Will DS need milk during the day when I go back to work?

[oxfordcomma]

DS is currently 8 months, and will be 11 months when I go back to work full-time in August. He is BF, and has 4 BFs / day at ~6am, 10am, 2pm, and 6:30pm.

When I go back to work, DS will go to a childminder during the day, and I will BF at ~6am and 6:30pm. A health professional recently suggested that this would provide enough milk for him at this age. But my understanding is that he will still need 500-600ml milk / day at this age, and that he is unlikely to get this from only 2 BFs.

DS has never really drank milk from a bottle (we tried expressing etc briefly), so any milk that he has during the day will have to be from a cup. He's slowly getting the hang of drinking water from a free-flow cup.

So, I think that my options are to:

1. Give DS formula at 10am and 2pm.

I'm leaning towards doing this.

1. Give DS expressed milk at 10am and 2pm.

I'm not keen to express etc at work.

1. Give DS cows milk at 10am and 2pm.

I don't want to do this, as it goes against the current guidelines.

1. Give DS no milk during the day.

I don't think that I could do this, as I think he will still need milk during the day at this age.

Any advice / suggestions / personal experiences?

If he's 11 months, I'd go for organic cow's milk, frankly. He's only a few weeks short of a year.

motherinferior - thanks for your reply. You're right, he will be close to 1 year old, hmm.

In hindsight, I wonder whether the health professional meant to give him cow's milk during the day (she said 'Oh, that's good - you won't need to give him formula.'.)

Formula fed babies need 500-600ml between 6-12 months, but breastfed babies probably take less than that anyway.

From 12 months though babies only need 350ml a day, and this can be cow's milk or in the form of cheese, yoghurt, milk in food etc.

I think 2 breastfeeds a day, dairy in food, and possibly a beaker of cow's milk in the day will be more than enough.

Thanks for the useful info RitaMorgan.

So, hopefully DS will drop one of his BFs during the day before I go back to work, then the other one could be replaced by a cup of cow's milk. Hurray, I have a plan!

I went back to work when DS was six months, and used to express milk for the nursery to give him. By the time he was eleven months, I was completely sick and tired of expressing. The health visitor said that by that point it was fine to give him whole cow's milk for his daytime feed. He was still getting morning and night breastfeeds from me.

I went back when DS was 11 months and he has always refused bottles. So I decided to breastfeed first thing in the morning and as soon as I got home from work. During the day nursery have attempted to give him cows milk but he refuses it, he will eat cheese and yoghurts and he drinks plenty of water.

Thanks for the replies Rhian82 and Guacamole.

All very useful in helping me to believe that DS will be fine if he has cow's milk during the day ...

I came onto mumsnet today to basically post the same question as you... except my girlie is currently 9.5 months and I'll be back to work when she's 12 months. I EBF her at pretty much the same times as you too.

I have decided to give up breast feeding before returning to work & am happy that by this time she'll be on cows milk.

My query is how to I get from 4-5 EBF to just cows milk over the next couple of months? Do I try her on a bottle or go straight to a tippee cup? And should I change one of her feeds (maybe the afternoon one) to cows milk or buy some formula... and when should I try this?? I'm so confused!

I know all babies are different but can anyone offer any ideas/advice?
Thanks.

Cashew - I think it would be easiest to skip the bottle, and to use a free-flow cup instead. We offer DS water from a free-flow cup with each of his meals and snacks, and it's taken a while, but he's starting to drink a little more now.

My understanding is that should swap BFs for cow's milk or formula slowly (1 per week?), so that you don't feel engorged / uncomfortable. And your DD might help by dropping one or more BFs before you go back to work (although DS doesn't seem to be considering this).

Good luck, hopefully someone else will be along with some more advice for you (if not, try posting a new thread) .