Thinking of stopping day breastfeeds

[Nousername2015]

My little boy will be 7 months old next week, he's been breastfed since birth. Over the past few weeks he's been getting so distracted when feeding to the point that I can barely get him to feed during the day and I'm getting worried about his overall milk intake. If we are out of the house there's absolutely no chance of him feeding. His dirty nappies are getting to be quite 'solid' although he isn't constipated. We are in the process of weaning and it's going well apart from the fact that he will not even entertain the sippy cup of water, or water given in any kind of cup.

I'm back at work in a couple of months and the plan is for him to be formula fed during the day and breastfed when I'm not at work but I'm now thinking I need to start this now to make sure he is getting enough milk. Any advice on how best to do this? I'm still planning on breastfeeding him when he wakes up and when he goes to bed, the substitution would be the late morning and afternoon feeds. I'm not sure I'm ready for this but I've tried everything to make him feed!

I'm in exactly the same position. My ds won't take milk from any other source than me.

My breastfeeding group leader suggested leaving some milk (breast of formula) but if he doesn't take it not to worry as by 9/10 months he should be eating enough to sustain him in the day and will make up for it in other times.

Just thought my experience may be helpful

I went back to work when my daughter was only 7 months but we are still bf now & she's nearly 2 (!!!!). Anyway, you can totally stop feeds in the day and confinue bf as that's what I did pretty much, however I did express at work because I was so damn full (and in pain at first!). Though she never took milk from a cup or bottle when I was around (so we never managed to get her to take one before I went back to work) she did do when I wasn't there so you may be surprised what your baby dies when you are not there. I stopped expressing after about 12 weeks as I no longer felt full and didn't get much when expressing. She then had feeds morning, when I got back from work and bedtime (and a bit in the night too, but that lessened over time). She does feed in the day at the weekend though, if I'm around.

To the original OP, I wouldn't bother giving formula feeds while you are present, your baby will probably want the breast only and in my experience you can avoid any formula use at all if you go back to work post 6 months. If you never given it don't start now!

I'm in a similar position. I went back to work when dd was 16 weeks and had stored ebm and continued to express at work. She was taking either 15 or 20 oz just while I was at work, she's supposed to need 25-30oz over the 24 hours! I can't keep up with that! I work in a school so on summer hols now but not planning to express at work when I go back in September, was going to give formula during the day. To prepare my body for this I was going to start giving a bottle of formula once during the day then twice the week before I go back. I will try to express one bottle in the evenings if I can but not pressuring myself. I will be bf in morning and at night. I know I provide on supply and demand, but wasn't sure if I cut out daytime feeds if milk supply will be ok during the evening or if I will get too full during the day until I stop completely.

Like your lo, my dd gets very distracted during the day and sometimes only feeds for about 5 mins total, she is on and off like crazy but she is putting on weight - that can be your guide! Compared to what she was having from the bottle, this was quite alarming at first!! My dd has also started waking more at night, I know it's common at this age (5months) but I can't help thinking it's because she isn't getting enough milk during the day and maybe long sleepy feeds are giving her more milk than the short distracted bursts. I have however started expressing her night bottle the last few days so I know she's had a decent amount before bed, helped a little bit!!

Bread widow, how would it be possible to avoid formula altogether? Do you mean express?

I exclusively bf my daughter until she was 8 months old and moved to formula. she is 13 months old and still has 3 bottles a day (morning, afternoon and before going to bed). IME you will manage to feed mornings and evenings and change the day feeds to formula. You might have to try different types of formula and bottles (teats) though. the one that worked for us was NUK latex teat (they are like nipples) and I had to hold her like I was breast feed so she would take it. I had to try for several days and always tried when she was hungry. Half the battle was getting the teat in her mouth once she could taste the milk it was ok.

My hv said she would not take the bottle from me as she can smell the milk but she did and for a long time she would only take the bottle from me. Now she only takes it from me or her dad. Nobody else can give her the bottle - the childminder is trying every day!
But again you might have to try different scenarios, go out for a bit and ask your DH to give him the bottle for example.

Good luck!

Yes, you can avoid formula altogether by expressing but also if the baby is over 6 months by feeding them when you are with them (will mean more night feeds tho, I'd have thought). I think it's probably harder to avoid formula if you return to work before 6 months but it's doable (hard work though).

I think loads of babies over 6 months are very distracted to bf during the day, and this may contribute to night feeding actually increasing when you expect it to stop, aaaagh!! From my point of view this wasworth it to avoid giving formula, but that was important to me as my older child never had any and I was determined to do the same by my daughter, no 2

I fed ds to 2.5. He basically reverse cycled from about 7/8 months when I returned to work. I gave him 4.5 ounces of formula for when I was away (half of a pre made carton per day) and the rest was from me. If we were home I would still BF at the weekends but otherwise it was nights, evenings and mornings. He adapted to whatever was on offer.

I had to take dd to GP today for oral thrush but we spoke about weaning and formula milk. My dd has reflux so she advised to make food main source of nutrition ASAP, keep going with milk but solids first and top up with milk - complete opposite to what I have been advised before which was that milk is main and should be first then try out solids to just get used to them first. She also suggested that this way, we wouldn't need much (if any) formula when I return to work. Saying this, I need to get my body ready so am going to introduce one or two small bottles of formula during the day in preparation. I don't really know why but I feel so against formula this time, I didn't with my ds who was weaning and combination feeding at 4 months. I think I am just worried that supply will slow as it did with him and I will have to stop bf before I'm she's ready!

Anyway, OP. Thought that info might be of interest. Make sure solid diet is varied and up it as much as possible to reduce reliance on milk during the day allowing feeds in evenings etc to be main source of milk! Don't worry too much about the exact amount unless weight starts to drop etc

My DD is 7 months, I went back and did 2days at work in July, and was very worried as she wouldn't take a bottle before. But she took them fine as I was completely out of the picture for 8 hours! I am now mixing and matching in preparation for working part time and planning to mix breastfeeding and formula feeding depending on my working days. Fingers crossed it seems to look like it will work for us, although she is getting very distracted during daytime feeds.

All of mine have gradually dropped day time feeds but maintained an evening/morning one. The evening one being the last to go.
He loves a Nubby cup but only really chews it and all the liquid seems to go down his front.
If he's eating enough of the right stuff plus bookend feeds he should get enough liquid. Plus he is more likely to take it when he gets accustomed to the new routine.

I.e he is more likely to take a bottle/cup from someone else when you are not there.