Going back to work and bf

[sunshine75]

Dd is now 10 months and has 3 bf a day, on waking, mid afternoon and before bed.

Anyway, I go back to work when she is 11 months. Should I replace the mid afternoon one with formula or cows milk from a cup or just get rid of it altogether and let her have a snack. I'll probably continue with the morning and night ones until she is 1.

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

I was in the fortunate position of being able to nurse DD during my lunchbreak when I first went back to work, but I dropped that feed when she was a year old with no ill effects. I would think dropping the lunchtime feed at 11 months will be fine. And if you are thinking of weaning altogether at a year, then this will be a good first step.

Whether you replace the bm with formula is up to you, but I don't think it is necessary. Do the guidelines still say cow's milk only after 12 months? My DD has never had cow's milk as a drink. When we dropped her lunchtime feed she just had a drink of water instead.

My 11mo DS is only on 2 bfs a day. We tried introducing formula at the pm feed but he refused. So I just stopped offering to see what happened and he never demanded it again. This happened at 9.5mo which seemed young, but he has been absolutely fine since.

I have recently started introducing cows milk during the day in the hope that he will be used to it when I want to drop the feeds (I return to work in 2 weeks and will wind down breastfeeding once he is settled with the new routine.) He will take 1-2oz a couple of times a day - now usually has a snack and some cows milk mid-afternoon. I also make sure he gets enough dairy through meals.

So I think 2 feeds a day would be fine, although I do think it should be driven by your daughter or you may find she starts demanding to nurse more when you have returned from work. Does she demand that feed or are you just in the habit of offering?

No, not reallly demand feeding - i just offer it between 2 and 3 depending upon how much she ate for lunch.

Try not offering and see what happens. Or offer a drink of water and a snack instead if you think she'll be hungry.

I just offered our Dd water at lunch time, she was still being BF morning and night for a few months after I went back to work, she didn't even seem to notice. She eventually accepted cows milk from 14 months and has that instead now. Good luck with going back to work, it'll feel like you've never been away after your first day