Having managed to breastfeed my first little boy for 18 months (11 of those months while working), I knew I planned to continue breastfeeding my second little boy for a long time after my maternity leave came to an end. However, this little boy made it clear from very early on that he had no intention of ever taking milk from a bottle! Knowing that I would be returning to work at 5.5 months and before the introduction of any solid foods, the prospect of separating my baby from his only source of nutrition for up to 10 hours at a time was really terrifying.
Thankfully, I made the wise decision to attend a seminar on "Returning to Work While Breastfeeding" at La Leche League's annual conference, where I learned that bottles are not the only alternative to the breast, and that breastfed babies can often manage an open cup from as young as 4 months. Hearing a fellow attendee's story of how she successfully returned to work with a bottle-refusing 5 month old (who managed to drink expressed milk from a doidy cup at creche) filled me with relief and hope. We persevered with attempts at bottle-feeding expressed milk for a little while longer, before abandoning our futile efforts in favour of an open cup - and we haven't looked back since! I have a wonderful childminder who cup feeds expressed milk to my son throughout my workday, and I pump once at lunchtime to provide his milk for the next day. I continue to breastfeed on demand when we are together.
Juggling a busy job with 2 young children and being self-employed (with no opportunity for protected breastfeeding breaks) is definitely challenging, but the benefits of continued breastfeeding for both my child and I (coupled with those lovely post-work milky oxytocin snuggles!) are totally worth it.
