how soon before going back to work should I start moving across to formula?

[eggybrokenoff]

will be going back when he is 9mths, so was thinking I should start cutting back breastfeeding at about 8mths (very sad). Is that early enough?

you can make the swap whenever you want really
or, you could continue breastfeeding

at his age he will be fine with food and water during the day and breastfeeding before and after work and at night.
or you could express and leave milk for him?

Will you be working fulltime/long days? Just wondered if you might want to consider him having food and water in the day and BF when you are at home?

If its not possible/not what you want, I would change him over gradually, maybe over 2-3 weeks or so (for the sake of your boobs as well as baby!)

I will be going back to work before I stop BF and I'm just avoiding thinking about it

You can do if you'd like to stop bf anyway but as it doesn't sound like you do, I wouldn't worry too much.

I absolutely agonised over this, going back to work 4 days a week when DS was same age, and in the end he still would never take a bottle at home, so what happened was he drank a little water and ate a LOT of yoghurt at nursery and caught up on the bf at home, and my supply adjusted accordingly so was not engorged or even leaky at work.
He never took formula in the end, he moved on to cow's milk in a cup at nursery and actually still quite a lot of bf at home until 20 months, then I decided I'd had enough and wound down the bf with the last feeds when he was just over 2 years old.

Sometimes I think what normal babycare books say about bf is based more on theory than experience, I have since found out that my experience is not v unusual after all but the books made me think we'd need to hire a special nanny for a day to keep shoving bottles at him before nursery started - I think that would have been very distressing for him.

I wouldnt bother too much with the formula and just carry on bf when you're with him. At this age I'd stopped expressing and had ready made formula if really needed when I wasnt there.

I went back full time when DD was 8 months, and I fed her morning and evening. She didn't have any formula during the day, just water (and food obviously). I did think about trying to express but decided it would just be a bit much hassle as there's nowhere at work I can do it (although technically there should be).
This worked really well for us! I think I only cut out the last daytime feed a couple of weeks before I went back.

PS would like to add that nursery did also feed DS food, not just yoghurt

At 9 months it wouldn't be difficult for you to carry on BFing if you wanted too. You could express one or 2 bottles to send to childcare, or send formula if you don't want to express then bf the rest of the time.
If you do want to stop, try swapping one feed at a time over the course of several weeks.
You can make it work however you want to do it but IME a feed is a nice way to 'reunite' after a day at work

If you want to carry on - then I second what others have said about b/fing in the morning and evening and him having formula or water in the day.

With my DS1 I gave up at 9 months when I was going back to work - I just presummed it was a all or nothing situation.
With DS2 I went back to work at 10 months but I b/f until he was 20months, even when I had to go away with work for a couple of nights when he was 1, I just pumped and dumped and he had cow's milk for a few days.

Your body is amazing and it will adjust to any changes in milk demands. Good luck.