Tiffany,
I have worked with a lot of mothers who return to work at some point
after they have their baby, hopefully no earlier than 6 weeks.  My
experience has been that if the baby has a chance to establish BF well
(lots of practice at the breast) and bottles aren't introduced for 3-4
weeks, most babies transition back and forth fine.  Moms only need a
couple weeks to pump and get some milk frozen for their first day back to
work (and usually moms think they need enough for 2 days!).  That means
they don't have to start pumping right away.  They can get used to being
a new mom and maybe have some time to enjoy their baby.  Then once
they're working, if they can pump 3 times (ideally) during an 8 hr
workday, they have enough milk to give their caregiver for the next day. 
Since Peter Hartmann & his team's research has been published, I have
changed what I tell moms about how much breastmilk their baby needs while
separated.  Hartmann et al say that once a BF baby is 3-4 weeks old, they
only need about 24 oz of breastmilk/24 hr to gain and grow through the
first 6 months.  I just think it is so amazing how our milk can
reconfigure itself to meet the age of the baby and so the baby doesn't
need more ounces to gain and grow!!  And we certainly can't say that
about "non-human milk" (I want to start using that term instead of
formula also!).  It's formulation doesn't change, so as baby gains and
grows, it needs more ounces of non-human milk to get the nutrition it
needs to do that gaining and growing.  

So I guess my answer to your question is--if baby gets a chance to learn
how to breastfeed well and practice it a while before a bottle is
introduced, baby can do both once a mom is back to work.  And I also
encourage mom to try to only pump when she's at work, when she's home,
baby gets to eat from "the original container".  

Warmly,
Pat Bucknell IBCLC, RLC
private practice 
Avon Lake OH

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