Work and breastfeeding 11 month old

[mcmulyn]

Hello Everyone,
I will be going back to work in 6 weeks and am trying to prepare. My son will be 11 months. I will be working 2 days one week and 3 days the next. I will be able to come home for lunch most days. Any suggestions on how to keep him breastfeeding well into his second year and not have to give cows milk. I really hate pumping but will if I have to:) any suggestions would help.

[dogmom327]

I've never been in that position so I'm just speculating here :) If you can come home for lunch, then you basically need to go 4-5 hours without breastfeeding twice each day? So you could feed him in the morning before you leave, at lunch, as soon as you get home, and then at least one more time at bed time. Does he eat during the night? I'm thinking that for an 11 month old who probably derives a decent amount of calories from solid food, two periods of 4-5 hours without breastfeeding shouldn't be a huge problem--he'd still be getting 4 daytime sessions (and possibly some nighttime session) each day. I also hate pumping so I feel your pain! I would recommend pumping some though so on the days you can't get home at lunch, there's milk available for him. Just as a back up.

[mcmulyn]

Thank you,  that is exactly what I was thinking too.  Nurse before work,  at lunch,  after work,  and then as many times as he wants at night.  You are right,  I will have to pump some I guess,  just in case.  You have to be organized to do that:)LOL,  which lately I have not been... Wish I could stay home full time until he is weaned a couple of years down the road:(

[chiromama01]

That's exactly what I do. DS won't even take a bottle anymore, so we just nurse while we are together, and use solids while we aren't... It has really been just fine for us good luck!

[MichelleZB]

I went back to work with similar hours when my son was 10 months old. I did end up giving the babysitter sippy cups with cows' milk or watered down juice because I hated pumping and it didn't seem worth it. I nursed him in the morning, dropped him off at the babysitter's, then he'd eat some solids mid-morning, sip a few sips of cow's milk if he was thirsty (and he usually didn't touch it), then I'd come at lunch, nurse him, and then he'd nap. When he woke up, he'd usually drink about an ounce of sippy cup milk and possibly have some solids. I'd come pick him up after work and he'd nurse at that point. We'd still have hours of evening cluster-feeding and another bedtime snack of solids before he went to sleep for the night, and he still woke up several times in the night to nurse.

Like you, we didn't even do this every day, just 2-3 days a week. Honestly, I don't think you need to worry much about disrupting breastfeeding, although it totally stressed me out for the first few weeks, too! My son still nurses like crazy at 14 months.

[phathui5]

I don't express milk on the days that I work unless I am physically uncomfortable and need to. Like you, it's 2-3 days a week, which means that I have baby with me 4-5 days a week (depending on how busy my week is). Usually, I am able to come home and nurse him at lunch.

I've been having my babysitter or husband feed him solids, give water/juice in a cup. We'll probably start goat's milk soon, since we're getting it from WIC now. 

My other children all nursed 2 1/2 - 4 years, so I am planning to nurse him for a while more, and I don't feel bad for taking my boobs to work with me a couple of days a week.

[JudiAU]

Hum... as a note of caution, my LO self-weaned about two months after I stopped pumping at 18m. Never transitioned to cow's milk or anything. But clearly my supply is really effected when I don't pump. I pumped until then next one was 2.

[mcmulyn]

When you say stopped pumping, do you mean you started pumping when you went back to work??

[MichelleZB]

Originally Posted by JudiAU 

Hum... as a note of caution, my LO self-weaned about two months after I stopped pumping at 18m. Never transitioned to cow's milk or anything. But clearly my supply is really effected when I don't pump. I pumped until then next one was 2.

But maybe that was just a sort of natural decline on the part of your supply that was being bolstered by your toddler's waning demand? Pumping can keep your supply up artificially... not that there's anything wrong with that.

The OP doesn't pump currently and there's nothing wrong with her supply right now, so her problem is not really the same.