Please could I have some advice re returning to work and bfing?

[BellaBear]

I'm going to be going back to work in December when DS will be 11 months old for two days a week. He has been exclusively breastfed and I am hoping to continue until he wants to stop.
I will need to be out of the house between 7am (at the latest) and 4.30pm (at the earliest)

Currently (at 7.5 months) he has five feeds a day and a couple at night. (Give or take)

Do you think I need to introduce any formula or EBM for the two days he will be with a childminder? Or do you think we can get away with an early morning feed and one when I get back and then a bedtime feed?

I realise it is a few months away still but I don't know if I need to be making any plans or getting him used to it now, iyswim.

Any advice gratefully received!

How often does he feed during those particular hours. Does he take solids?

I went back when ds1 was 11mo and morning and evening feeds were fine. He had a lunchtime feed too on the days I was at home (I work 3 days a week).

Good luck, I hope it goes well. I am going back in November (currently off with ds2) so am trying to remember this stuff too!

at the mo, he has feeds at (very very roughly)
6.30
10
1.30
4.30
7
ish. I mean, that list wouldn't be odd, if that makes sense, but it is different every day.

with three 'meals' of solids where he sometimes eats, sometimes doesn't (am not in the least worried about the solids intake)

that souns promising beansprout

I went back with DS1 was 10 months and cut it down to just pm feeds as he was such a slow feeder I felt I didn't have time to fit it all in in the mornings.
I went back when DS2 was 11 months and kept both am & pm feeds - as he was such an early riser I wouldn't have konwn what to do if I couldn't snuggle in bed with him at 5.30am for an extra 1/2 hour.

In fact I have only recently stopped as he has very slowly become a 6.30am waker!

You will find (probably) that by the time Dec comes he will be only taking perhaps 3 feeds a day anyway. Try not to worry about work Dec is ages away yet.

DD went to nursery 2 days at 9 months and had been EBF (in addition to solids obv). I originally asked them to try to give her formula but she steadfastly refused all known types and ways of giving it to her. She was completely fine and we had no problems feeding normally on the other days. at that stage I fed her morning and evening on nursery days and that plus two in the day on other days. I tried to make sure she had a reasonable amount of dairy in food. She has always been a very good eater.

At 12 months I dropped the morning feed and again she has been fine. She had cows milk in the day from about 12 months. She is better with that than with formula. I gave her cows milk on cereal for a while before 12 months and then offered her a bit of milk in a cup after breakfast so that she got used to taste. My HV suggested that and said a limited amount was fine before 12 months, just not as a main drink.

Still BF before bed at 13.5 months.

That's just my experience but hope it's helpful. Am sure you'll be fine if he eats well.

thank you!

I know Dec is a way off but if I need to get him prepared it could take a while - hasn't had a bottle since his first week when we had feeding issues and he ended up getting EBM in a bottle for a week. Apart from that has always fed from me.

I expressed in work until ds3 was 12 months, after that, I just fed him when I was with him but didn't bother pumping when away from him unless it was a weekend away. It worked out fine.

hi, my ds2 only 8.5 months, but my experience might be useful.

i work 3 days a week, leave house at 7am, se baby again at 6ish.

i feed him in the morning and then when i return and at bedtime. he feeds 1-2 times at night (has been more, does not wake more now i'm at work iyswim). I leave about 4 oz of milk for him during the day and he has a bit of formula too. i express once a day at work - initially at around 11am but recently it has slipped to even as late as 4pm and i could probably get away without doing it at all. i don't get as much out as i did at the beginning when i retuned to work.

when i am at home i feed him on demand - roughly 7am, 9am, 10am, 2pm, 3pm, bedtime and then the night ones. he seems fine on that, but lots of he daytime feeds are quick ones, no idea how much he gets (it's more a way of getting him to sleep and waking up in a nice way i think)

he doesn't have a botle, but the childminder uses one of the tommee tippee first cup ones.

i think you would be fine a t 11 months/2 days a week to just give him water in a cup and some yoghurt/cheese when you work, or a mid afternoon drink of cows milk would propb be ok be=y then as it would only be twice/week rather than all the breast milk he is getting.

i did 1 or 2 trial sessions just before going back, don't worry about it yet. i think 7-11 months is lots of time and his feeding/eating migh be different by then too.

thanks, all v interesting

my experience is similar to weasle and after a couple of weeks experimenting seems to be working, my DD is 7 1/2 months and in nursery 4 days a week, I bf her when she wakes (around 6.30) and if she wakes in the night and seems distressed (hungry and/or teething, hard to tell sometimes!). She goes to nursery at 8 a.m. with 2 Tommee Tippee cups of ebm each about 4 fl oz and drinks one mid morning and one early afternoon, I pick her up from nursery at 5 take her straight home and bf her (is usually best feed of the day as she's usually quite hungry) then again before bed (she doesn't have much then, is more for comfort). She seems to be getting plenty of milk and I haven't had any problems expressing around 8 fl oz a day - I express once at work early afternoon, and after she's gone to bed, put the two lots together and it's usually the right amount! It did take some trial and error for a few weeks, she did at first drink some formula at nursery but then started rejecting it in favour of ebm which suits me anyway, plus it seems a lot easier on her bowels - her poo was a lot harder to pass when she had even a bit of formula!
Sorry to witter on, the other thing I wanted to say was when I do have her, 3 days a week, I bf her, around the same times she would normally have her two cups at nursery and again that seems to work well.In fact she is starting to prefer the cups in the day I think...
Finally, we experimented with how to give the milk in the cup and she likes it cold from the fridge, which is easiest for us as no heating
almost like she has a mid of her own already

I went back 3 days a week when dd2 was 11 months and she was fine on morning and evenings (you might find you get called on in the night too!). It worked just fine.

Tried expressed ebm - but she just wasn't having it. She was quite happy to feed as normal on my days off and then morning and evening when I was at work.

DD1 - who was 7 months when I returned to work - needed ebm in a beaker, but she also stopped when I was at work when she was a year old, and moved on to mornings and evenings.

If you have to leave early in the morning, you might want to wake her a little early to make sure she gets a good morning feed.

Don't worry - these things work out fine. I have worked and bf both my dds until they were toddlers (and a little beyond....)

thanks, all v useful to know!