How old was you'r EBF child when you droped down to just morning and night feeds?

[ButWhhhyyyMummy]

Just that really DS2 is 7 mths old and I will be back at work next mth. He feeds really well with both solids and milk and loves both, however will not take milk from a tippie cup or bottle.

I'm planning on still feeding when I'm here in the day and just hoping for the best when I'm at work.

I keep getting mixed messages about how much I need to worry about this though from he should be down to only 2 feeds by 8 mths to he should be having almost full milk still and just a few tastes of solids.

Mine is 9 months and still feeding about 5x a day. My friend's baby is the same age and now on morning/night with formula during the day. Hers uses a sippy cup, mine drinks from a normal child's cup.

Until 12mo babies should be getting most of their nutrients from milk.

At 12mo DS1 fed morning and evening and twice overnight (replaced day feeds with night feeds when I went back to work ). He was on "morning and evening" by about 18mo.

DS2 only dropped to morning and evening at 24mo, and shortly thereafter dropped the evening so it is just most mornings now.

You almost certainly can't give a bf toddler too much milk. So long as you offer food at mealtimes, not too soon after a milk feed, he will take what he needs. Have faith! Bf is totally compatible with returning to work, and milk is still very important.

Most of the "milk twice" advice is for those on bottles, for whom two milk feeds is the best part of a pint. Your son's feeds are probably snackier than that now.

My 7mth old is on 3 solids per day, 3 breastfeeds and 2 formula feeds. Last milk feed at 6.15pm ,sleeps from 7pm - 6am.

hah... I think DD1 must have been about 2 years 3 months before she went down to morning & evening feeds.

Will you be back at work full time?

I went back to work at 9 months. we went from 6 feeds a day at 7 months to morning and night at nine months. Didn't give any extra milk/formula in day but packed him big pot of Greek yogurt everyday. Carried on with 2 feeds a day until a year. Then night feeds till 2 so was fine. I was very stressed about cutting back over couple of months but since it conincided with really getting into solids it turned out to be no problem. Good luck.

About 18 months, then down to just evenings around 2, then finished at 2.5.

Thank you all, no I'm not going back full time "just" 20 hours however unfortunately with traveling some of the days may be 10+ hours long.

To say I'm dreading it and dreading leaving them both is the understatement of the week

Most people find the return to work far worse in the imagination than in reality: I'm sure you'll all be fine.

Hi op, I'm in the same boat. Dd will be 8 months when I return to work next month. She refuses both ebm and formula from bottles/cups and will only drink water from a sippy. I'm doing 23 hours over two long shifts. Can't say solids are off to a flying start either! Am really worried tbh.

Er, about 20 months for DC1 (worked three twelve hour days a week for 10 months. Fed on demand 4 day a week, and evening, through night and morning on days I worked, plus expressing once and DC having expressed milk with breakfast and in a cup at nursery once a day)

Almost 3 years for DC2

About 2 years for DC3

Not yet for DC4 (10 months, working three 10 hour days a week, and feeding baby pretty much round the clock, including 2 breastfeeding breaks on days I work)

Amount of solids taken at 8-9 months has varied from child to child and from 'trough loads' to 'basically none'.

Thinking about returning to work is often far worse than the reality. Good luck!

It really depends on your baby and the situation. Your supply will adjust to just feeding him at the times you're not at work.

I think DS was 2 by the time he was only feeding morning & night, but far far before then he was happy enough to go all day without if I wasn't around or if he was too busy doing other things.

My youngest was down to morning and evening by 9 months, possibly younger I think she just wanted to be "big" like her sisters but I think that was unusually young tbh.

Dd2 was 18 months when she went down to just morning and night.

I went back to work when she was 6 months old though. Full time, so I was away from her 8-5, 5 days a week. She adjusted to feeding when I was there and filling up on solids when I wasn't. I spent a ridiculous amount of time expressing milk for her at the cm, and pretty much all of it went down the sink because she wouldn't drink it (she would occassionally take a bottle for daddy).

She did a bit of reverse-cycling for a while (she fed a lot more over night than she did during the day) but we co-slept so it didn't cause too many problems for us, she even started just helping herself in the middle of the night, until we night weaned at about 13 months.

I went back when dc1 was 6 months and expressed at work at first. Within 2 or 3 weeks he was feeding morning and evening only. Went back much later with dc2 and he fed longer in the day but was also blw'd so that is relevant too.

My DS was around 9 months although we upped feeds during illness etc.

I cut mine back from loads of feeds at 7 months to 4 feeds a day at 8 months and then 2 feeds, morning and night at 10 months. Finally gave them up at 18 months. They can and do adjust- be strong and it will be fine . My sister quit feeding altogether at 9 months, just quit as she was going back to work and didn't want to feed anymore.

For my DD I offered formula and then cow's milk but she didn't really have any until she was quite a bit older (over 1 I think). Once she'd got good with the cow cup she would glug cupfuls of cow's milk but probably was doing well enough on the two big BFs before I quit all together.

Dd was on 5 feeds a day- none at night - at 12 months. I went back to work a couple of weeks after her 1st birthday. I replaced 1 feed with cows milk every 5 days or so until she was just having morning and evening bf.

DD went to 3 feeds a day at about 9 months I think, but could skip her afternoon feed if I was working. She went to just morning and night feeds only at 11 months-ish.

Yes that's a good point about illness. DS1 had swine flu at 13m ish and had nothing but bm for several days. He has never been so ill before or since, and bf was a literal lifeline.