Dropping feeds-Clueless first timer...

[MockingbirdsNotForSale]

My DD is 10.5 mths old and I am due back to work in one month . As long as she stops deliberately biting me, I plan to cut down to feeding her first thing in the morning and at night only as expressing at work is a non starter. For months now she's had the same amount of feeds per day- first thing in the morning, late morning, mid afternoon, evening and any required in the night. She rarely demands during the day and never refuses when offered even if I offer more than normal and she eats a full breakfast, lunch and dinner.

As she never refuses a feed and the routine is so comfortable for her that she rarely demands, how do I go about dropping a feeds? Would I be best to just replace the feeds with formula or cows' milk? Or should I see if she can go without and offer water? She takes a bottle quite happily. If I do replace the feeds with milk (Formula or cow) is it best to let her have a bottle for the comfort factor or should I use a sippy cup? She takes water quite happily from a sippy cup atm. She goes to nursery 2 afternoons a week at the moment and has expressed bm in a bottle which she guzzles and generally has a nap afterwards so I think they use the bottle to get her off to sleep. As she's a rubbish day sleeper should I stick with the bottles for her in the day so the childminder can get her to relax when she goes to her full time?

Sorry if this sounds like a jumbled load of silly questions but I feel like I am going round in circles thinking about it and the HV just said don't sweat it and stop bfing over a 2 week period prior to starting work. Stopping altogether wasn't my aim and I got no advice about how to move on from the daytime feeds. Also, while I am here, I never leak or have engorgement issues. Would it be ok supply wise to breastfeed her during the day at weekends and holidays or should I stick to the same routine as workdays? Many thanks in anticipation of any help. .

This is not going to be the answer you're looking for, but your post rang a bell since I'm at exactly the same stage so maybe we can swap notes? Or possibly go round in circles together :).

My DS's daytime nap routine has gone completely haywire, but I think what I'm going to try and do is introduce a bottle in the middle of the day so that he has one long nap before lunch, lulled by the bottle. My ideal would be that I'll breastfeed in the morning, then bottle feed once during the day before naptime and once before bedtime.

The only problem with that, of course, is that my milk is already going so one feed a day will probably lower my supply to the point of irrelevance, and the morning feeds are becoming frustrating for him since I normally don't have enough to fill him up. So perhaps I should switch to a bottle in the morning as well - but does he need that much milk? And more importantly - can I even get him to go to sleep if I don't use milk? He's so used to going to sleep on the boob or bottle that it's the only way to get him to go down and stay down.

That said, he had three bottles today (babysat) and that doesn't seem to have affected his appetite for solid foods.

I use formula to make sure he's getting the right nutrients (esp things like iron and calcium) - I was told not to introduce cow's milk before 12 months, I don't think that's recommended.

With ds1 I expressed for daytime feeds while at work and feed him myself morning , evening and at night and in the day at weekends, - I am doing the same at the moment with ds4 (16 months) - I have been back at work part time since he was six months and left ebm for when I was at work and bfed him as normal when I was there - it is always amazing to me how my supply adjusts - I have fed him on demand throughout the summer holidays and am now back at work two and a half days a week - my plan is to leave milk in a beaker for when I am not there and bf when I am.When he was nearly one and I hadn't managed to express I would leave formula or cows milk for him. I did this with the others too.
OP iam sorry that you didn't really get an answer to your question from your HvV- it is possible to bf morning and evening only and by now your supply will be settled and it is unlikely that you will leak - fwiw I have only leaked once or twice since ds4 was born.
Sorry if this is a bit of a ramble but I wanted to reassure you that it is possible to cut down and carry on.

Common wisdom is to drop one feed at a time, waiting at least a week between each dropped feed. A feed in the morning and at night before bed works fine for us - my supply has adapted perfectly (am giving up now as I'm pregnant again...)

I would drop the mid afternoon one first, then the mid morning one a week or so later. At 10.5 months your DD should be fine without night feeds. I would replace feeds with formula rather than cow's milk (she's a bit too young for cow's milk at 10.5 months; leave this till about 14 months). Sippy cup is absolutely fine. Why introduce a bottle if you don't need to?

Good luck; it will be fine.

firstimeforeverything Thanks! Swapping notes is a great idea . I will swap slowly to formula until she's about 14 months I think. I am on my own at the moment and do worry about stopping the night feeds. Its rare she wakes but when she does if she's unsettled she very definitely wants to bf and nothing else will settle her. I worry about stopping and it being a complete nightmare at this time. When I go back to work I will continue with the night and morning feeds until DH is back so he can help me with night time settling. I think I will use a mix of bottles and cups as she does already know bottles and finds them relaxing.