You can do it! As PPs have said, you can always pump so your baby gets your milk while you're apart, and then nurse lots in the evenings/through the night/on weekends to keep up your supply and have lots of good bonding time.<br><br>
You might also start thinking now about how flexible you can make your work/school schedule and your childcare arrangements. I'll use myself as an example: I've been back to work three days a week since DS was about five months old. We found a nanny who was willing to watch him nearby and bring him to me for feedings. In the beginning, I nursed him before work, once mid-morning, once mid-afternoon, after work, and then whenever he wanted for the rest of the night. When he was about 11-12 months, it was clear that he didn't need to nurse every time the nanny brought him to me, so we changed the schedule to before work, between noon and 1:00, after work, and then whenever he wanted. Now he's 14 months old and is starting to kind of half-heartedly nurse during the lunch hour session (although some days he just chows down - go figure). I'm not going to change the schedule, though, because I really like seeing him at least once during the day. If he eventually stops nursing at noon, we'll do something else together during that time.<br><br>
I find that nursing is a way to instantly reconnect with DS, and it has the side benefit of keeping me relaxed all day in a job that can be pretty stressful at times. However you choose to do it, rest assured that your nursing relationship can continue to thrive even if you're not together during the work day or school day. You may find, as I have, that your child simply makes up for being apart by nursing more when you're together. Co-sleeping definitely helps with this, and it's for this reason that I have no intention of trying to night-wean DS - I figure as long as he needs to nurse at night, I will let him, because he doesn't have unlimited access all day every day. (Not that I think there is anything wrong with night-weaning - I just don't feel the need to do it myself because DS's nursing doesn't disrupt my sleep that much.)<br><br>
Hope this works out for you. In my experience, it's well worth the effort to preserve your nursing relationship.