Have I dropped a bollock?

[Astr0naut]

I'm back in work in just about 8 weeks. DD will be 9.5 months and I'm still pretty much feeding on demand. Ds was a champion eater by this stage (7.5 months), but dd is BLW and I'm not convinved she eats as much. I hope she'll eat more in 2 months, but I can't be sure. Ds also quite happily dropped feeds by himself, but I feel like I've just let time run away with me and have been blithely ignoring the fact that I can't BF all day when I'm in work.

Since the conversation which panicked me the other day, I've been trying to figure out how and when I feed DD, but I'm fairly inconsistent - sometimes before solids; sometimes after. The only definite ones are first thing in the morning and last thing in teh evening (630). I'll be keeping those when I'm back in work - until it gets too difficult.

Should I start steering dd towards dropping feeds now, or leave it until nearer the time? Have I already screwed it for myself? Unlike ds, I still leak everywhere when I miss a feed with dd, although I find it much harder to express this time, so I could really do with having the leaking sorted before work.

I wouldn't worry too much. My DD has 2 or 3 cups of milk when I'm at work, but will bf much more if I'm home, their eating and drinking can be totally different when they're away! And with BLW (DD did that too, the difference between now and two months time could be massive.
I spent too much time and energy worrying about it before going back to work, and wish I'd just enjoyed the last few weeks!

Honestly don't worry about it. I've noticed a BIG change in my DS between 7.5 and 9.5 months (which he is now). At 7.5mo he was still a 8-12 BF a day kinda guy, BLW and not eating huge amounts. Fast forward to now he troughs everything I put in front of him and has dropped (by himself, I may add - no steering from me) to 4-5 BF's a day, which includes feeding down to sleep, which he doesn't do if in buggy or I'm wearing him.

As he's done it gradually himself, I've not had any trouble with leaking or engorgement, and I'm a leaker too. Rough schedule is:

6am BF
10.30am Nurse to sleep (if at home)
2.30pm BF
4pm Nurse to sleep (if at home)
7pm BF to sleep
Then a couple of feeds overnight.

Obviously he feeds more if we're at home, if he's ill, teething etc but is fine if we're out and about. Clearly milk is still his main source of nutrition, but I make sure there are lots of yogurts, cheese, fish etc. in his diet to get his calcium and dairy calories in.

It will probably sort itself out, but won't hurt to do a bit of prep beforehand - make sure you've got some very reliable breastpads, and a suitable place to express if you need to at work. You say you've not had much luck expressing this time - is that by hand or with a pump?

With my beloved TOmmee Tippee pump. I used to get gallons of the stuff out with ds, but only about 3 0z max with dd. TO be honest, expressing and having a fridge full of milk has been a waste of time, as she's never really got to grips with a bottle. She'd rather wait until I get home, so I've spent far too much time emptying thawed out milk away. I think that's why I'm stressing a bit; I don't like the idea of her having to wait all day for me.

I'd hope not to express at work, because won't that just prolong the frying up process? Ideally, when I'm in work, I'd like her to be on a bf morning and night, but I can't remember what I did with ds in the day time. Can they go all day without milk at 9 months? Did I let ds go all day? They both drink water, so maybe I did.

ANd of course, then there're the two night feeds......

Don't worry about it. It was around 9 months that I managed to stop expressing at work and night as DD didn't need that much breastmilk then. She also had one cup of cow's milk (no allergies) as a drink, plus lots of other calcium rich food. She was bfing mornings, nights and weekends on demand still and she managed fine.

Thank you ladies. I have a horrible habit of worrying about things way, way in the future, when in reality, they're never that bad.

My panicked posting is borne out of the same kind of panic that has me emailing mithering people in work to explain what's changed since I've been away. SAdly, until I'm actually in the building and doing my job, I'll worry.