Back to work any success stories?!

[Icklemariposa01]

Will try and keep this short but as we all know- there is always a long story behind it.

So DD is 10 months now. I have been back at work for a month now. dd is being looked after by mum most days and inlaws one day, I have the Friday off.

DD had been a fussy eater. In the last couple of weeks though she is eating more of her food but because of her fussy eating and bottle refusing I carried on BF right up until I went back to work. She has lost a quite a bit of weight. I would say by week 3 the grandparents were beginning to get a bit of success with the bottle. At one point she sunk 4oz straight. But what she would usually do is drink about 2oz at a time and play with the teat and chew it.

I give her bf in the morning, when I get in from work and just before bed time.

Then at weekends I would Bf dd. But proving to be a bad thing as now she really won't take the bottle again. And my boobs are so confused and in pain sometimes.

I know we need to be on it and consistent with the bottle and follow the routine. Learnt our lesson. DH and me. Hopefully get her back on track but just wondering with back to work BF mum who has has success stories. What did you do?

We have always tried the bottle. Tried all sorts of beakers and cups but actually she likes her milk in the bottle. It's formula we feed her most of the time warmed up.

I did with Ds, but I expressed everyday whilst at work. Sandwich in one hand, pump in the other and my Dad fed him a bottle for me. It worked for us because a) I had a lot of milk. b) I could pump for England. c) Ds would happily take a bottle. I worked a four day week, but it was shifts all over the place, so no two days were the same. I just fed him from me when I was there, but still pumped when he'd finished to keep up the supply for the freezer. Dd however (8+ years younger) would not take a bottle and I couldn't express as I found it both sore/painful and had very little yield. I was fortunate to be able to stay at home with her.

You will, I'm sure, find a way to make it work for both of you. But don't fret over it. You are doing great, but being anxious will just make you unhappy and that's not fair as you do the best you can :)

Both of mine were bottle refusers and our dd ate little too, both were fine. Just wondering why you are bothering with a bottle, have you tried cups? Also, taking 2floz is perfectly fine for a bf baby. The quantities of milk they take just aren't the same as a ff baby. This is because the BM changes over time.

Have you read the kellymom pages on returning to work?

Thanks I will have a look.

I am stressed. Big time .

Feel so bad. It's my fault. I did try with the bottle but not hard enough. It seems.

DH just tried to feed her. I went upstairs. At first it went okay. Then screams and tears. Coming from both of them.

Had only a little bit.

Can't help feeling I have effed this all up along the way

I bf morning, evening and through the night for the one I bf the other 2 ff. He got about 4 oz of formula during the day until 1 to help him sleep and then solids. I have never weighed a child past the early weeks, in my experience a healthy hungry child communicates when they are hungry and small children go through fits and starts of eating and not eating. My children are all slim there is absolutely no doubt but on holidays in Europe during the summer I realised that compared to other European children the were not as slim as they would be here in Ireland. I think the focus on weight gain in small infants can do as much harm as it does good and often it causes worry where there is no need to worry. I would continue sound exactly what you are doing just cut out the worry.

Sound=doing

Seriously, you haven't effed it up or not tried hard enough, at all - some babies will happily take a bottle until whenever and then stop, some babies will take the occasional bottle, some babies won't take one at all but will get what they need from other food/drink when mum isn't there. I did very little to prepare for going back to work both times and both DS were fine - DS1 had 3 or 4oz of expressed milk in a bottle a day while I was away, which he lost interest in completely around 14/15 months and just had food/water in nursery (also no interest in cow's milk), DS2 has 4oz or so of EBM in a sippy cup. Your DD is ten months old, if necessary she can survive just fine on the couple of oz of formula and solids/water while you're away, or even on just solids/water. Your boobs will also adjust!

When you say she's lost quite a bit of weight, has she been weighed by the same person on the same scales and have the scales been calibrated?

I also went back to work when DS was about 10 months and he had been ebm until that point. He was a bottle refuser.
He went to cm for three days and was quite happy to take a bottle of expressed milk or formula if I wasn't around. He still fed from me morning, at pick up and before bed. He still has breast milk in the morning and occasionally at bed time and he'll be two in Feb.

I guess what I'm trying to say is even if she won't take a bottle for you or dh (especially if you're in the building!) she is more likely to if she knows that's the only option. And as others have said milk isn't the only thing she's having now so it's not a disaster even if she doesn't take it!

Thanks for the support. It's all quite emotive.

Yes. We have tried the cup. Even on Saturday we did and she took it a bit but when it comes to milk she likes the sucking action it seems!

Very interesting to know that others have a few oz here and there too

Hi op
My dd is a bottle refuser nearly ten months old. We went through a lot of bottle stress but it all got lots easier when I realised bottles were a lost cause for us and put them all away in the loft.

My return to work story in case it helps:
I had a very gradual return to work starting at about 4.5 months, I was lucky to have my DM looking after her when she was little so I could feed her when required ( I work got myself so no long commute ). It was gradual because of work requirements coming earlier than I would have liked, with dd so little, and feeding on demand still very frequently

Got much easier at 6 months with weaning and she started at childminders then. I sent a cup of ebm and cm tried her with it every day and at about 8 months she suddenly drank happily from the cup. I think it does take a bit of time but it is worth it. She has quite a few different bits of food, yoghurts, fruit, porridge, and water throughout the day too.

She still doesn't have much milk though in the day but prefers to wait for me. so we also cosleep now as night feeds have increased. Honestly it all works well now for us. Her hours at cm are 8-4.30. Personally I don't see the need to give formula but I think I'm very lucky that I work for myself so can easily block out time to express during the day ready for the next day.

My dd sucks the cup too but it seems effective! I think of it that if I have offered her the milk, and know she can drink it, then it have done my best and as I say I am sure that with the night feeds she is getting enough over a 24 hour period.

Sorry various typos