Milk free days - will baby survive?!!

[nozmum]

Hi DD2 is currently 6m but will be 7 1/2 months when I have to leave her for full days in (a wonderful lovely) nursery whilst I earn the bananas. She will not (NO NO NO NO THANKYOU MUMMY!)take a bottle (tried everything and gave up) but has recently started taking a tommee tippee beaker with cold water (few sips) or very cold carton formula (even fewer sips). I am currently bf 8am, sometimes 11am, 3 pm, 7pm, 10.30pm and usually 4am!although usually quite small amounts I think. She is now on 3 decent meals a day and is perfect weight and doing great. If I was not having to work I would just chill out and let her wean in her own time (like DD1) BUT I have no choice and NO idea how to get from this situation to beakers and solids during day, no night feed and bf 7am, 7pm and 10.30 pm!? (and I can't always guarantee the 7pm feed either)Anyone else sent a bottle refuser to nursery at this age and what top tips do you have? Is she likely to start taking more from beakers soon?If worst comes to worst can babies of 7 months manage on no feeds between breakfast and late tea-time? Ta for advice!

The DS of a RL friend of mine doesn't have milk in a bottle when she is at work for 2 days.

She started sending a bottle of EBM and found that he wasnt interested in it, so didnt bother. (Same kind of age at the time). He gets on fine and is on 3 meals with snacks.

Also - have you tried with someone else giving a bottle on EBM? When ou are not around?

My 7mo DS has survived on no feeds between breakfast and late afternoon a couple of times. I had to leave him for the day twice when he was teething and the teething made him refuse the bottle, so he waited until I got in at about 5pm before he fed. He wasn't too grumpy but was clearly pleased to see me

However, I guess it would depend on how many days per week you would be doing this for.

Thanks both! BabyOcho - good to hear about your friend - and thanks for your suggestion I have tried someone else (multiple), somewhere else, every kind of bottle/teat, EBM, facing in, facing out, all kinds of formula, hot, cold, dream feeds, day feeds, starving, just fed, finger under chin, singing the theme to various popular radio shows, etc etc etc etc....I think I would have tried to get the Pope to feed her if I thought it might help..but have tried to destress about it now and just accept and adapt! And thanks HolidaysQueen - it will be three days most weeks.. so probably OK?

my best friend went back to work at 7 months her son had 3/4 breastfeeds in 24 hours
7am, 5.30pm 8pm 11pm
she fed him in the nursery as soon as she was picking him up. He sipped water during the day

there was no chance he was taking anything.. she BF him till he was 16 months.

Good lUkc!!

She will probably make up for it when she does see you!! ie, LOTS OF BOOBY!! I know a couple of working Mums whose baby's never had milk during the day!

I would try a cup, even a doidy cup as this is even less like a bottle! there really is not point usung bottles over 6 mths as you would just have to wean them off them again in a few months anyway!

ds2 was a bit older (10 months) but did absolutely fine on just am and pm milk (sometimes very early and very late) - and you can give 3 feeds so more milk.
He didn't drink much in the day, but ate lots of splodgy food.
The nice thing is that I would have stopped bfing if he had been happy with an alternative, but as he wasn't, we are still bfing 2 feeds a day at 19 months .

I was just going to post to ask how many feed should a 7mths have!

I think you might find she takes milk from a bottle or beaker when you are not around.
It's common that they go ballistic only when mum and the sweet smell of milk are around

Went back to work part time when DD was 5mths (2 mths ago) and she definitely thrives on fewer feeds when am not around.............only by making up for it with a revenge at night!

She's now on 3 meals a day and I'm calling it quits for the night. I can't do with the 2 hourly suckling for comfort anymore!

So we do

7 am BF and breakfast
10 am small milk feed in a bottle/cup
12 lunch
2 pm big milk feed
5 pm tea
6 pm big milk feed

10/11 pm dream feed - & I decided I will now let her dad give her a bottle to dissociate breast and sleep

I will only give one feed in the middle of the night and do shish/pat untill she can self soothe.

It's Haaaaaaaaaaaaaard!

DS was such a good sleeper. I'm in shock.

I think you can get away with 7 am - 7 pm - 10:30.

And let nursery staff try and figure out when she may need a top up. I would be inclined to say either straight after lunch or early afternoon depending on timing of afternoon nap & snack/lunch/tea times.

You might find that nursery helps her ease in a routine.

good luck

Yep - she will be fine. Sounds exactly like my DS. He went to nursery from 6 months and refused to take milk from any vessel - and never ever did lol. At 2.5 he has now started drinking a bit of milk from a beaker!

She will be fine - give her a sippy cup with water but she will get water from foods at that age. If she is genuinely thirsty she will drink. DS wouldnt drink anything til he was 1 ish and it was the hot summer.

She will be fine