My little man is due at the end of january and I start my maternity leave 13 Dec, and i'm due to return to work 19 oct. I plan on exclusively breastfeeding as well as expressing a bit so that DH can feed him too. However, i spoke to my HR manager the other day about a possible transfer when I do return to work and he said that because there is no guarantee I'll be successful in securing a transfer to the store I want he advised to apply for it as early as possible. So he suggested applying in march/april time and he said if a position became available before my mat leave ends i'd still have first refusal. He asked if I'd be prepared to return to work earlier if a suitable position came up. I said I'd have a think about it because my main concern is breastfeeding. If, for example i was asked to return in july/aug time would it still be possible for me to express as much as he needs? Does anybody have any experience of this? I'll only be working part time, 18 hours over three days, so 6 hours a day. Would i be putting to much pressure on myself and even my little man, expecting him to take more expressed milk than before?
I don't want to commit myself to returning to work if it's gonna be detrimental to my baby's feeding. July/aug would be the absolute earliest i would consider returning but he'll still only be 5 months then. Any advice on expressing would be much appreciated. Thank you. xx

Hi, I go back to work part time in January, when my bubba will be 5 months. I'm planning to express and for her to have bottles while I'm at work, then I want to still breastfeed on my days off and during the night etc. At the minute I feel OK about it, since she was 4 weeks, she has had an expressed bottle at bedtime so I know she takes a bottle Ok and I am used to expressing on a daily basis. I have also been stockpiling milk in the freezer for a little while so I have a stash if needed. My main concerns are finding the time at work to express (this is a brand new job so I don't have a pre-baby idea of what my day will be like - iykwim) and the extra kerfuffle of providing milk and bottles, the transportation of the whole kaboddle (steriliser and pump at work and stuff).

So- I'm getting to the point now - I feel that it's do-able at this stage as I;m in a good breastfeding routine at the minute - so I'm sure it could be the dame for you if you wanted to commit tyo return to work at 5 months . Hope this garbles msg helps - lol!! x

Sounds definitely possible to me!

The thing is that you're really dealing with unknowns at this point, so I would try not to worry about it too much just yet. Wait til your LO arrives, see how he feeds, see how you feel about going back to work, see if you really want to go back earlier than you'd planned. When LO arrives in January, get to know him and, by the time March/April comes around, you'll have a much clearer picture of what is best for you and baby.

You may want to express though whether or not you return to work earlier. It keeps for up to 6 months in the freezer and saving some wouldn't do any harm! I express once each day and am stockpiling like sDs mentioned.

While breastfeeding, pumping, and working with a small baby are possible, I think everyone agrees it is "hard". What "hard" means, though, is something that's difficult to explain... in the same way as you know, while pregnant, that it's difficult to explain the complex mixture of physical symptoms, strong emotions, and social changes..... the best explanation I've found of what it means to work pump and parent is found here: http://www.lllgbbooks.co.uk/shopping...nis_daughters/

Blessings, and make good choices for you, your baby, and your family.

Melanie