Returning to work, and 10mo still bfs regularly in the day. What shall I do?

[BumgrapesofWrath]

DS is going to be settling into nursery this month (he will be about 11 months when he starts properly.) He will be going 3 days a week.

The problem is he still has a lot of milk in the day. I was maybe expecting by 11 months that we might be down to 1-2 milk feeds between 9am and 4pm (which is when he'll be going to nursery), as his older brother maybe only had 2 feeds in the day at that point, and he wasn't a big eater either.

So, these are my options (I think)
a) express milk (really don't fancy doing this)
b) give cows milk for his feeds even though we would be starting a month early according to guidelines
c) start formula
d) try and up solids by introducing snacks (at the moment he is BLW, 3 meals a day no snacks)
e) do nothing, and hope he makes up for his feeds when I come to pick him up

People do say that they will make up for bfs they don't get at night etc, but don't really want to put him through the distress if he does want milk.

Another thing to consider is my son was very sicky when he was little, which I have put down to a cow's milk intolerance, as it improved when I eliminated dairy. Also, now he is older I find if he eats a lot of yoghurt he seems to get abdominal discomfort and green poos. So I am worried by introducing cow's milk or formula that I might end up making him poorly.

Any solutions? As I said earlier, I really don't fancy expressing as I find it very hard to get a yield now he is older.

I'm on my phone so will try to keep it brief...

I had the same situation, plus DD had been really ill in the weeks before, so had actually upped her bfeeds.

I expressed. From day 1, she refused to drink it, would only accept water while I was gone. This was despite being at home with DH, so not a strange environment!

I kept expressing, she kept drinking water. I didn't want her to have cow's milk either until after 1.

She'd always been a good eater (solids) so I knew she wouldn't be hungry.

She did reverse cycle though, and upped night feeds instead. I don't mind as we co-sleep anyway and at least I don't have to feel guilty for forcing her to wean (not saying there's anything wrong with that, but didn't feel right for us: I believe in ebf...)

She's now 21 mos, still going.
I guess what I'm saying is - do whatever works for you, and be prepared that DC might have other ideas!

(Sorry, should've said: she wasn't distressed, just pushed the offered milk away and asked for water. That's despite, as I said, being quite a guzzler.)

Either express, or if the nursery's near enough pop down and feed him at lunchtime (or negotiate a couple of feeding breaks). It is totally different expressing when you are separated than whilst you are with them all day and trying to express 'on top' of normal bf rather than instead.

Ultimately you will both adjust if you're unable to feed/express during the day. To begin with you might need to express for your own comfort and to avoid blocked ducts/mastitis.

Has your LO had a bottle or expressed milk before? If not it can be hard to get them to drink the expressed milk (or formula if you go that route), but many will have it as a smoothie/frozen as a 'Popsicle' or on cereal/porridge. At least that way you don't end up binning it!

Good luck

Ps babies do often wake loads more at night for a while after you return to work, so keeping bf at night can help you oth get more sleep and keep you feeling close too.

I was in a similar situation about a year ago with DS and I didn't Ty to express (having never done it I couldn't see the point of trying it when he was almost one year old) and didn't ask the nursery stuff to give him cow's milk either (I reckoned he got enough milk from me). He just ate what the other children ate and didn't have milk while he was there. He was doing half days, though, and only three times a week. Interestingly now that he's 21 months, he still breastfeeds a lot during the day when I'm around (especially if we're at home and I happen to sit down!) otherwise if I'm not there or he's at nursery he just eats solids.
HTH

Thanks for the reponses!

I had kind of forgotten about the expressing breaks you are entitled to at work, so might have to do some expressing for my boobs sake.

I do work about 5 mins away from the nursery, so think I could go for feeding breaks to DS, but I am worried it might upset him to see me and then go again. Is it unsettling to keep visiting them? (I suppose I only think this because once my mum brought DS1 to my work one day and he just freaked when he saw me!)

Waking more at night, though??? I'm not sure that's possible...

I am also concerned this might be the least of my worries - I had the luxury of having two years off with my eldest, so never been in the situation of putting a "baby" into nursery, it is a worry!

I don't think you can know how your baby will react Neil you try it. The transition to childcare is usually a bit up and down anyway, as they adjust to new careers and environment. I have found it faster to feed the baby directly than faffing about expressing (have done both at different times). My baby has always been ok with it and got used to saying bye bye to me after the feeding pitstop v quickly. Distraction helps! I actually loved the chance for a quick visit and cuddle a couple of times a day .

Neil = until

I would start introducing some formula, if your ds will drink it?

When I went back to work I really didn't want to be expressing or worrying about leaky boobs etc so in the month leading up to going back I started dropping day feeds and introducing some formula.

I was lucky in that dd didn't seem to mind!!

This worked o.kay and i continued to bf morning, evening and at night for as long as dd wanted (untill about a year)

I went back full time when LO was 11 months. She never took a bottle and didnt eat a huge amount of solid food. There was no problem at nursery - She drank water from a sippy cup and began to eat with the other babies. Still Goes a little crazy for milk when I get home though :-)