Exclusively bf DD - will be nearly 10mo when I go back to work - will she be fine without daytime feeds?

[FollowingYonderSTAR]

Am very proud to say that my 9mo DD is exclusively bf. Has not been an easy road, but am glad I have made it.

I am going back to work next month when she will be a few days off 10mo. She doesn't take a bottle - have tried with ebm (although I am rubbish at expressing, despite having exclusively expressed for her first 2 weeks due to her being in hospital) - she'll play with it and maybe take an ounce, but that's it. Last two days I was on a course during the day and she was already down to just having a first thing morning bf, mid-afternoon bf and before bed bf. On last two days she did not take anything mid-afternoon, despite being offered bottle and at the evening feed on the Monday (when I was also out), she just took some from a cup (maybe two ounces) and cried herself to sleep rather than feed, so am pretty sure I'm onto a losing battle on getting her to take milk other than from me.

So, getting to the point - when I go back to work:
a) At 10mo, is milk first thing and last thing, plus 3x meals and snacks (ca. 2) enough? (Should add, she usually still has 2 x feeds during night - occasionally 1 if she has eaten well during day, sometimes 3 if really disturbed - i.e. these are between her last thing and first thing feeds)
b) I'm only doing 3 days a week to start with. Can I miss the mid-afternoon feed on the days I work and still continue it on the other 4 days in the week (if she wants it)? I only ever express max 3-4ozs regardless of how long since I last fed, so not sure whether expressing mid-afternoon at work will help?

Sorry for long waffly post, but grateful for any thoughts.

Worked fine for mine. First 2 I was back at work, the third gave up on daytime feeds at about 10 months of his own accord. And none of them were fed at night, just morning and bedtime. So long as eating a varied diet during the day she should be fine.

I went back to work when ds 10 months, he just had milk when he saw me as wouldn't take it any other way. It worked very well for us. I loved feeding him before bed after we'd been apart all day I will also be doing the same with ds2

Thanks both. Now, if she would only obligingly give me a sleep through the night for my Christmas present, like I've ever so kindly asked, we'll all be happy!!

I haven't been through this myself, but I had a very similar conversation with my SIL a couple of months ago when she decided she would be returning to work full-time when her dd was 8 months old. Her dd, like yours and mine, will only take milk from the boob. Here's how it worked for them.

The first couple of days back, SIL was a bit concerned about whether dd would get hungry in the day, so she had SAHD take dd to the office (only 15 minutes from their house) at lunchtime so that she could give her a feed. They realised that wasn't necessary by about the Wednesday of the first week.

So what dd has now is bfeeds before and after work, 11pm bfeed when SIL goes to bed then whatever night bfeeds she needs. At the weekend she bfeeds a lot more probably a) to compensate and b) to keep SIL's supply going nicely.

I might add that dd hardly seems to eat at the moment and yet the above works fine for them. And boy doesn't she have a lot of energy!!!

Obviously you'll have to see how it goes for the two of you specifically, but it wouldn't surprise me if you find the combination of daytime meals and snacks plus morning and evening/nighttime bf is fine and you don't actually need to express.

Thanks NyumNyumMum. Sounds like she should be alright. Is bizarre, but despite how tough it has been (mainly because DD is such a fan of boob and hasn't slept more than 6 hours in go - the other night for first time that was while I was asleep, yay!!! - the thing that is worrying me is that my supply will just drop off and not be enough, so is reassuring to hear it is working for your SIL.

I wondered myself what was do-able when I went back to work when ds was 12 months, so I know what you mean. We've now spent the last 6 months (is it really that long?) just doing his sleepytime feed. So each boob only gets stimulated every other day and I still seem to have milk. Or else he just loves me very much