Once breastfeeding is established

Clare Byam-Cook on trying to have a life as well.

It can take at least three weeks to establish your milk supply and start getting your baby into a reasonably acceptable feeding pattern. During this period you’ll probably need to devote most of your time and attention to your baby.

Once your milk supply is well established and you’ve caught up on some sleep, you should find that you can get out and about a bit more and start resuming ‘normal life’. Occasionally, a mother will find that her milk supply decreases when she starts becoming more active. If this happens to you, you’ll need to take life easy for a while and make sure that you’re eating and drinking enough to help your breasts manufacture milk.

How long should I continue to breastfeed?

The short answer is, I don't know. The long answer is that there are so many different opinions on the subject that it’s difficult to give an answer that every expert would agree with.

As a general rule, most health professionals would say that a baby who is breastfed until the time he begins eating solids (at approximately four months) has been given a very good start in life. If there is a strong family history of allergies, try to breastfeed for at least six months to a year. On balance, unless there’s a medical reason involved, I would advise all mothers to breastfeed until they feel they want to stop.

Expressing milk

A mother who has to go back to work while she's still breastfeeding needs to decide whether she wants to:
Express milk that can be given to her baby while she’s at work.
Breastfeed before and after work and give formula the rest of the time
Give up breastfeeding completely.

Some mothers find it very easy to express milk, others find their supply dries up when a breast pump, rather than a baby, empties the breasts. It’s a question of trial and error. With a good breast pump, you may find that you can continue expressing milk for several months. Or, you may feel it’s too time-consuming and decide to call it a day.