6mo has 2 ff mon-fri otherwise bf - should I ff at weekend too?

[roundthehouses]

am a bit confused about this. I had to return to work when ds2 was 4mo, he is at home with dh. He had expressed breastmilk until a couple of weeks ago and was still feeding fairly frequently but it got harder and harder to express the amount required and freezer stash ran out so we have moved onto formula for 11am and 3pm feeds. He was suddenly waking a lot in the night so we increased the size of each feed (previously he was only drinking about 3 or 4 ozs per expressed feed) now these 2 are full 7oz formula feeds. Since I am no longer expressing and am not feeding him from 8.30am-5.30pm 5 days a week I am worried my body will not know to make that extra milk to then exclusively breastfeed at the weekend.

This past friday he was very wakeful all night and I thought he might be hungry so yesterday and today we gave him the 2 ff he would normally have in the week with me continuing to bf on demand whenever else (inc through night).

Was this the "right" thing to do? I feel a bit pants about losing these extra feeds with him but want to make sure he is fed!

[Albrecht]

After six months I think your supply will be pretty robust and flexible. I'm not sure your body would know its the weekend, we need more milk, exactly but I think the principle that the more he sucks the more you will make still applies. And the reverse also, so the more formula you give the less milk you will make.

The waking may be teething or developmental related. Or he's figured out you and your breasts are around all night long.

I'd say if you feel pants about losing those feeds, then just breastfeed him. Can you fit in an extra feed somewhere in your weekday?

[roundthehouses]

i work away from home and can´t come home in the middle of the day so I can´t fit in any more feeds. I think what you say should be right which is why I´ve been ebf at weekends until now but now I think about it, it isn´t just the waking (he is teething) but also that during the day when he´d feed (really just the last couple of weekends since we started ff) he´d be really "snacky" i.e. eating very little and very often, often getting a bit crotchety or impatient - or is that my interpretation?

I do have an older ds so its not always convenient to just let ds2 have free reign to graze as he wants, when it is as frequent as that, but then i feel terrible as I bf ds1 to almost 2 years and am worried I am sabotaging myself this time out of.. laziness..? Though it is more geniune concern that he isn´t getting enough..

[organiccarrotcake]

The thing is, your body will know what to do and will adjust, so if you have the time to BF (hard with another DC) and you want to, then donig so will give him the milk he needs.

It's possible that he's wanting you more than the milk, with you having to be away from him for work, and if you can possibly spend that time with him you may find he settles down in a few more weeks.

It's very common for babies whose mums have to leave them to "reverse cycle" - ie feed loads at night as they don't get that me and mum time during the day. Therefore trying to give him this during the day on the weekends may give him this time he wants.

But if it's just not possible, or it's not working for you, your body will continue to supply milk as and when you wish to offer it so don't worry that if you need to compromise that your milk will just stop. Of course introducing formula can reduce your supply but at your baby's age your supply is pretty solid.

So what I'm trying to say is, if you work out the strategy that works for you, go with that rather than worrying about whether you'll have enough milk (because you will). And if the strategy doesn't work, it's ok to try something else :)

[roundthehouses]

thanks for the advice, i did have a feeling I was losing confidence and just need to have a bit more faith! will try to just let him feed as needed this weekend and see how it goes. thanks!