Breastfeeding and away from my 11 month old for a few days

[Frezia]

I'm due to go on a 4 day business trip in a few weeks, just before DS's first birthday. I'm breastfeeding and have no experience with feeding the baby expressed milk, neither does DH who's staying with him.

DS eats solids well and loves drinking water. He does also like to nurse still and feeds several times a day - usually quick feeds for a couple of minutes at a time.

He also feeds a few times at night and these can be a bit longer. We co-sleep and these are usually dream feeds for both of us so I don't have a clear knowledge of exactly how often he feeds and how much he takes.

He doesn't take a dummy and I'm pretty sure he wouldn't take a bottle but I suppose he can drink expressed milk from a cup.

I'm not sure how much breastmilk should I express in advance - Google is not much of a help. But I'd also like to know how often should the baby be offered milk and how much at a time. Should DH try to mimic his usual feeding pattern?

In the same boat... hopefully someone will be along with some advice!

I'm breastfeeding and have no experience with feeding the baby expressed milk, neither does DH who's staying with him.

By this do you mean you haven't expressed before? If that's the case just express what you can and get DH to eke it out the 4 days rather than using it all in one day for example.
Use whatever kind of cup DS uses for his water. You'll probably find he'll just pick up where you left off when you get back.

I'd definitely not get him into a bottle at this stage, it sounds like it could be a huge waste of time.

Have you started expressing to build up a stash for when you're away yet?

Thanks for the advice. I haven't started expressing yet, we're currently abroad but will start next week when we're back. I'll have four weeks to build up the supply. Not sure how realistic it is.