2 feeds a day - how long can I go on for?

[walkinginawelshmumwonderland]

I'm back at work now and currently feeding ds morning and tea-time. Will my supply eventually dry up because I'm not feeding him enough? and secondly is there much point to me doing this from a health point of view - is this amount of milk still doing him some good? Thanks in advance.

[AwayInAMunker]

How old is your DS?

[walkinginawelshmumwonderland]

He's 6 months and was exclusively bf until recently - now has solids and formula

[teeavee]

I would say carry on as long as you want - I did morning + evening feeds (+more when he was teething or grizzly) until 9.5 months. Your milk should still be there for him, and it is certainly doing him good

[walkinginawelshmumwonderland]

Did you stop through choice teavee - not because the milk wasn't there?

[DissLocated]

I did exactly the same when i went back to work. As teeavee says, I also did extra when dd wasn't well and couldn't keep formula down. I carried on until she was 13 mo and only stopped because of her waning interest, not my waning milk supply. Infact, i still have a bit of milk 6 months on.

[serenitysaysHoHoHo]

I'm wary about giving my own experience after the other thread

FWIW DD has just decided to self wean and for the last couple of months we've been down to one feed every couple of days (she liked to wake me up in the morning with it! ) Even when we were down to so few feeds I still had milk. In fact I've just had three days of really sore breast where they've finally realised that she's given up. As far as I understand it your body produces milk to match your baby's needs. So you might produce less but whilst you are still stimulating them by feeding you shouldn't 'dry up'

DD is two, and I really doubt that her feeds had any nutritional value at all, but from a bonding mother/daughter early morning POV I think it was still worth doing

[LIZS]

I did this. At 6 months ds had 2 daytime bottles and am/evening b'feeds, bottles were cut out by a year, then at about 13 months he dropped am feed and 17 months the evening. dd had bottles a bit later, with b'feeds am and tea time/evening and stopped altogether at 13 months. As long as you are consistent it should be fine until you and your ds are ready to stop.

[teeavee]

to answer your question, welsh mum, my ds wasn't fussed anymore, and I was keen to stop too by then.
He never had a bottle - went straight to cup. He didn;t like formula milk much, but he likes proper milk - which I started giving him when he was about 11.5 months - and long before then in his food.

[walkinginawelshmumwonderland]

Thanks all. I guess I should just stop worrying about it and trust myself and ds. I had planned to stop completely but hadn't realised how extra special it would feel to do this after I'd gone back to work. He's so happy with his teatime feed that he keeps stopping to smile up at me - soooooo cute.

[teeavee]

much better to go with the flow, for contented mother and baby!

[Laura032004]

We've been doing two feeds a day since June, and all still seems fine!

I bet it's a lovely way to spend time after a hard day at work

I won't give up the evening feed for a while as it means half an hour of watching Corrie or Eastenders with a cup of tea! Whilst DH does the washing up!

[walkinginawelshmumwonderland]

It is a lovely way to spend time - as long as the 3 year old is suitable equipped with a sandwich/yogurt/raw carrot/drink/paper/crayons/book/ and every other need I can possibly anticipate, bless her - she's delightful but needs her mummy too at the end of the day.

[walkinginawelshmumwonderland]

Meant to add that doing it since June is very encouraging though

[Roobietherednosedreindeer]

How much milk would you say a morning and evening feed gives them? I ask because I'm back at work 3 days/week in a couple of weeks and plan to bf am and pm with him having his solids and water during the day with my mum. I know they're meant to have a pint a day so wondering whether this will be enough. I plan to bf more during my days off (just hope my supply adjusts accordingly!).

[Roobietherednosedreindeer]

He'll be 8mo then by the way ....

[teeavee]

I never worried about exact quantities while I breastfed

[walkinginawelshmumwonderland]

Roobie - Lord knows how much they actually get but mine is happy enough with a bf and his morning solids at 7am to go until 1030 or 11. I feed him as soon as I get home from work,then he has his solids and a bit of formula before bed a couple of hours later.
I'm coming round to thinking that the whole bonding thing is the most important at the moment and am not worrying about the actual amount he's getting.
It's definitely made going back to work much less distressing.

[Hattie05]

Yes your milk supply will last - i fed my dd like this until she was 2years.

[Laura032004]

Roobie - I have heard of lots of people doing this successfully. You'll still be feeding f/t 4 days out of 7. Your ds will probably just take more in the evenings that he is away from you

If you're worried about calcium levels, you could give him cheese / milk / yoghurts? (I think cheese / milk in food is OK at that age - correct me if I'm wrong )

[weezb]

I went back part time when dd was just over 8 months old and I feed her 5 times a day on my days off and 3 times the other days. Dropping a feed tomorrow as she's 11 months old now and anbother feed at Xmas so I don't have to carry on expressing at work which is starting to get me down. She'll be a year by then and I'm going to carry on morning and evening for a few months longer. See how it goes. My milk supply has been fine - I was surprised.