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How do you switch from 100% breast feeding mixed feeding and not lose the milk supply?

My partner is currently breast-feeding our daughter but she will be going back to work soon(our daughter will be 6 months old) - she is keen to continue feeding morning/evening but is not sure how to go about this so she doesn't lose her milk supply - Any suggestions?

Public Response to How do you switch from 100% breast feeding mixed feeding and not lose the milk supply?

  1. Pumping every few hours if she can.
  2. She will need to express milk either manually or using a breast pump. http://www.mothersbliss.co.uk/life/breastwork.asp
  3. She could pump during the day - this will serve 2 purposes: (1) it will keep her supply up, (2) she will have expressed milk for your baby to drink from a bottle/sippy cup.
  4. She could (if she has an understanding boss) express milk during the day which shouldn't affect the milk she's producing.
  5. When I returned to work, I would use my lunch hour and breaks to pump the milk. Was able to keep breastfeeding. You can freeze this milk (if freezer available) but if you do not keep it, at least you are keeping the production going for morning and evening feedings.
  6. To keep up the supply, your partner should slowly decrease the feedings she is giving, and her breasts will adjust. If the supply decreases too much, she could pump after she feeds and possibly during the day at work if that is possible. The pumped milk could be fed to the baby, and she'd definitely keep her supply. Pumping MAY be the only way to keep up the supply, but if she's well-established in breast feeding, she would probably have enough if she just slowly dropped the other feedings.
  7. I did this when my daughter was around 8 months old. After 2 months milk supply was still there. it seemed to adjust to less regular feeding. (leaked for a couple of weeks during day and breasts felt very full). Then I cut out morning feeds and soon night feeds too. Really regret this but more bottles/meals just slipped in. Breast fed my next child until he was 3 and no regrets. Hope your partner keeps it up.
  8. breast milk can be kept for a couple of days in the freezer ... so she always express some days in advance.... and she shudn't worry to much i didn't loose my breast milk for ages .... i breast feed my daughter 100% breast milk til she was 6 months... and i wud only give breast milk at nite b4 bed, and i didn't this she was 1yr.... good luck and all the best :)
  9. it is the law that a workplace must provide a place for expressing (not toilet) and somewhere to store it in a refrigerator.
  10. I've had three babies, believe me it takes at least 2 weeks of complete non feeding for milk to dry up completely, your body makes enough milk for how much you choose to feed, if she chooses to feed twice a day this is the amount of milk the body will produce. When she starts work though it will take 2 or 3 days for the body to adjust to this pattern, so she will find her breats getting full round about normal feeding times, she can express a little off at work to make it more comfortable or bare it for a couple of days until her body adjusts. Hope it goes well x
  11. yeah i b/f my son till 5mons all you need to do now is drop one feed every 2 days form the time that uwont be there dont express even if u feel really full. and sub with a formula feed i'd suggest startin with around 6 oz c how it goes till u get to ur mornin and nite time feeds as long as u feed her at the( around) same time every mornin and nite time ur milk will know to kick for them times i no coz i got down to first in mornin feed and last thing at night feed did this for a few weeks then i dropped the nite feed so just the one in morning did this for a few weeks and then stopped. Dont feel bad if your baby starts to favour the bottle rather than u. babys are very clever and they work out that it is easyer to feed off a bottle (no as much hard work) than breast and you've given your little girl the best start that u can. the baby milk i went on to is milupa aptamil my son really took to this.if ur worried about weather or not she will take to it why not try givin her 2 ozs now and again get her used to it. but think about it this way if ur milk was to dry up to morrow which it cud u wod still have to feed her and it wod have to be formula. good luck hope this helps email me if u need to ask any questions
  12. Pump. Good luck.