Comforting BF baby when back at work

[Zapata29]

DS is 7 and a half months old, was exclusively BF until weaning at 6 months, generally getting on well with solids but still breastfeeding at least 2-3 times during the day. He generally wants milk after he's had solids, and also feeds to sleep so he's used to having milk before a nap.

I'm going back to work in 2 weeks and am now kicking myself for getting into the feed-to-sleep habit as obviously I won't be there during the day. He'll be with DM initially then in nursery two days a week, I'll provide expressed milk for him - he drinks water from a sippy cup but wouldn't take milk from it when I left him with DM for a few hours the other day, just got v upset and cried We have only used bottles a couple of times, first time he took it and then after that he refused so we just left it and carried on breastfeeding until he was weaned.

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to comfort DS while I'm away and help him get used to not breastfeeding during the day? I'm really anxious about leaving him anyway and thinking of him crying to be fed and me not being there is just killing me!

P.s. To clarify last sentence of second paragraph - I meant we carried on breastfeeding exclusively until he was weaned and then moved on to solids and water from a sippy cup in addition to BF.

I remember being where you are now, and feeling similarly worried, but I needn't have. DD was about 8 months when I went back to work 3 days a week, and she just adapted. On the days she was with me she still BF to sleep, napped in my arms, BF on demand (a lot), etc, but when she was with the childminder she just got on with it. She never, ever took a bottle (expressed or formula), but she was fine with water from a cup and solids when she wasn't with me. I wish I had known (or rather, believed people who said) that it would be ok, as trying to 'get DD ready' brought unnecessary stress into my last few weeks off work.

Good luck!

He'll be fine. Your mum and thence nursery will cuddle, comfort and distract him, he'll get used to no bf available at Nanna's or nursery and content himself with water. Prepare yourself for reverse cycling at first, this too shall pass.

My baby is about the same age as yours, been at nursery a couple of weeks, and I had similar fears as she was fed to sleep or in the sling for all daytime naps. On her second day they told me she'd fallen asleep in her bed by herself and she's been napping like a champion ever since (two-hour naps at nursery compared to 30 minutes max at home!). Babies are clever, they figure things out

Thanks so much for your comments, this makes me feel way better! I've been thinking I should be planning for every scenario and preparing DS for me not being there when really I just want to enjoy the last days of my maternity leave...

I had to give up breastfeeding and replace with prescriptipn formula cold turkey at 7 months..
I was SO worried but he adapted incredibly well. We have him a little bunny to sleep with as a replacement for the comfort the breast offered. I'd always been wary of the prospect of anything in his cot due to lulabytrust advice but this was advice given to me by my local breastfeeding cafe. It worked a treat. He hugs it and strokes it to settle himself to sleep now.

My DD was older at 12 months when I went back to work, but was similarly being offered expressed milk and was also only in nursery 2 days a week. It took about 2 months for her to start drinking the expressed milk properly so it is worth persisting. We had most luck with a Munchkin miracle 360 beaker - she never would take a bottle. What nursery did was give her a small amount of expressed milk unheated and leave her with the beaker - if it's unheated you have a couple of hours before it has to be chucked. DD was walking by that point so wandered around with it, but you might get somewhere giving him a cup and letting him sit and play with it (it might want to be a no spill cup though).

With comfort, we'd bought DD a comforter months earlier but she didn't get attached to it until she started nursery. She was always fed to sleep at home but rapidly got used to being patted to sleep at nursery - it was a lot less of a problem than I expected.