Hi! My son is four mnths old. I plan to join work in Nov by when he'll be a little over 5 months. I have been only breastfeeding until now. In the coming few days I plan to give him formula food for most part of the day. Food apart, i am worried about how we'll be able to cope with the new schedule. Plus i am not v sure if i'll be able to express milk while in office. So wont it become v difficult for me? I might have to work long hours at times; i work in a newspaper organisation. My office is not very accomodating. But its a 'reputed' organisation and i dont want to leave my job right away. Minka replied. Hi ,

I joined work when my baby was 3.5 months ( he's now in the fifth month ). But before I joined , I put him on the feeding schedule which he would follow when I start working . I started this almost 3 weeks before I joined work. I am still breastfeeding him when I am at home and I express milk in the morning - around 125 ml - to be used to dilute his cereal ( he has ragi kanji twice a day ) and to mix with homogenized milk. I manually express milk twice a day in office and throw it away since my office does not have a hygeinic fridge . I feel guilty but trust me , it's better for the baby to have formula/cereal/milk rather than contaminated breast milk. So don't worry about not being able to express milk - you need to do it just to keep your milk supply up. I manage to breastfeed my baby about 5 times a day.

See if your office can allow you to go home on time at least till your baby is 6 months old. After that , anyway, he will be on solids .

Another thing you need to take care apart from food is separation anxiety. Start spending time away from the baby in the daytime starting with 2-3 hrs so that he gets used to not having you around and also you get a chance to see what problems the caregiver is having and how they are coping with your baby.

Best of luck . Do write back when you join work.

Minka