Returning to work and education | Breastfeeding South Yorkshire

Breastfeeding exclusively is recommended for around the first six months: this means giving your baby no other food or drink.

After that time, breastfeeding is recommended alongside solid food.

Useful information if you are considering returning to work or education

If you are considering returning to work or education you may want to:

contact your local Infant Feeding team for support and information
consider your baby’s age when planning to breastfeed and returning to work/study – your baby may be eating solid food during the day
think about it early; before you go back to work, you must write to your employer/tutor to let them know that you’re breastfeeding – they should have a breastfeeding policy in place to support you and must then conduct a specific risk assessment of your workplace
ask your employer or college for flexible working hours that are arranged around your breastfeeding needs
express breast milk so that someone else can feed your baby while you’re at work
arrange for childcare close to work or education setting so that you can breastfeed during breaks, or before and after work – the evening feed can be a wonderful way for you to relax with your baby after work or education
have a trial run with childcare before returning to work, discuss things with your childminder such as providing them with labelled and dated expressed breast milk

Visit your local area page for details of support available to you locally.

You can also call the National Breastfeeding Helpline on 0300 100 0212.