Going back to work: How much/How Often?

[Prettyskittle82]

I've been meaning to use the forum, but I always forget to go post my questions during the right times. I hope that I get some helpful feedback. My daughter will be 6 weeks old on Thursday (19th), and that's when I'm going back to work. My father-in-law will be taking care of her and giving her pumped milk. I'd like to know what to tell him on how often to feed her and how much milk I should leave at each feeding. From the time I leave the house to the time I get home, 10 hours will pass. She was born 7 lbs, 8 oz. At her 1 month check-up, she was at 10 lbs, 4oz.



I want to make sure that she is not overfed or given too many bottles if she can wait until I get home to nurse.

[whitnessforhim]

I posted this response on your blog:

I would first look into alternative feeding methods other than a bottle or use a breastfeeding friendly bottle like the BreastFlow bottles. Here's a link with some info on this:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/alternative-feeding.html

Here's a link on how to bottle feed the breastfed baby:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bottle-feeding.html

and lastly here's a link on how much expressed BM baby should have while away from mom:
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html

Best of luck on your way back to work! It takes time to get use to the new routine but I'm sure you two will be fine!

[Prettyskittle82]

Thank you. I breastfed my son for 12 and half months. He is 21 months old now. I don't remember exactly how much he took in, which I know it doesn't matter anyway because every baby is different. I just know that the couple of times that I've left the baby with my mothern-in-law, I have fed the baby right before I've left. I've told her that the baby will probably not need anything to eat while I'm gone because I will only be gone an hour or two, but I leave milk "just in case". And each time, within an hour of me leaving, she had given the baby a bottle. My father-in-law will be the primary care giver, and I think we can work something out that will be about right, but occasionally it will be my mother-in-law who will be taking care of her. I'm afraid that she will overfeed her. She always tries to wake her up, and I think she gets cranky, and my MIL automatically thinks she's hungry. Sometimes I think she does it just so she can have the chance to feed her. I guess I understand, and maybe it will be better once she watches her a whole day and she knows she'll get the chance to feed her. I'm just so anxious and don't want to run into any supply problems, and I don't want my daughter to like the bottle more than my breasts. She's such a good nurser.