Feeding an 11 month old , experiences please?

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

I'll be back at work when dd is 11 and a half months, she's 6 months at the moment so I know it's a while away but I'm getting a bit anxious.

She will be in nursery three or four days a week from 8.30 till 5.30.

By that age could your baby go without a bf for that long?
If they have always fed to sleep, how did they get on without you at nursery?
Also, did you find yourself getting very uncomfortable by the end of the day?

I was to bf for as long as dd wants so I'm worried going back to work will interfere with that.

[Writemove]

I work full time and still feed my 18 month old. I went back at 10.5 months. You can do it!

He still likes to be fed before naps at weekends but at nursery he sleeps without it. They find their own ways.
I even missed three bed times in total and he's settled fine with daddy and cow's milk.

They're smart, your milk supply is smart and things do work out. I wish I hadn't worried about it so much.

Hope that helps

The first few days at work I felt hot and full but my supply settled down.

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

Thank you that's reassuring. Ds was bottle fed, and I can't even remember how many bottles he was having at that age!

[CultureSucksDownWords]

I did very similar (back to work when DS was 11 months, for 3 days a week). He managed fine, having only ever fed to sleep - he had 2 naps on his first full day at nursery, I was amazed. He also managed just fine on food and water, I breastfed him in the morning, on returning home, and again before bed. On non-nursery days he fed a couple more times and that worked out fine. We carried on feeding for many months after that when he then self weaned.

[Littlef00t]

By 11 mo dd dropped her afternoon feed and was happy with a snack, and bf morning and night. She'd not needed feeding to sleep for naps but they become much more independent at that age, I'm sure it'll be fine.

[AnythingNotEverything]

DD was feeding morning and evening at that age, possibly not every evening.

She'll be absolutely fine. Some babies have a period of reverse cycling where they feed a lot in the night to make up for missed feeds in the day but we didn't have any issue with that - maybe swapping the afternoon feed for a milky cheesy snack helped.

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

Thank you for the reassurance. Dd still feeds every couple of hours at the moment so it's hard to imagine her dropping feeds, she still seems so little, I've forgotten how big a 12 month old is!

[Mrscog]

Yep, DS was 12 months when I went back full time and he just dropped his lunchtime milk for water and we fed first thing in the morning and when we got back from nursery. Was no problem, and I carried on until 21 months in total.

[rcast79]

I was in the same boat. I went back to work three days a week when DD was 11 months old. I really worried about all of it, as she would nurse to sleep and never took to a bottle. The Nursery were really good with her and she slept there and just drank water at first. She is 17 months old now and eats everything at nursery and drinks milk and water from a cup. She sleeps for about half an hour less than at home but sleeps well. I feed her in the morning and at bedtime. At weekends and when she is with me She still likes a feed before the lunchtime nap. It has worked well. The first week or two back at work I was a little uncomfortable so I took a hand pump with me to ease the discomfort a bit but it settled itself very quickly. Good luck :)