Can't decide what to do about daytime feeds at nursery

[clare8allthepies]

Hi, my little girl is 8 1/2 months old and I've been back at work nearly 2 months 3 days a week. She is exclusively breast fed (well apart from solids!) She has 2 bottles of expressed milk each day. I express one in the morning before work and one during my lunch break at work. I am so sick of expressing! I've got a decent pump (a medela swing) and I can get enough for a bottle (5 oz) in about 20 mins but it feels like such a chore, especially in the mornings, expressing then washing sterilising and packing everything up to take to work.

I'm really tempted to swap her 2 daytime bottles for formula but firstly would she take it and secondly if I don't feed (or express) between 6am and about 5pm for 3 days in a row I'm going to have problems feeding her myself for the other 4 days a week aren't I?

Sorry for the long post, any thoughts would be much appreciated
Clare x

Hi

I'm at 10.5 months and stopped expressing just before Christmas. Since 7 months I had DD on one 3oz EBM bottle during the day, but that is 7:30-5:30 so my day is a bit shorter than yours. I have a sizable freezer stash so switched to that a few weeks ago. I work 5 days a week, but have not had a problem with her. She feeds frequently fine from me at the weekend. She still has a few feeds in the night so I don't know if that makes a difference.

If she is hungry though, she'll catch up. So you could try her not having milk and getting filled up with dairy heavy solids, or cut down to one bottle/express.

I went back to work at 4 months and by 10 months, like you I had just had enough. I cut down to one a day expressing at 7 months when she started eating a good amount of oats in the morning.

So, up to you about formula, but rest of the week you should be fine with what ever you go for.

I used formula at nursery 2 days a week at that age and it was always fine. My daughter wasn't a big feeder either but my milk supply kept up and I fed her until she was 16 months old. There is no point, in my book, expressing if you are not enjoying it. There are enough tiresome things in this world! Save your energy for something more fun! Just my opinion of course!

I went back to work when my DS was 9 months old. I breastfed him in the morning, and before bed, and he had formula at lunch time at nursery. I was really worried about my milk supply and really anti-formula, but I just couldn't express at all.
But, the breastfeeding was so well established by then that my milk supply didn't suffer and I am still breastfeeding him once in the morning (he's not interested in an evening feed anymore) and he's now 20 months old.
Well done you for all the expressing, I could never have done that, I just couldn't express (only had a little manual pump, it was rubbish) so he never once had a bottle! He took his formula from a cup with a spout in Nursery. By the time he was 12 months we didn't bother with the formula anymore.
I was also working 3 days a week and the other days he would have his lunch time breastfeed no problem. Hopefully it would be the same for you guys if you decide to do that. Best of luck!