Back to work. To tit or not to tit?

[pooface1]

Hello,

I have a 8 month DD who has started eating, still breastfeeding and co-sleeping. I have been home with her while DH has been working full time. DD and I are still very attached.

In a couple of months I will slowly starting to work again and in 2 months I have a work project that take a lot of my time - mornings, afternoons and late nights for about a month. DH will be taking care of DD while this is happening.

How do I prepare DD for this? Do I stop bf and start giving her the bottle?
I want to prepare so that the experience will be easier for both DH and DD

Well in 2 months time your DD will be 10 months plus which may well mean that she needs one or two less feeds a day than than now. She could also be quite used to drinking from a free flow cup by that point. So instead of introducing a bottle she could perhaps have milk in a cup instead.

That way you would avoid having to introduce a bottle, when you should be removing it at 12 months anyway.

You could start giving one milk feed in a cup now and introduce more later so that it isn't an abrupt change.

Do you want to continue breastfeeding after this project? If so, you'll most probably need to find time to express. You may need to express anyway as you may become uncomfortably engorged and possible risk mastitis.

You lost me at the thread title!!!

It was a little off-putting LEM!

I had no problem continuing breastfeeding when I returned to work either time - DS1 was 10 months, DS2 was 12 months. At that stage I was only really missing one feed a day while I was out at work, and though I expressed once a day at work for a while I could have got away without doing it. I continued to feed morning, when I got in from work, and evening. Did pretty much nothing to prepare either time other than ensuring DS could drink from a cup. There's definitely no need to stop BF completely even if you give some formula feeds, I found it a nice way to reconnect with DS.