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nursing and about to go to work
Hello,
I will be going back to work in 4 weeks and my daughter will be 10 weeks. I enjoy breastfeeing and the time that it allows us to bond and I'm nervous about introducing the bottle and not being able to get her to nurse again.
1. Is it still possible to breastfeed in the evening, weekends, and if she wakes up in the middle of the night with no problem?
2. Are there suggestions for making this an easy process?
3. What types of bottles are the best?
Thanks for any help
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kate on -
Some places (such as California) have laws allowing you to have time to use a breast pump during the work day. If nothing else, use one at lunchtime. I have heard that going all day without nursing will seriously hurt or even eliminate your milk supply. I have been pumping at work for the last 4 1/2 months and when I'm home Evenings & weekends I always make enough milk.
I recommend using an electric pump if possible, it gets a lot more milk a lot faster. I use the Lansinoh pump, it's the cheapest and my girlfriends at work tell me they can't hear it. It sounded loud to me, but it was quieter than the fans in the bathroom. (For me it's a matter of 5 oz in 4 minutes vs. 2 oz in 20 min with my Medela hand pump.)
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Permalink Reply by EastTexasMommy on -
I believe it is a federal law that they must provide a time and place to pump. I would say keep a blanket and picture of baby with your pump. It's good to pump or feed at the same times to keep milk production up. (pic helps with let down) If it does start to go down look in the breast feeding group and there are several post on increasing milk supply. (fods and herbs).
I used a bottle from burlington/baby depo. It has a two part nipple. Hard plastic center and soft norm like outter. The milk goes through the chamber very similar to breast feeding. I have known several moms to use that one. The inserts are blue. I'm sorry I forget the name.
Electric pumps are the best to me also. There are some tops that you can slide on to use a double pump, hands free. Wit the new 'health plans' that just passes into law, your insurance company Must provide a certain amount toward a pump. Check with your carrier.
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Permalink Reply by NewbieMom2010 on -
Some babies are pretty flexible about breastfeeding and using the bottle. My son did both for a bit. He wasn't picky, just wanted to eat! I was told to introduce the bottle fairly early just to get him used to it in case I had issues. Luckily he didn't mind. I would get some bottles and try sooner rather than later.
I used Dr. Brown's bottles...they are awful, expensive, they leak, and they have way too many parts. I heard that Tommy Tippee are good ones...the only negative I heard is that they don't fit in those small, tall side pockets of the diaper bags. I wouldn't care about that.
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Permalink Reply by jadeg4 on
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I would definitely recommend pumping if you go back to work. I went back to work when my daughter was almost 4 months old. My office accommodated me well (I also live in CA) by letting me use and lock a conference room multiple times a day. Then I breastfed full time on my days off. I feel like I had to pump a million times a day because my body just did not let down well with the pump. Surprisingly, for most of the time, I was able to get more out in less time per breast with a manual pump, as tiring as it was. So I alternated between my Ameda electric and the manual one it came with. I pumped for a total of 5 months at work until she started taking more solids and less breastmilk because morning/lunch/evening nursings became enough (I was lucky my parents watched her and brought her to me at lunch every day). My body adjusted well because nursings remained the same on my days off. If you don't pump all day, I'm sure you'll experience discomfort or pain, and it will undoubtedly impact your supply to some extent.
I introduced the bottle before I went back to work, and the transition seemed ok until I actually went to work. It was stressful to me because the first couple of days she was not taking her bottle well and just cried. Within about a week, she became more open to it again and then became a pro. The type of bottle really just depends on your baby's preference. I looked for wide-mouth nipples to resemble the breast. She didn't seem to like the Early Years bottle I tried first (recommended by my hospital) so then I tried Avent and she took to that one better. She went back and forth fine between bottle and breast and at no point showed any preference for bottle over breast. Good luck!
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