Weaning Advice for 10mo with a view to returning to work when she is 12mo

[Latinatta]

Hi all,

Wondering if I can seek out some wisdom from the collective brain! Having a bit of a weaning conundrum.

DD is 10mo and I will be returning to work in 8 weeks when she will be just shy of 1yo. She has been ebf, started solids at 6 months and is a good little eater (BLW). She breastfeeds at 7am, 10.30am after morning nap, sometimes just before lunchtime nap at 12.30pm, at 2.30pm after nap and then a quick feed about 30 minutes before bed at 7pm. And then when she was ill last week ate no solid food but breastfed around the clock!

When I go back to work I intend to keep giving her a morning and an evening feed. However, I really need to think about daytime weaning her-
I don't want to do that too soon (would rather give maximum breast milk in the coming weeks and pumping for me is over- I get about 25ml in 30 minutes!) but want to give her plenty of time to adjust. I know she is still totally boob dependent for comfort and food during the day as she was crying with DH when I got back at 10.30am the other day having popped out during her nap- so the 'I'm not here maybe she won't realise she is missing it' theory definitely doesn't stand for her! He tried water/snacks/distraction all to no avail.

However, I'll be the one giving the bottle in the next few weeks and she'll know that I'm refusing her the feed- it's not feasible to get DH or someone else to do this with any regularity. However, I'll have a two week handover period with our nanny when we will both be at home just before I go back to work so I could get her to try the bottle and do the putdown for naps. Should I just wait until then and as she will be 3 weeks off turning 1 maybe just use cow's milk for daytime? Is two weeks long enough to adjust to such a dramatic change? Or would I be better off being very strict about giving a bottle during the day for a longer period of time to let her adjust? And am I better off giving her formula, or could I give her full fat cow's milk for the feeds where I think she mainly wants comfort as long as the other BFs are big? We've never done formula, so I have no idea how much she would take/need, and I'm wary of overfeeding as she is eating solids well and 97% for weight.

I know that supposedly the post-lunchtime feed should be the easiest to drop, but on the days when I have tried putting her down for a nap after a big lunch (with lots of yoghurt) with no boob, she has gone nuts.

Any advice very gratefully received!

I think you're over think g it - my ds2 was the same and I just did it cold turkey on the day I went back to work - he knew if I wasn't there there was no milk and he just had water instead. I got a bit full during the day but other than that there wasn't a problem. Just enjoy the next few weeks instead! Oh and there's no point in introducing a bottle at this age - go straight to a beaker.

You are over thinking this. At 1 dc don't need milk feeds during the day and you say she eats well so she should be fine with a quick morning feed and a bedtime feed. I wouldn't bother introducing either f or bottles, just bf morning and evening and offer a cup of milk during the day. You need to break the feed/sleep association, so you could bf downstairs then go upstairs to brush teeth and do story and bed?

Ah thanks both... that's interesting. I really didn't want to be in a position where she was really upset for a good few days/weeks but agree that introducing bottles/formula at this stage is far too tricky!

Did anyone have a nightmare going cold turkey?

InDubious I don't feed her to sleep or just before- usually she has milk 30 mins before a sleep. Thanks for your thoughts, much appreciated!!

You might find she behaves totally differently for her nanny! Also all of the nannies and cms I know have loads of ways to get dc to settle without parents there.

I don't think babies get upset about the things we think they might - she'll miss you but probably realise that you're not there so obviously no boobie.

I also went cold turkey with DS1 in the day when I went back to work no problems. He was even less of a problem as he ate tons of solids. dS2 was a 2nd centipede wisp who still had about 8 daytime feeds and very few solids when I went back at 12 months. I was really worried but I also knew that a bit of real hunger might actually force him to have some real food and drinks! And it worked, with very little fuss. He was always pleased to see me and fed straight away though.

Thanks all so much for your thoughts. Was feeling like I couldn't be the first person to be thinking this through but couldn't get my head around it!