Back to work next week- DD won't take any milk in the day when I'm not there.

[TheBeanpole]

I'm not sure whether to worry or not. Any similar experiences?

DD is almost 8 months and I am back to work next week. I will be 3 days a week for the first 2 months. I will be out 8-6 ish. DP is on paternity leave now until December.

The plan was to express and leave 2 feeds of about 4oz each. She is very much bf on demand and feeds frequently. Weaning is going quite well- we are BLW though so can't tell how much she is eating.

She is not a bottle refuser. She will take one in the evening if she has a babysitter.

I had a KIT day last week and she didn't take a drop of milk all day- DP also tried a cup. She had 3 good meals and water. She wasn't upset at all.

Nutritionally, does she need it at this stage? How much do we need to persevere with the milk? I know she may feed more at night to make up for it (although she is a bloody awful sleeper and still wakes for multiple feeds so I'm not sure how she would fit many more in). Can we just miss those feeds? She still seems quite little...

My DD was the same age when I went back to work full time. She was a bottle refuser and I worried constantly. She took the tiniest bit from a sippy cup but then she fed almost constantly in the evenings to make up for it! I was told by a helpful bf councillor that this was ok, not ideal but ok as she would self regulate and eat when hungry. It's just the curse of the working bf mum - I empathise and feel your pain/worry.

I did it too with my bottle-refusing DC1, and it was fine. We did massive feeds morning and evening, and she had lots of yoghurt and cheese during the day which seemed to keep her going.

Eventually she cracked and accepted bottles during the day, but it took a couple of months!

DD refused point blank to take a bottle when I went back to work when she was 5 and a half months. After a few epic meltdowns with DH she finally relented and took a bottle. I advise ear plugs and persistence! We also found that she hated being cradled to take the bottle, she preferred being in her bouncer or lying on her back in DH's lap.

We were fine- I went back at 8 months too.

I expressed anyway and always left two bottles of EBM just in case. She was offered them, but rarely drank anyway, and then only an oz or two. Nursery usually gave her an extra yoghurt or babybel instead- some sort of dairy snack.

She just added an extra night feed or two- like yours she was a night feeder anyway. I co-slept to make it easier.

Google reverse cycling- apparently it's quite common in the US where mat leave is crap. Basically the baby is encouraged to feed at night rather than in the day so mums can work and still bf.

She'll be fine :). Most babies drop a daytime bottle or two between 9 and 12 months anyway so it's not going to make any huge difference.

Thanks for all the helpful responses everyone. It's good to know others have had the same. I guess we'll follow her lead and keep offering. She does like dairy generally so will keep up the yoghurt and cheese. We already co-sleep for some of the night but I suppose I will have to give up any thoughts of improved sleep for a while.