Going back to work- Should I wean her off daytime feeds now?

[Mimmee]

Hoping for a bit of advice.

I'm going back to work in about 4 weeks .

DD will be 9 mo. GP's will be looking after her.

I didn't actually think that I would still be breastfeeding her now but it suits us both well and I want to carry on at least for a bit longer.

She's well established on solids and tends to BF first thing, mid morning, mid afternoon and before bed. She doesn't seem overly interested in the morning/afternoon feed tbh and sometimes will skip it altogether.

So my question is should I try now to replace the morning/afternoon feed with a bottle (she will take a bottle but doesn't like to take one from me)? Or should I just carry on how we are and wait and see what happens when I go back?

I'm torn between trying to get her into a "routine" of sorts in preparation for going back and just enjoying the last few weeks with her and hoping it'll all sort itself out!

TIA

She doesn't seem overly interested in the morning/afternoon feed tbh and sometimes will skip it altogether.

Sorry that doesn't read very well - I mean she'll sometimes skip one or the another.

She'd never go all day without

Never been in this position myself but I know a lot of mothers who at this age have carrie don BF 'as normal' right up until they go back to work at which point their baby os quite happy to not have milk in the day when they are away and nurses as before on days off.
They often experience 'reverse-cycling though where their baby will want to feed all night (most of the also cosleep)

Mimmee will you be returning to work full time?

I did wean my DS off daytime feeds before going back to work at 9 months. I carried on BF at night though and still do (he is now 15 months).

I cut down bit by bit, gradually extending the period I didn't feed him for. When he was tired, I stuck him in the buggy rather than BF to sleep and so on. It did take a few weeks.

I did this because I felt very anxious that he wouldn't be able to cope without BF if he just had to go cold turkey but would probably get used to it over time. I'm not saying that would be right for your baby, just mine.

Anyway, he has always refused bottles (but liked water from a cup) and wouldn't take bottles even without BF in the day so I ended up having to give him a yoghurt in the morning and afternoon in between meals when other kids had bottles. This is what they did at nursery too until he ate more. So when he went to nursery, I knew that he would be ok on meals/water/yoghurts without me.

So I guess it depends whether you feel your child will be fine if you just stop or if they need a bit more of a run-up. I knew I would keep BF at night/morning (about 6 times) so wasn't too worried if he had only food/water/yoghurt in the day and no milk as I knew he got decent nutrition overall with the BF at night.

Good luck!

Thanks for the responses all.

Jilted yes going back full time

RubyrooUK thanks for sharing your experience. I suppose that is exactly what I'm unsure about - will she cope with just going cold turkey during the day. Sometimes I do think that she is feeding just because I'm there IYSWIM but don't suppose you can ever know for sure!

She will happily drink water from a cup and will take formula from a bottle so I know she will be ok in that respect but just worried about it being too big a change for her all at once.

I went back to work when DD was 7mo. I expressed enough for one bottle which she normally had in the afternoon. But she was quite happy to go without, or only have a little bit some days.

I did that until her birthday, at which point I cut out daytime feeds completely (unless she was ill/particularly demanding it) and switched her, reasonably unsuccessfully, onto cow's milk (she just doesn't like it that much).

She still feeds morning and evening, although sometimes she forgets about the evening one. She is 17mo now though.

I always made bf the very first thing we did when we got home though. It was good for reconnecting and reassurance for her, as well as keeping my milk going.

Good luck!

Mimmee if you are going back full time I assume you will be working days and not shifts. So with that in mind and the fact that she will take formula from a bottle I'd keep the morning feed and evening feed it you are home and drop the other two. The advice I think is to drop only one feed a week to reduce your risk of mastitis but as you only have 2 feeds to drop in 4 weeks you could drop one now and the other one in 2 weeks time.

When you do send her to GP just make sure they have plenty of snacks for her just in case she does refuse all milk .

x-posted with Stetson. Actually I did the same and bf once we got home and for the same reasons, it is a lovely way to reconnect and I had missed them.

Thanks both

Yes I was also worried about feeling uncomfortable myself if I hadn't dropped the feeds when I went back.

I will try dropping the morning feed I think over the next couple weeks then as that seems to be the one she's less interested in and take it from there.

I do want to carry on the morning/evening feeds (if I'm home by then).

Thanks again - can't believe how quick the past 8 months have gone!

If you swap the midmorning feed for formula now, and the midafternoon one in two weeks I don't think you will be uncomfortable at work, your body will have adjusted by then.

If you buy Hipp Organic the carton comes in 2 packets. If you start on one ff a day at this point you would probably be best with this or cartons as there would be less waste.