Questions re: going back to work

[Gemjar]

I may be being a bit premature and over thinking things, but I will be going back to work in October and DS is booked in to start nursery at the end of September. He is 8 months old now and EBF, when he starts nursery he will be around 10 1/2 months and I am not sure how milk will work while he is there.

At the moment he has an early morning feed at around 6am, then breakfast followed by a little more milk at around 8.30, lunch and milk at about 12, some milk at 4 (he's just finished as I type), some more milk after dinner at about 6.30, then a final feed before he goes to bed at 8.30pm. If he went to nursery now he would need 3 feeds without me, The amount he has will likely have dropped by the time he is due to start in September but it is still likely that I will need to send him with at least 1 if not 2 feeds for them to give him.

So, should I express the night before and refrigerate it or should it be done that morning? Also, how much should I express? And I know this is probably a stupid question, but how many feeds is he likely to need at that age?

Lots of questions I know but any advice is much appreciated as I am really keen to carry on with BFing when I go back to work. Thanks

[RitaMorgan]

I'd guess 2 3oz cups of milk would be sufficient - do they do milk at set snacktimes at nursery? My 11 month old has a cup of milk with morning snack at 9.30am, and another before his afternoon nap.

Will he take milk from a cup/bottle? He might well just wait til he sees you for feeds - 3 a day would be fine at his age.

[Gemjar]

Thanks Rita, we have struggled to get him to drink from a bottle at home, I have managed one or two expressed feeds, but it was an effort! He drinks better from a cup and is improving with that all the time, so I would probably ask nursery to give him milk from a cup.

If you think that he may not need any milk while at nursery that would be great, I suppose as long as they offered him plenty of juice throughout the day he would be fine?

[RitaMorgan]

I doubt they will offer juice, just water - does he not drink water at all?

They usually eat/drink really frequently at nursery - at my ds's it's something like breakfast at 8, snack at 9.30, lunch at 11.45, snack at 2.30, tea at 4.15. And they might have free access to water in between too. If he's eating well I wouldn't worry about milk.

[Gemjar]

Sorry I did mean water, all cold liquids tend to get called juice in our house for some reason. He will drink either water or diluted pure apple juice at home.

[Cosmosis]

Hi Gemjar, I express at work, would that be an option for you? I do it twice a day. When I started back at work DS was 7 m and I was sending in 2 x 4oz for him, I then reduced it to one x 4oz when he was about 9m. He also drinks loads of water.

I think like Rita he would probably be ok without milk at all, I know my ds is, but I send it in becasue I'd rather he had it than not.