I'm resuming work with a 10-month-old and want to keep breastfeeding. How do I manage feeds, and is bottled water or rice water a good idea between feeds?

If you're working from home you can keep breastfeeding around meetings; if you're in office, pumping once or twice stores milk for the next day - and there's no need to fill the baby with rice water or extra plain water, since solids plus milk already cover their needs.

Community Answers from Moms(4)

Here's what moms in our community shared based on their own experience.

1. 1

   Working from home makes it very doable - keep the usual meals and snacks the nanny gives, and pop in to breastfeed every few hours. A separate work room helped me switch in and out.

2. 2

   If you go to office, take 10-15 minutes there to pump once or twice; the next day that expressed milk covers the feeds you miss. My baby has expressed milk twice a day because of his feed-to-sleep association.

3. 3

   You don't need rice water or lots of plain water to stop the baby crying. At 10 months they're on roughly 3 meals plus 1-2 snacks, and sips of water with meals are enough. Keep breastfeeding if you can - formula is a fine substitute only if the schedule truly can't fit nursing.

4. 4

   Prep breakfast and lunch before you start work, come back for snack and dinner, and let the caregiver handle play, bath and solids in between. Aligning the nanny to your feeding preferences upfront avoids random top-ups you don't want.