peoples experience of working and maintaining extended bf

Ok so I know that 11 months is not extended bfing but I want to continue feeding for another 12 months or more and I would like to pick up a few shifts to help the bank balance and just for something to do to get out of the house occassionally.

I am worried about doing this as my DD still feeds 8-10 times a day. She really loves her boobs!! I work in a busy Emrgency department and I know they say they support bfing but reality is that as a senior RN I won't always have time twice a shift to go and express. When the corridors are filled with desperate sick ppl you just can't walk away can you.

So I wonder about other ppl's experience of missing feeds for their babies and then things going back to normal if they try to reinstate them.

I don't want to risk our bfeeding experience to go back to work a bit, but I wonder if I am being to precious and it isn't as big an issue as I think it would be.

Thanks for your thoughts

Bella

From my experience I went back to work when DS was 11 mnths but it was only 3 days a week, 8am to 6pm (so in reality with travelling it would be 7.30am to 6.30pm) before going back to work I went to Trisillen cause he wasn't sleeping and at the same time I cut the day feeds from 8 - 10 to 3. 1 after breakfast, 1 after lunch and 1 just before bed.
While at work I was given the option to express but the reality was that it wasn't really workable. He fed ok when I was home with him and I tried to squeeze in a feed before work and he would want a feed as soon as I got home. I also found that when I was at home DS would feed more then we cut it back to but was ok with normal cow's milk when I wasn't there.
Due to DP's business taking off I did finish work after 4 mnths. I am still feeding and I don't really know if that would be different if I had continued to work.
I would suggest that even if you don't express twice a day that you do it at least once a day, would that be an option?

Another nurse with an 11 month old bubba who also loves his boobies too. I've been back at work for two weeks now and I know exactly what you mean about not being able to stop work to express. We are entitled to lactation breaks but it is finding the time to do it. I'm expressing twice on an evening shift (afternoon tea and dinner time or inbetween afternoon/dinner and just before home) and once on a morning shift and feeding him as soon as I pick him up. I am very lucky and work on a maternity ward so I have pumps available and the girls I work with are really understanding but I feel like I am not carrying my weight so I am using half my breaks and half work time to express. It seems to be working ok but to be honest I am really struggling to keep up and I don't think I am going to last long as I just don't express much unfortunately. I'm hoping I can make it another two weeks and then I am going to start using cows milk too.
Best of luck and I hope someone can hop on and give us both some helpful tips.

how many shifts per week will you be doing?

i would suggest either ringing the ABA helpline, or lodging an email question on teh ABA website, to ask about this.

With what you say, and not knowing HOW MANY shifts a week this would entail (and how long each shift is), i would expect your bf-ing r'ship to change. Babies adjust, according to what is on offer. If X days a week, they cannot access you when they want to feed, i would expect demand to fall.

breastfeeding a young bub, with 8 - 10 feeds a day, doesn't sound like that would go well, with work like yours. Working in a fast paced environment too, your own adrenalin would be up, not like when you're relaxed at home, ready to feed your baby. The nurses i have talked to, seem to have lunch on the run, bolting down food and not having much of a break really. Doesn't sound conducive to breastfeeding to me, but it's only theoretical to me.

babies stimulate your milk ducts, to make more milk. so if a baby is NOT suckling for the length of your shift plus travel time, that's stimulation your milk ducts are not getting. I guess everyone has diff experiences of expressing, but for me, it was a pretty slow process - and i never had the situation, of having to express against the clock.

sounds like too much pressure to me, but i'm not in your shoes. Jobs like nursing, seems to be hard to find short hour shifts, it seems to be very long hours or nothing.

i really liked, at the age your child is now, at teh learning to walk stage, when they fall over alot and hurt themselves, being able to soothe the "ouch" with a comfort feed, instead of baby panadol etc. at the age, when a breastfeed seems to cure all ills just about.

I went back to work 1 day a week when DS1 was 11 months old and he was having anything from 2 - 6 BF in a day. If i was on and early I would feed him when i got home if on a late feed him in morning and just before I left for work. I didn't even try to express as 1 no time and 2 I had never been 1 to express and get much.

It didn't effect my supply at all. We are now tandem feeding

Good luck

Thanks guys that was really helpful to hear your experiences. I would probably only be doing one or at max two shifts a week. I would just pick up the ones I felt like I think. It is hard cos DH works on shifts too and he is studying fulltime and so child care will be hard but I am just nosing it all over IYKWIM.

I think the pace of where I work is very fast and my responsibilities are stressful. Like you Liviam I think that whilst we r entitled to expressing breaks my collueages will not be terribly impressed. It would mean going up several flights to the SCBU, and then trying to relax enough to express. I think i could do it but I worry about trying to do it on busy shifts. Kelebek, I think I could do it at least once a shift... it is probably more realistic.... I might just have to combine it with a meal so I don't feel to guilty.

I am glad to hear Feeb that it didn't effect your supply.... maybe there is hope as I would only do it randomly.

Gigi I think I am a lot like you and I just want to be there for my baby..... but I kinda also want to go and do something I am really good at too... not that i'm not a good mum but I love the adrenalin of the job..... a bit torn really

Bella

Bella, when i'm home, E actively feeds all day - she snacks off and on and has big feeds before every nap. i have gone back to work about 5 weeks back, and yes, our BF relationship has changed, but it hasn't been hurt by it at all. i started out expressing once a day (8 hour shift half hour travel each way) but felt like i was neglecting both of us to do it (was expressing on my break and getting such a small amount it was pointless. so i have stopped expressing at work. i feed her immediately before i leave, and usually as soon as i get home. she may have one feed while i'm gone (i still try to express even though it feels pointless lol) - today she didn't want any - had water and snuggles with daddy and was happy. she had a big feed when i got home. to be honest, i'm actually preferring the way our relationship has changed - she is now having proper long feeds rather than snacky feeds, s when she is feeding i'm enjoying that time with her again kwim?

i have only been doing one day at a time - if i work the day in between, i only do a half day as i don't want it to impact our BF relationship at all. i think if you were to do one or two shifts (i'm assuming 8 hour shifts) i don't think it would have much impact. as i was told before i went back to work, E feeds as often as she does simply becauase i'm there and it's available. if its not there, she is fine!

If you go back to work you will need to express for your comfort. Your bub will probably be happy with food and water and cuddles when you're not there - i know mine (who was a similar boobaholic) was, and she will have a feeding frenzy when you get home.

So, to express when you don't need to actually keep the milk is very quick if you have your own double pump - whenever there's a couple of minutes just grab the bits and "deflate" yourself - either in the loo, or if there is a staff room, or wherever.

I went back to work full time when my ds was 10 months old, and I am still feeding him now that he's over 2 - the biggest problem was that he relocated the "missed" feeds to the middle of the night........

My DD was a bit older (15 months) when I went back to work 3 days a week and we have no problems... I have even gone away for two or three days without expressing (except by hand when I was in agony and looking like Pamela Anderson) and we have had no issues at all when I got back.

I went back to work 12 hours nights when DD was 8 months old. Although I'm not nursing anymore it was with the cops, so very similar and all men.
I expressed once a shift and often once during the day at home if I could fit it in, just so that I knew there was enough. We fed until she was 15 and a bit months so 7months after I went back.
Initially I felt bad taking timeout to express (especially when we were the only truck on and had to respond to the jobs as they came), but my collegues were way more supportive than I could have imagined - no-one had ever asked them to support such a thing before and they were all more than happy to help me do what I needed. You might be surprised.

I went back when DD was 4 months old, she was fed until 27 months. from about 8/9 months she would only get what i could express which wasnt much and everything else was solids and water until i could get home in a break or until i had finished. She got used to only feeding when i was there otherwise she would have what ever the Nanny had to give her. my shifts ranged from 6 to 10 hours..

Hi sweets. I don't think P is as much of a boob-fiend as J but we have only had a couple of minor hiccups since I started back at work 4 months ago. When I am at home she will have 6ish feeds in 24 hours but when I go to work there are only 3-4 feeds in that time and I don't express. I work 3 days/week and they're 8 hours plus say an hour travel time in total. She feeds before I go and when I get home. I don't have any troubles with supply, although some nights I do give her a bottle top-up even though she probably doesn't need it. She still feeds at least once a night but I actually find it kind of pleasant! (As long as it's not several times a night - I get impatient on those nights!)
Anyhoo, that's our experience. Overall it hasn't really impacted on us much.

Thanks for everyone sharing their experiences... It reassures me to think that it won't disrupt us too much if I have to go to work. It is such a big decision really and I just don't want to lose this precious time with her.

Love to you all

Bella

I went back to work outside of home from when my DD was 8 mths old. It was only twice a week and only for 4-5 hours of being away from her at a time. But I found I'd fit in an extra feed as soon as I dropped her off to my gf and as soon as a I got back. She never needed an EBM bottle, even once when I was stuck in traffic and an hour late. From about 13/14 mths I was leaving her for a day (at least 8 hrs) a week and didn't need to express. She just made up for it when I was around.

It is a massive decision, B. And you are right to consider everything. I am constantly in two minds about work - sometimes I HATE that I have to go, sometimes I get really depressed that I'm not there for the girls as much as I want to be. But I always look forward to going to work - I find it stimulating and enjoyable. The money really helps too obviously, LOL!
I hope you come to a peaceful decision. xx

Bella, how is it working out? Is expressing at work turning out ok? Or do you not need to do it?

i just re-read this thread again, i don't think i totally understood that you were only talking about ONE shift per week before. So sorry for my post, in which i assumed you meant many more shifts per week (than just one).

Hope it's all going well for you and your bub.

I went back to work when my first was 7 months old. I basically stopped breastfeeding to go back to work, and dropped to a feed at night for the next two months. I'd lost so much weight by that point breastfeeding was a bad idea for me anyway.

Aw Gigi don't feel bad. I don't think your post was at all inappropriate. TBH I havn't gone back to work.... I fuss around the idea, think about how the extra money will help out and then just don't do it. I just can't bear to leave my baby if I don't have to. I want to be the one to center her world and be the stead fact that makes everything else able to be coped with. She is the most well adjusted easy going baby and I want her to stay that way. I don't know that she wouldn't be if I wasn't there but I want to give us time together if we can at all be. I have always thought that I would stay at home with my babies till they were old enough to go to school and I don't know if I will stay that long but I do want to stay home as long as possible so I just keep putting going back off... But I do feel much more reassured by everything I read here because I can see how you have all coped and since I want extended bfing to be our norm I will probably still be feeding if I do go back to work in the next 12 months

Thanks for all the support ladies

Bella