Switching to formula with 10 month old

[halfaglassofouzodestructo]

My DD is 10 months this week and will be starting nursery two days a week next week when I go back to work. She currently has 3 bfs a day - first thing in the morning, mid-afternoon and before bed. I'm trying to switch her mid-afternoon feed to formula this week. Have tried today giving in a sippy cup and she's probably had about 1oz (reluctantly). I realise it's early days and she may well take a bit more next time, but if she doesn't do you think it's a problem for her to be only two milk feeds at this age? She's eating a good amount of solids, but ideally she would take formula as I may also have to drop the morning bf as I'll be leaving v early to get to work. /does anyone have any advice about how to go about this? Thanks!

I went back to work 2 1/2 days a week when George was 10 months old. He would not take formula and I was rubbish at expressing. He was a very good eater and I was advised by BFN not to worry about afternoon feed (he didn't have much/always want anyway)and that he could catch if he wanted when I got home or at bedtime feed. As it was he went without and cut himself down to 2 feeds but I did give him an extra snack in the afternoon.

I switched the morning feed to cows milk at around 11 months and shortly after he had cows milk at bedtiem too.

Thanks Claire - that's reassuring. Maybe I'll boost her afternoon snack a bit. Or of course nursery may have more success than me in persuading her to take the milk!

She'll be fine - but why not just express a bottle for them to give her at nursery?

When I've tried to express recently, I've produced next to nothing, certainly not a full bottle worth. Ideally I'd do this, but can't see how it's possible. Also once I'm back at work I can't really see how I'm going to find the time as I'll be commuting for nearly 3 hours each day and time at work will need to be time at work in order to leave on time, IYSWIM!

You could try an open cup, as can be easier for babies to use than sippy cups, (which in most cases are more like sucky cups).

Try one of the tiny babycup ones and see if she is any keener to drink the formula (can you part mix it with expressed milk and gradually alter the proportions - to help him get accustomed to the new taste?).

Best wishes with going back to work. I expressed at work for DD1 and it was very hard so I fully sympathise. No matter how agreeable the boss claimed he was going to be, when it came to the crunch he would often book meetings for the exact time when I was meant to be expressing each day. I made it through to one year by the skin of my teeth so was able to switch straight to full fat milk (goats).

I have just returned to work 4 days a week 8 til 6 and dd was a huge boob monster and barely ate solids. I have left some.expressed milk but she won't take it but has upped her solid intake and water. Seems to prefer to wait till i get home. I wouldn't bother with formula now. Your dc will be absolutely fine and will wait till you get back.
I was soooooo worried about it but honestly it will be fine

Thanks sipper - I think I will try an open cup. Well done for making it to one year. I don't think we'll quite do it, but we'll see!

And feekerry, relieved to hear that your DD didn't seem to mind lack of boob. I'm hoping mine will do something similar. I wondered whether she might wake up more last night as she basically missed a feed yesterday afternoon, but in fact she only had one feed overnight. A whole other story, but that's good news in our world!

Watching with interest! I'm returning to work in 8 days (eeeek!!!) & due to stressful home life (MIL terminally ill) I haven't gotten round to weaning 9MO Dd off breast feeding...Am hoping to bypass bottle & g straight to formula from a cup which DD already takes. Just not sure how much she'll need & I'm also worried about night wakings. She is a bit of a boob monster & is up twice a night.already......

Hi Jellybelly - sorry to hear about your MIL. You must have a lot on your plate. The imminent return to work is stressful isn't it? Are you planning to stop breastfeeding altogether or just during the day?

Just to report back, we've had some success dropping the mid-afternoon feed. The first day DD got quite upset with me, lots of sad faces and pouting lips when I offered her formula in a sippy cup. She took a few mouthfuls but wasn't enthusiastic. However, she seems to have accepted that I'm not bfing her during the day anymore and will now take 1-2oz of formula as part of her afternoon snack. I suspect that she'll just drop the feed altogether soon, but am going to ask nursery to keep offering it for now. So we're now down to morning and evening feeds, and it doesn't seem to have had too much impact on the nights. Most nights I feed once, but she sometimes doesn't need it, even though she still wakes up.

Also I spoke to my HV and she said it almost certainly wouldn't matter if DD didn't take formula in the day - that she would make up for it with feeds when I'm there. I'm just going to try and push on through till 1 year and then persuade her to switch to cow's milk. My only remaining worry is that I'll be leaving v early and I don't know whether to wake her up to feed in the morning - it would have to be 5.45 or so. Maybe just for a few weeks it will work...

Reading with interest - returning to work in a month when DS will be 10 months. My HV says as he is bf it's fine to give him a cup of cows milk a day - just as long as its not his main milk. I was surprised - thought you ought to wait till 12 m. She says that is just for making it the main drink.

Halfaglass; how's your return to work going? Hope it's been ok. I delayed my return by 4 days as my MIL died and I've been back almost a week. DD is taking formula from her cup as planned for her after-breakfast feed (1-2oz) & I'm giving her a bit of formula in the evenings at about 18.30 too. But still BF before I leave for work (though this is affecting how much breakfast she eats...), after I get home at 13.00 & then bedtime and twice more (usually 23.00ish and 03.00ish ATM). HMMM, that seems like quite a lot! I'm working 08.30-13.00 MON-Thur & 9-6 Fri.

Having had a look on MN it seems that quite a lot of babies around this age only BF/FF morning and evening & have a drink of cow's milk during the day.