopped going down.

Luckily my LO was only feeding 6-7 times in 24hrs at 12 months, so by 14 months it was 4x on a nursery day and 6x on an at home day. We kept first thing in the morning feed, had a good long feed when I picked her up and then a before bed feed (and usually one at night!). On her days at home she wanted more cuddles and bfs.

 

[Lindsay109]

My LO would take a bottle - but not at nursery! Milk (whether boob or bottle) were comfort as well as nutrition so when she hadn't yet built a bond with the nursery workers she didn't want to take milk from them.

I had specifically chosen a nursery near where I work, not near where I live, so for those first few weeks I went down and bf her in my lunch break. She quickly increased how much solid food she was eating (had always been good at eating solids) and after a month or so wanted to play when the others were having a bottle, and was happy drinking a cup of milk, so I stopped going down.

Luckily my LO was only feeding 6-7 times in 24hrs at 12 months, so by 14 months it was 4x on a nursery day and 6x on an at home day. We kept first thing in the morning feed, had a good long feed when I picked her up and then a before bed feed (and usually one at night!). On her days at home she wanted more cuddles and bfs.

Thanks so much for your reply - that's good to know and makes me feel a little better LO is going to stay with my mother in law when I'm at work so there will be some days I could pop in and nurse him at lunch time if necessary. I'm hoping he'll do okay with the half days by the time I'm back at work.

 

[Snufflepop]

Stalking! We are in the exact same situation and it is stressing me out! I go back to work two weeks before DD's first birthday. She currently nurses 6-8 times in 24 hours. I will be away for 8 hours two days a week and then one half day.
What I would like to happen is that I feed her at 7.30am before I leave and then grandparents will do breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and then I will bf her as soon as I get back at 4.15pm. Plus I am trying desperately to get her happy drinking from a cup do she can have water or milk (when she turns 1) in the day.
I only work five mins from where I live so worse case scenario I could pop home on my lunch break and bf her if things were desperate but I would rather avoid that if I can. I am really trying to push the solids so that at least I know she won't be hungry whilst I am away.

Does your LO take a cup/bottle? My dd is very resistant to liquid from anything which isn't a boob! I love BFing but this is one time where it feels harder than ff and it makes returning to work even worse than it is already!

 

[noon_child]

What I would like to happen is that I feed her at 7.30am before I leave and then grandparents will do breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and then I will bf her as soon as I get back at 4.15pm

Plus I am trying desperately to get her happy drinking from a cup do she can have water or milk (when she turns 1) in the day.
I only work five mins from where I live so worse case scenario I could pop home on my lunch break and bf her if things were desperate but I would rather avoid that if I can. I am really trying to push the solids so that at least I know she won't be hungry whilst I am away.

There is such a huge change between 9months and one year in terms of solid food intake I wouldn't worry about trying to push it too hard. The pattern of feeds you suggest sounds very much like what I did. I think we are very lucky to work near enough our LOs to bf them if necessary!

 

[Lindsay109]

Stalking! We are in the exact same situation and it is stressing me out! I go back to work two weeks before DD's first birthday. She currently nurses 6-8 times in 24 hours. I will be away for 8 hours two days a week and then one half day.
What I would like to happen is that I feed her at 7.30am before I leave and then grandparents will do breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and then I will bf her as soon as I get back at 4.15pm. Plus I am trying desperately to get her happy drinking from a cup do she can have water or milk (when she turns 1) in the day.
I only work five mins from where I live so worse case scenario I could pop home on my lunch break and bf her if things were desperate but I would rather avoid that if I can. I am really trying to push the solids so that at least I know she won't be hungry whilst I am away.

Does your LO take a cup/bottle? My dd is very resistant to liquid from anything which isn't a boob! I love BFing but this is one time where it feels harder than ff and it makes returning to work even worse than it is already!

I totally agree, this is the one time I have felt like BF is harder than FF. My LO will take a cup - he can drink from an open cup with help (but he is not very efficient at all) or a straw cup which works much better. We've recently been trying to give him EBM from the straw cup and he will take it - he doesn't drink much ( a few sips here and there), but then again I'm home with him now so he is nursing as well. I'm hoping that when I'm at work, he will drink more as I won't be there. He will not take a bottle, we've tried all different types, with different people, etc. etc and no luck at all. Have you tried a straw cup? My LO won't do a sippy cup because he doesn't get that he has to tip it back to get the liquid out - the straw cup has really been the only thing that has worked for us.

 

[Berri]

Don't panic, it'll work out

I returned to work 2 full days per week from when DS was 3.5mths (up to 3.5 now) and to say I'm not a good expresser would be an understatement (think 25 mins both sides for 80ml). So while there wasn't so much the issue of taking/not taking a bottle there was an issue of their being anything for him!

He would take a bottle from my mum (but only if I wasn't even in the house). He'd only take a few sips at creche and of course he wasn't on solids then. He's a little baby too so I was a bit concerned but with no need.

They make up for it when they can. Now (at 11mths), on days I'm home he feeds 5(ish) times per 24hrs but I notice that he adds in more night feeds on days he's been to creche and then usually Thurs (the day after creche - he's there Tues/Wed) he'll have a couple of extra small day feeds.

He's now 11mths and I send cow's milk to creche - he still doesn't drink a lot of it (or eat much food) but it's not so hard for me tipping out cow's milk as opposed to the liquid gold that was being poured down the sink a few months ago

It was pretty much the same with DS1 but he was an early eater of solids and also ate a lot more than the baby.

 

[Lindsay109]

Thanks Berri! It's great to hear others experiences and that everything worked out well.

Another question - did you pump at the times baby would usually feed when you went back to work?

 

[Snufflepop]

Lindsay we have spent a fortune on so many different cups!! We tried four different sippy cups with/without valves and hard/soft spouts. We tried open cups and we tried straw cups! I thought we were getting somewhere with the straw cup a few days ago but we have gone backwards again. She just turns the cup upside down and chews the bottom or with sippy cups she chews the spout. She hasn't worked out that she needs to suck. Arghhh!! Oh well I have 7 weeks to get it sorted I guess!

 

[Berri]

Thanks Berri! It's great to hear others experiences and that everything worked out well.

Another question - did you pump at the times baby would usually feed when you went back to work?

I did until we had holidays over Christmas. For the last couple of weeks I haven't pumped at all. Supply seems fine for days I'm not working.

Oh, for what it's worth. Both my boys did best with this bottle first (although just water, I give milk in a "baby" bottle. https://nuby.com/en-AU/nuby/cups-spouts/1214/

 

[noon_child]

Thanks Berri! It's great to hear others experiences and that everything worked out well.

Another question - did you pump at the times baby would usually feed when you went back to work?

I did until we had holidays over Christmas. For the last couple of weeks I haven't pumped at all. Supply seems fine for days I'm not working.

Oh, for what it's worth. Both my boys did best with this bottle first (although just water, I give milk in a "baby" bottle. https://nuby.com/en-AU/nuby/cups-spouts/1214/

I worked three days a week (8:30am - 4:30pm) when LO turned 1yr and I never bothered to pump. Lo just had a huge feed when I picked her up, and fed as normal on days we were together. No supply issues. Even when she was sick and suddenly needed to nurse all the time, my body just seemed to adapt really fast to make what she needed. I think if you are bfing 5 days out of 7 then your body will assume those are the normal days and not really reduce your supply.

 

[Marythefairy]

I went back to work when dd was 9 months. Shes now 11 months. I still try and pump at lunchtime but sometimes I don't get chance. She used to have 8-12 oz of expressed milk off her nanna whilst I was away. Now she has 2 or 3 just to settle her for a nap. She has regular little feeds when we're home together and my supply seems fine.