Any advice re leaving breastfed baby for a night - no like bottles!

[sven]

Hi - does anyone out there have any advice for me?
My 9 month old DD currently has 2-3 feeds a day. Always first and last thing and sometimes in the middle of the day (but never seems to worry about this if I'm not around). In the past I have left her with relatives and she has been fine but this was when she would accept a bottle of EBM. However, she has never really liked bottles and we never really had much cause to push the point so for a few months now she has not had a bottle of milk. Soon, I will have to leave her overnight and am worried about it. I know that one morning and night of missing milk won't seriously affect her health but I don't won't her to be horrible for whoever is looking after her. She will drink from a cup (anything but ebm milk!). In the back of mind is also the thought that I would like to stop b/f soon and am wondering how to do it without the use of bottles. Thanks in advance of help!

You have only 3 months to go until you can give cow's milk. I would continue B/F for this short while longer then you wouldn't need to start giving formula. At this stage you do not need to use bottles at all. When you leave her, let her have whatever she will take from a cup. You can mix EBM into her food. You might even find she will take EBM from a cup when you are not there because she has no choice. She will be absolutely fine.

I stopped b/feeding at eight months & went straight to cups (beaker types - you have to experiment with loads of different ones!!) with formula in until DS was 11 months-ish when he went on to cows milk. I must admit I did it for purely snobbish reasons as I don't like the look of 'big' babies with bottles but it worked well & DS drank very happily from cups. I agree with Mears that if you are not around I am sure DD will drink whatever she is give, if not, one night really won't hurt. HTH.

If she will eat yoghurts, esp. fromage frais, they count towards your milk intake, so it could be whoever minds her overnight for you can fill her up with a couple of those for supper, and maybe that will see her nicely through the night.
Good luck

I breast fed my ds until 3 weeks before his 1st birthday. I just decided I wanted to stop. I worried in case he wouldn't take some milk in his beaker but he was no bother at all. I just went off for a swim and left him with my husband and he gave him his milk and put him to his bed. I never breast fed him after that. He just accepted that he got some milk in his beaker at bed time and never looked for the breast again. He too never took a bottle so I was worried how it would work but it was alot easier than I thought.

Good luck.

Lorna
XX