To wait until after my holiday to switch DD to formula?

[roamingwest]

Firstly, I'm on the breastfeeding board also but as the general focus there is towards (v appropriately) supporting BFd'ing, I thought I might benefit from a wider breadth of experience on here...

DD is 16 weeks and has been EBF to date. She will take a bottle and tolerates formula but won't take more than a couple of oz in one go. I'm going back to work in 7 weeks (no option, in training post) and have decided to switch to formula as my hours will be long, she'll be in nursery, and I'm petrified of reverse cycling (I need my sleep!).

We're going on hols for a week in 3 weeks. Should I switch over now, and deal with the hassle of bottles abroad, or wait til we get back and switch in the 3 weeks I will have before starting back at work? Do I risk upsetting her (more) if the switch is tricky and she then has to start nursery soon after or even worse during? And then potentially starting solids v soon after that? Or am I over thinking this? (I think I may be ).

[Tryharder]

Definitely wait until you come back from holiday.

I have gone back to work FT (long shifts) with all of mine and have continued to breast feed and all had bottles. Just saying.

[RiotsNotDiets]

just so you know, you don't have to drop the bf completely if you don't want to. You could keep a feed or two and the rest ff to keep all the loveliness of bf with the practicalities of ff as a working mum. Might help DD adjust too, if she still gets bf just less often. When i went back to uni after having DD bf was a great way to re establish the bond after not seeing her all day.

[TarkaTheOtter]

I think dropping a feed a day (as suggested above) is a bit fast. I'd drop one every 3-5 days to avoid mastitis from the engorgement. Also gives babies digestive system a chance to adjust .
Three weeks should be alright though if you wanted to wait til after holiday.

[roamingwest]

Ah thanks for the quick advice! At least 4 more weeks of lovely bf snuggles for me so (yay!) .

[eltsihT]

I went back to work when DS was 4 months old, I kept 2 breast feeds, first one in the morning and last one at night.

It lovely still to have the intimacy of feeding, best of both worlds.

I dropped the feeds quite quickly and adjusted well so think when you get back from holiday should be fine

[WilsonFrickett]

Definitely wait. What a hassle to be coping with bottles and stuff on holiday, plus holidays are unsettling for very little babies and you say she's not keen on bottles - recipe for disaster if you ask me.

::wants snuggles::