is this even possible?

[LionsnTigersnBears]

Hi All,

My DD is nearly 6 months old and has been bf'd so far. We're starting to introduce her to solids and as she's off to nursery part time at end of January we're moving her over to formula during the day as I really don't want to have to send expressed milk with her. I'd really like to keep the evening and, god help me I never thought I'd say this, night feeds as BF though if at all possible. How do I do this? Do I have to pump and dump during the day? And if so how often should I do this to maintain a good supply for the evening?

Any advice gratefully received!

[StealthPolarBear]

I'd imagine by 7 months you can just do the morning and evening (yes and night!) feeds as normal with no need to express during the day (except maybe to begin with for discomfort).
DD was 10m when I went back and that's what we've been doing.

[Nagoo]

I just slowly dropped the other feeds and kept the ones I wanted, no expressing. It worked fine for us. Ds weaned himself at 10 months though, didn't seem to need bf anymore. The milk was still there, but I think he didn't like working for it when he could have a bottle.

[Montifer]

I think if you continue to bf on demand when you are together, your body will quickly adapt to change in feeding pattern.

As SPB says may need to express for comfort initially.

Good luck.

[LionsnTigersnBears]

Brilliant news! Thanks everyone, that's just what I wanted to hear :)

[MumNWLondon]

Just wanted to add this didn't work for us - tried to BF morning and evening after EBFing for 6 months when I went back to work.

Like Nagoo said, DS2 lost interest as the milk came from bottles faster, as as he wouldn't work for the BM and so the amounts decreased. As the amounts decreased he lost interest further, eventually refusing to latch on for more than a couple of minutes on each side. We managed around 6 weeks after I went back.

If you really want to do this I'd recommend that you only use newborn teats on bottle so she has to work really hard for the bottle too. Also I gave a bottle at 10pm as I didn't want to feed during the night, perhaps if I had been prepared to do this supply would have lasted longer.

[GiraffesMum]

Also consider using a cup to feed rather than a bottle.

I went back 3 days a week at 8 months and DD2 would take ebm/formula if starving when I wasn't there but normally wasn't interested. She would feed on my days at home until around 10.5 months when she cut down to morning and night feeds with the occasional middle of the night feed. At 15 months we're still at this level of feeds and apart from expressing a bit for comfort in the early days my supply has been fine.

Good luck!

[Montifer]

Good idea about cup instead of bottle.

Doidy cups are particularly recommended as bottle alternative IIRC

[LionsnTigersnBears]

thanks! Just out of complete dopey ignorance on my part, do I need to sterilise a cup the same way that you do bottles?

[GiraffesMum]

It's your call. After 6 months I didn't / wouldn't, just made sure that I put them in the dishwasher/ used hot soapy water to wash them well. I worked on the principal that it was harder for milk residue to hide in an open cup than a bottle with lots of nooks and crannies. But, when asked my HV said I should sterilise. If you search on here there are lots of threads on whether to sterilise or not, you have to do what your comfortable with.

I also 2nd the doidy cup, or a basic tommee tippee style one without the lid ( it has bigger handles which my DD likes).