Thinking of stopping bf soon,how to go about it?? i am clueless.

[Imawurzel]

My DD is 24 weeks tomorrow and i am thinking of stopping the bf-ing.Due to having to go back to work soon and so we can leave her with relatives for an evening, possibly overnight.She still wakes 2/3 times at night.
But when i go back to work there won't be anywhere i can express.I am not using the staff/public toilets.
Does this make me sound selfish?
anyway, my question is, how do i go about quitting bf?
Do i stop all together or best to do it gradually?
i have been giving her a bottle with a teat type thing on it from boots to play with and get used too,and she does drink from a beaker type thingy, it's got a soft ish spout, which she prefers.
sorry this has turned into an essay.
(i'm going to bed now cos i don't know what time she'll wake for feed 1am,3am?)
tia.

If you wanted to continue you could try and combine BF and FF for a while, e.g. BF last thing before you go to work, then first thing again when you get back. I do this with DD2 and it's working well. I don't leak anymore, though, unless i get home much later than 5 pm. She's 9 months old now. I expressed for a while in my office (also no other facilities at work, although a very pro-BF/mother/child organisation). How old will she be when you go back?

Sorry for late reply, been doing the garden today,she'll be 9 months when i go back to work.
I have thought about bf her first thing in the morning and maybe bedtime feed. i don't really know what i want to do.
she is only having about 4 feeds a day now, about an hour after we get up, around lunchtime,middle of pm,then 5 or 6pm.
Which would be easier to try and drop?

You've still got lots of time. Personally, I'd just carry on as you are for the time being and sort out the feeds to drop the week or so before going back to work. Your DD may give you a clue by then. Your DD already takes a bottle/cup so it shouldn't be too difficult getting her to drink something out of it. (DD1 refused a bottle point blank, so she'd have nothing to drink on the day I was at work.)

You have ages yet. Why not carry on are you are for now, but the easier feeds to drop would be the daytime ones, you might find its nice for you both to have morning and bedtime feeds even when you are back at work.

I did this and went back to work about the same time as you are - just fed DS morning and evening and odd times through the night. Still doing it 18 months on so it does work!
good luck, it'd be a shame for your DD to miss out, and it is a lovely way to 'reconnect' after a day away from them

Thankyou all for your replies.
I like the idea of morning and evening feeds.
i will start trying to give her milk in her cup thing on monday, not to drop a feeed just to see if she will take it all or not.
It holds 4oz.
if she does then i know i can drop daytime feeds.

You'll probably feel reassured to know that she takes a bottle or cup and then can continue with full BF until you need to drop some. Good luck. At least when you're back at work it'll make that side of things easier, knowing she's not suffering from hunger as well as from longing for you.

I dropped a feed a week - and it wasn't too bad on the engorgement.
I too can't express at work so I understand your issue and no you don't sound selfish at all.

My lo's nursery told me that they have a lot of problems with babies that have been exclusively bf right up until starting nursery - they say that nusery is then very upseting and stressful for those babies as they don't know what is going on (bottle not breast) and they are in a different place etc.

I gave myself and my lo plenty of time before going back to work so I was sure he was going to be ok with it all

Am pretty sure that there is a legal requirement for employers to provide proper support and an appropriate place for women who need to express at work, is poor that two of you dont have this option. Can you ask you employers to look into it for you?

Well, the NCT hasn't got such facilities at the moment either so I'm not surprised other places don't.

I don't think it's a legal requirement - they are just "encouraged" or "advised" to, can't remember the exact terms, it's not enforceable anyway

I went back to work when my son was just short of 6mo and had been exclusively breastfed until then. He was an absolute nightmare to wean on to a bottle and took a month at nursery before we cracked it (with, dare I say it, a spoon of sugar in his bottle ). So that's an important bit to get sorted!!!

However, once sorted with the bottles during the day it's been plain sailing and for several months I fed him before and after work, which was lovely . Once they're on solids properly, they reduce their milk intake substantially anyhow. Now he's 11mo, I still bf him in the morning, he barely has any milk during the day (but eats like a horse) and has about 8oz from a cup in the evening.

I left my baby for whole days at 10 months and never had to wean her onto a bottle, at that point, they can drink water in the day and can catch up on feeds in the evening and morning. You may find that's the easiest thing to do.

Looks like it is a legal requirment but agree prob hard to enforce
messageboards.ivillage.co.uk/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-ukpbbreastfd&msg=17620.2&x=y

Pannacotta - I work out of my car and am driving most of the time. I did not want to be on hard shoulder of M6 expressing iykwim, and I wouldn't have anywhere to store it safely in the car as car fridges are only on when the car is running so would warm up when I was in a meeting etc.

It is slightly annoying that you assume we all have jobs where we can do this and when we say we don't you assume it is something that can be 'sorted'

I weaned DS onto formula at 7ish months because I planned to go back to work when he was 9 months. I dropped the late afternoon feed first (kept bedtime) and then kept dropping them earlier and earlier. So for a while my rule was no boob between 3pm and bedtime. Then between 1pm and bedtime etc.

Anyway, I kept up the first thing in the morning feed and the bedtime feed and in the end I didn't go back to work until he was one and we are still bfing first thing in the morning and at bedtime.

He is now 17m, loves his "boos" but knows he only has them at certain times of the day. I can go away for the weekend and it still works out.

DKMA I was answering the OP's thread where she talks about staff/public toilets so it's pretty clear she does not work as a driver. Was simply trying to be helpful and anyway it IS a legal requirement, there's not much I can do about your personal circumstances.

You were rather rude DKMA when Pannacotta was trying to be helpful, if we all knew everyone's exact personal circumstances in every situation posted, it's unlikely that there would be any posts at all as people wouldn't bother if they were just going to get flamed.

Thanks bamboo

Another question. Do i start buying cartons of milk or go straight and buy a tin?
I have tried her on sma & cow and gate neither of which she liked much but she does drink aptimil hungry baby if offered.
Thought i'd try her on them a few weeks ago.

Pannacotta you said 'it is poor that there are two of you that don't have that option' so one being me - right!??

It's just not practical for many of us at work to do regardless of the law.

Fair enough, no need to be rude about it.

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