BFing and returning to work - experiences wanted please!

[LaCiccolina]

Hey,

My mw isnt helping me so I thought Id post here. Unsure where to put it, here, weaning or return to work....How much milk will dd want and how often at 6-10mths age if weaning?

Im at 6mths in bfing DD. I read an answer to a post saying that at 10mths the poster was down to 3 bf feeds a day around weaning. Is this accurate?

I have started weaning and are up to a breakfast and lunch. I havent dropped any feeds though, all on demand. MW still says 'baby will feed every 4hrs' but as she said that when a newborn and it was more like every 5mins for 4wks and its only now Im at several hours apart her opinion isn't that high on my list of trusted sources...

Im weaning as dd will go into childcare at Sept (9mths) for 4days per week. Also I want her to join in meals. Formula is looking an option to move to in August but Im unsure and dont know how much to offer her. DD will take SMA but I only ever give concertedly at the smallest bottle size and at 11pm feed as top up just so she will take a bottle if I need her to, thing is during the day its rarely come up as a need.

Even if I express how much is appropriate?? I feel a bit blind again and DH seems to think I have answers to all questions.....dont tell him Ive no idea.... :0(

Experiences wanted please.

I went back to work when DS was 7m - I used to leave him with about 8 oz of ebm a day (in 2 x 4oz bottles) but now at 9.5m he?s dropped some feeds really as he loves his solids so I leave 1 5oz bottle a day. I express twice a day at work. It works for me, but I can totally understand why people don?t want to do it as it is a bit of a faff! On weekends I just feed on demand, but tbh he probably only demands 1 or 2 feeds in the day now (ie not bedtime, night time or breakfast). It depends on the baby though, some feed much more often still.

There is a calculator on kellymom for how much ebm to leave, so it might be worth looking on there. Can?t offer help on formula amounts, sorry

I also returned to work when DS was 7m- I decided I couldn't stand the idea of expressing at work so forced introduced a bottle from 6m. Now at nearly 8m, he has: 2 x FF of about 4-5oz during the day at nursery, plus BF morning, bedtime (and over night too).

BUT, having said that, I know that he's not having much milk from BF anymore and the overnight feed(s) are mostly for comfort when I'm too tired to refuse! I think by 9-10m, most babies are down to around 3-4 feeds a day, less if they've really taken to solids.

TBH, the first question you need to think about is if you're going to express at work, if you are then all you need to worry about is how much EBM to leave at nursery and perhaps building up a supply in the freezer over the next couple of months so you're not too stressed about how much to leave. If you're not, then you'll need to introduce a regular bottle at some point to slowly drop a BF during the day.
HTH!

Hmmm, Great this is very interesting! If she was down to 3-4 feeds then it mightnt be a problem. Im not really interested in stopping, just figured Id have to. This gives hope that bfing might work around me disappearing to the office.

Wonderful!

even if you decide to give formula in the day, your supply should be robust enough by now to just feed when you're with her.

I think at that age (9 months) my DD was down to one 4oz feed during the day. I stopped pumping at work and just pumped first and last thing to get the 4oz. At 12 months she stopped daytime breastmilk altogether and I just breastfed her when I was at home.

My 10 month old has a breastfeed first thing, a cup of cow's milk at snack time at nursery mid-morning, a breastfeed in the afternoon and a breastfeed before bed. Sometimes he has had to have a food snack in the afternoon instead of a breastfeed (if I'm not around) and has been fine.

At 6 months he was still having at least 6 feeds a day (including one in the night) so things have changed a lot in the last few months.

My ds1 took to food very quickly and was having a 9oz bottle with his cm at 6.5 months. It took me two expressing sessions one in my tea break and one just before I left (long commute) to coincide with what was his natural feeding times. He had milk before breakfast, at 4 (with cm) and at bedtime, had 3 meals a day and slept midmorning so had nothing to eat then. I am now a cm and ds2 is 9 months, also down to 3 feeds a day except all are with me, it took him a bit longer to drop to 3 feeds but he has dropped them in the same order.

I think the range of bf-ing behaviour between 6-12m is very great. I went back to work when DD was 8m. She was eating plenty of solids but also still having a lot of milk, 2-3 night feeds plus every 2-3 hours through the day.

For comfort I expressed during the day but only about 4-5oz which wasn't enough for her so she also had 1-2 5 oz bottles of formula. She was and remains a hungry monster though.

To be honest so long as the caregiver is good and responsive you don't need to worry too much about this. They won't let your daughter go hungry and will offer more milk if she wants it.