DD going to nursery in August not sure what to do re bf

[makedoandmend]

She's on solids and I bf first thing, mid morning, around lunch, mid afternoon, after dinner and often last thing but not always. She's cut down the time from around two hours a day in total to around 1hour. Bit stuck on what to do next. She starts nursery in August (I don't go back to work until Sept but wanted a month with me close to settle her in as I work over an hour away). Can I expect her to really have cut down by then to just morning and night feeds or will she still be needing milk throughout the day (at the moment it's a struggle to get her to take water - although my dh has more success). If so I'm going down the formula route from a cup (but will bf morning and night) but when should I introduce that? And do I sterilise the cup (she'll be 9m - at the mo I don't sterilise anything).

Sorry for the 20 questions but I feel a bit rudderless here so would appreciate the help. I want to make the transition easier for her. I've tried HV but, as usual, pretty useless.

I have never sterilised a cup - ever.

You can't really predict what she'll be like in three months but hopefully she'll be having a lot more solid food and will have reduced her milk intake.

Give water with every meal and she will get the idea that drinking water is okay - or formula if you are more comfortable with that idea.

I was able to leave my baby without anything but water or juice (not formula-didn't want her to have it) from 8 months when i went back to work f/t, but we carried on breastfedding until she was 2 1/2.

3 months is a long time with a baby who is weaning, I would try to go with the flow till then and decide what to do nearer the time.
fwiw both mine were bf and started at nursery at 11 and 7 months respectively. ds1 was on solids so I just sent 2 small bottles of formula for him to use if he needed milk. DS2 was younger so at first I sent 3 small bottles of ebm but replaced it with formula pretty quickly as I never managed to express much and sat there all night with a pump after he'd gone to bed!
Every baby is different but neither of my two managed to drink anything from a cup till at least 18m so it was much less stress and hassle to use a bottle for nursery - but I used the smallest hole teats as I felt this made it more like the sucking action of bf rather than it just pouring out of a larger hole teat. (they are numbered and have ages of child on them so a 7m child is 'supposed' to have quite a fast flow teat to get him the milk quicker which I alwayss found strange as the holes in your nipples don't get bigger as your child ages!!)

Thanks everyone - maybe I'll hang on for a month and reassess and plough on with offering water.

Moondog - had you already reduced her feeds before starting nursery?

I went back when dd was 10 months. Simply offered water in my absence and fed her when she was with me. Never went down ff route, no need.

Agree with Flibbertyjibbet. At 6mo my DS was still feeding in a similar pattern to your DD, often more throughout the day and certainly at least once in the night. He started nursery this month at 9mo, and by his own inclination now feeds first thing in the morning, mid-morning, mid-afternoon and before bed (sometimes in the night if I am being lazy he's thirsty or upset).

On nursery days I send him in with two 4oz bottles of ebm, occasionally formula if expressing hasn't been productive or just hasn't happened for whatever reason.

I went back to work (3 full days) when DD was almost 10 months. She was fully BF. I started expressing and sending EBM in a bottle but she wasn't bothered. After a few weeks I stopped. She had food, and water in a spouted cup.

She is 2.3 now and still BF at home (she's never had formula)

Elvis/bamboo/cyteen - do you mean you carried on bf on the days she wasn't at nursery? I'll be going back three days and did wonder whether I would bf during the day on the days she was with me even if she was just on water on nursery days. I didn't know if it would confuse her?

Sorry when I say she I mean she/he - force of habit

Yeah, we've carried on doing what we've always done when at home - it doesn't seem to make the slightest difference to him, or to my supply I think if anything it's less confusing for them to bf when with mum and not when not, iyswim.

Also I'd but a doidy cup as most DC seem to be able to drink out of these. Also you'd be surprised the difference simply not having the option of boob makes - that's prob why DH can get her to have water.

Thanks Cyteen - that does make sense now that i think about it.

Did your little one settle in ok? I'm dreading it

Navy - that's what I thought re DH - i think she can smell the milk on me and obviously prefers it to water! I'll have a look at the Doidy - I thought she might be too young.

Nope she'll be fine - she will probably just lift it up and spill it to start with but that's all learning.

Just put a touch of water in it to start with and you hold it to her mouth with her bib under her chin and she will lap at it rather than gulp but that's fine. I work as a nanny and I was quite shocked to see a 6 month old drinking from a doidy cup so I always introduce them alongside solids now.

Another good one if the doidy seems like a faff is a nuby cup. It has a special teat that doesn't require much sucking - more nudging so it's a great starter cup.

Thanks for the tips Navy - I was looking for a better cup - got the Tommee Tippee starter cup which is a bugger to clean and the lid is so tricky to get off it sheds its contents over me every bloody time I use it. Maybe there's knack - if so I haven't found it!

ditto moondog. Both my children refused to drink expressed milk and didnt seem bothered not to have it. They both went to nursery at 6 months and were there 7 to 8 hours a day. They just fed before they went, when I picked them up and in the evening as usual.

When the warmer months came round they both instinctively started drinking some water - not in quantities like milk - but enough to quench thirst.

They didnt seem to equate milk with anyone else if that makes sense - it was about me. So if I wasnt there then they didnt want it. If they were at home with me then they would cry for milk if I didnt feed them in the middle of the day and the afternoon.

Have just realised this makes me sound like I have twins - I dont, DS is now nealy 3 and DD is 9 months - and following the same patern as DS did. She is just starting to accept water in this heat.

makedoandmend, I was dreading it too but he is settling in quite nicely. For me the anticipation was definitely worse than the event! And dare I say it, I'm actually quite enjoying being back at work half the week.

When I go and pick him up at the end of the day, I get butterflies in my stomach because I'm so excited to see him again

People saying your DC didn't have any milk at all when at nursery - were they still feeding at night?

DS (8 months) normally has five feeds in the day, none at night. On nursery days (3 a week) two of those feeds fall when he's at nursery, so he has bottles of EBM (150ml, no idea what that is in oz!). If he didn't have those he'd only have three milk feeds on those days - surely that's not enough when milk's still his main source of nutrition?

Only just come back to this but like the others have said, the 4 days I didn't work DD just BF as normal, as and when she wanted.

She settled much easier than I expected. I have always BF her at nursery when I drop her off. If the staff find it odd they've never said