Help! Back to work and baby refusing bottle!

[catgirl2]

Hi there,

I am back to work in just over 2 weeks when LO will be 8 months old. She has been ebf until start of BLW at 6 months, will not take bottle and is not interested in sippy cup apart from banging it around.

We are doing BLW as she will not accept spoon! She is doing fairly well on solids now, according to the nappy contents!

We have tried so many bottles, cups etc. to no avail. Anyway, I am now trying to cut down milk feeds to 4 in 24 hours - so 3 in day - say 7am, early afternoon, evening and one in night. Not sure if this is the right thing to do but my thinking is that she will then only be missing one feed at nursery if she does not take bottle there. I am working 3 days one week and 2 the next and so on, alternate weeks.

I am worried about LO going hungry and getting distressed and having to express at work just to relieve pressure and how this will work and also what to do on the days I am with her the rest of the week - if I feed as normal will this confuse her? Has anyone had a similar experience?

Am literally loosing sleep over this - I keep getting the 'it will be fine' response from friends and family but none of them have been through this scenario so while they mean well, I don't feel reassured.

Any advice / reassurance very very welcome! Thank you

My dd was 7. 5 months when i went back to work 3 days per week. I was lucky enough to work close to my childminder so for 1st week i went round at lunch time to feed her. She would not take bottles at all and was only iffy with cups too so after the 1st week I bf her before work, then when i picked her up from childminders before my boobs exploded i fed her straight away.(only worked 8.45 til 4 though) On my days off I kept trying her with a cup and just did whatever was necessary bf wise and we carried on like this until we finally stopped at 13 months. She adapted to it all with ease.

You could be describing me/DS six weeks ago. He was ebf, slowly taking solids but refusing spoon, still feeding every three hours. I was so scared about going back to work. I put it off twice. Everyone said "it'll be fine" but I didn't believe them. Guess what? It was fine.

DS was a little grumpy at his settling in sessions but since then has thrived. He drinks from a bottle or cup, he eats, he naps, he LOVES nursery. They claim he's never cried there. Not sure I believe them, but he's definitely enjoying it.

You don't say who'll be looking after him when you're working. If its nursery, i highly recommend quite a long settling in period. My DS had done two short (disastrous) settling in sessions, a week of half days and a week of full days before I started back. It was great because I could just get on with my job when I returned. I wasn't worried about him.

Honestly, truthfully, it will be fine

Oh, and as for the practicalities. I feed him every morning before work, express once during the day (usually get between 3oz-6oz) DS has one bottle of expressed milk each day and then however much formula he seems to need. He also loves water.

I am lucky in that I can usually pick him up around 4pm and be home by 4.20pm. We have a feed when we get home, then he has his tea and another feed before bed. and then still feeds every three hours all night, but that's my issue, not for you to worry about!

Just for good measure, I'll say it again, it'll be fine

Hi, I went back to work in April when ds was just turned 9 months. He was much the same expect he wasnt BLW so I was sure he was eating good size portions. Anyway to cut a long story short, he doesn't miss the feed when I am away and is quite happy to go without. He is looked after by my mum and I am a community Macmillan nurse so the plan was for her just to call me if she felt he needed a feed and I would pop home between calls. She's never had to call me once. He has food and will now take juice from her, directly from a normal cup without any type of spout. I work 8 til 4 3 days and I feed him at 7.30 before i go and then when i get home. On my days off i feed on demand again. I wouldn't worry, he should be fine. If you're not there they don't miss it and make up for it when you are!

Mine will not take a bottle any more, the wise little chap. We got him on to drinking water out of a pint glass with ice in at 6 months. It is a totally different sensation for his mouth and he loves it. We were then able to move on to plain water and now he takes expressed milk from a glass (occasionally) while I'm out. (he is 7 mo now).

Saying that, I work 4 days a week, and am out for 10 hours and he will happily go the whole day without drinking milk at all... We are BLW, and he'll eat 3 'meals' but not enough to keep him going. This is great on the one hand, but means he breastfeeds all night long!

Your baby will be fine, they are so adaptable. Please don't worry too much. Be creative and you'll be able to meet her nutritional needs, and don't let this be yet another source of guilt!