Start by giving her one bottle of formula a day. The rest breast milk. Then introduce another bottle of formula. Continue this until you are both comfortable. Good luck with this. Know matter what you feed her she will still be a healthy happy little girl.

Although I wasnt able to BF my daughter (trying all possible solutions that didnt work for me), i had to accept the process of bottle feeding.  This was very hard and made me feel like a failure because, my body would not work in this way.

When going to purchase formula for the first time, i was overwhelmed.  There are no guides on what is the right formula for your baby... we chose Karicare Sensicare, and found out later that this is designed for babies with allergies, and was advised to get our daughter of this one as soon as possible, unless it is known the baby had asthma or related illnessess. 

It was then highly recommended by both the Hospital, GP and Midwives that the S26 Alpha-pro easy digest formula is the closest to breast milk.  It is as thin as breast milk, and since putting my bub on this formula i have had no problems what so ever.

In fact my bub is as healthy as a bf bub, many people comment in the street and cannot believe she is bottle feed.

I think it is fantastic that you can do both...try settling into this new process a week or so before you go back to work.  This way the baby's digestive gets used to the process of both bf and bottle. 

Remember bottle gives dad a chance to bond with bubs and gives you a rest...allowing the time when you do bf much more special

Good luck

I went back to work part-time when my daughter was 6 weeks old - she is now 6.5 months and we are still bf and formula feeding with no problems. I only occaisonly express at work as I don't often have time either (I get paid by the hour, and want to get everything finished before rushing back to pick her and her sister up from daycare ) So lots of advice for you!  GOOD LUCK - don't feel guilty, and if it's all too hard, formula and bottles are fine, because whatever people say about breastmilk - a happy mummy means a happy baby, and if you aren't happy it doesn't matter what you are feeding her!! And get as MUCH sleep as you possibly can.

What I suggest is:

Bf as much as you can at home, even if it means waking her up for a feed at 5 and then feeding again at 8 or something so you can get two feeds in before work. Same when you get home, and if you miss a feed because she's had a bottle or gone to sleep - then take the opportunity to express. On weekends if you can(!) don't use a dummy just pop her on the boob as much as possible.

Hold off from solids until 6 months and always bf first.

Brand of formula is irrelevant (IMHO) - we use Heinz which is the cheapest!

Introduce the bottle asap, but try and get someone else to feed her. My daughter tended to reject the bottle from me as she wanted to bf (fair enough!) It DID take a while for her to get used to feeding from a bottle, but we found if you left her until she was really hungry she tended to fuss less. She is more than fine with bottle or breast now. 

Start with one bottle a day - make sure she is really hungry. If she takes the bottle once per day no probs then I suspect she will be fine at daycare.

We found our daughter transitioned best using the new tomee tipee bottles with the big teat, but now she is fine with the AVENT bottles. It may have nothing to do with the brand of bottle but just her getting used to the idea.  Use the smallest teats, I mean for the youngest baby. IE use a newborn teat and don't increase the size as they get older. This keeps them working for their milk and means they don't mind your Breast as much.

Drink lots and lots of water to keep your milk production up.

I really hope all this helps, I would love to find out how you go. It's really hard returning to work with the tiredness anyway plus all the guilt and all the literature re. breastfeeding and bonding and how bad daycare is supposed to be. I'm a second time mummy so I'm a bit more relaxed about everything, and figure as long as you love your daughter then everything else will work out fine in the end.