leaving a breast fed baby - what to do? help!

[onetwoflea]

Hi,

in 3 days time I have to leave my 10 month old for 5 days (and nights). He is breastfed first thing, evening and feeds 2-3 times during the night. He is on solids, and will take formula from a cup during the day, but not sippy cups and not bottles, and not very much. DH will feed him - but how? I am worried he won't get enough to drink! Any Advice!

also, I can only express a teeny amount. so providing expressed milk is a no go too. help!

Watching this with interest as this will happen to us soon.
I think your DS will just adapt, but I know how worrying this all is. You will have to report back!

If you are not around he will drink from a cup - he might protest a bit, but as you're away for so long he will give in.
How will you manage?

i will express enough to provide relief for me. he will drink from cup, but only 3fl oz day i am guessing. no where near what the formula box says he should be on (3 x bottles of 7oz).

This is how I ended up weaning DD off breastfeeding at 9months. I had to do a 4 night trip away from home with DH so she stayed with my parents. Up to that point, she had only taken 1-2 oz of formula milk in a day at the most (mostly refused that too) but by the time I got back, she was happily taking full bottles. I had expressed milk while away so I could've gone back to BF but felt it simpler at that point just to continue with the bottles (except for a one off when she had a stomach bug & not drinking well a week later) So I wouldn't worry about it- he will drink when he's thirsty!

zinfandel, how did they feed her?

They used the bottle that we had the most success with upto that point (relatively). For us, it was the vital baby nurture bottles that you can squeeze. From what mum said the first few times she was upset & refused bottle initially but then eventually she took it and there was no going back!

Before we left I didn't think I'd ever wean her off BF! As I was working as well at the time, it was much easier for me once she was able to take bottles although I really missed feeding her at the time.

reporting back here - dc has not taken bottles or much from cups or sippy cups, so dh has added formula to his food to make it more liquidy and even had to use a medicine syringe (the type you get with calpol) to squirt some milk into his mouth!!! I'm back to breastfeeding again until he's one!