Starting to plan for work - how much milk does an 8mth old need??

[FionaSH]

Hi all,

My LO is 5 and a half months and I plan to go back to work 2 days a week when he is 8 months.

I've weaned him early, so at the moment he has 3 meals a day, and about 5 milk feeds (4-5 daytime, and adream feed at 10pm). I'm giving him a cup with water in at meals, but at the mo he just likes to shake it.

How many feeds does a baby have a 8 months? Is it feasible it'll just be a morning and night feed??

Thanks!

I would love to know the answer to this too?

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Hello,

i can't give you an answer assuch, but I can tell you what we are doing.

My DS is just about 8 months and I have been back at work for a couple of months. ( )

He still has two feeds of EBM while I am out which I express at work.

He started on solids at 6 moths though, and has only just got onto 3 meals in the last few weeks.

I think he will be down to one milk feed while I am out soon, as he is having his second one later.

He doesn't feed so much at night though at the moment, so would maybe be ok during the day if he fed more in the evening/night?

Hope you get some other experiences.

look on the kellymom website link. There's a calculator for working it out.

I started back to work a few weeks ago when DS was just under 8 months. We seem to have settled into him having 2 bottles of EBM while at the nursery, and he has 2-3 meals there (depends on whether he has breakfast with us). He started BLW at 6 months and the nursery is doing this with him (though they were a bit unsure at first!).

He has a feed in the morning before he goes, a feed right away when I pick him up, and a feed before bed, so 5 in all. He's still waking at night (annoying after he slept 7-7 between 9wks-5mos), so sometimes has a 6th feed.

He still does nothing with the cup but bang it around. If you help him occasionally he takes a sip of water but I've been led to understand he doesn't really need it if still BFing.

If the calculator wasn't quite what you needed, the kellymom site has lots of useful info that might help.

Yank can I ask you how long it takes you to express the bottles of bm? Have you had to store your bm for some time?

Also what do you do at work - i.e. do your breasts feel heavy?

Sorry I see that you plan to go back to work ... but neverless what do you do with regards to bm when your baby is in nursery?

I express twice a day at work, roughly the times when he has the bottles at nursery. Also express at night after he goes to bed, and sometimes in the morning before he wakes up. This is mainly because I didn't have a stash built up, and have been ill recently so am not producing the volume I was previously. I just started taking fenugreek today to help with that.

I think roughly I express 10 minutes on each side, so 20 min per session. Used to get 4oz per session but lately only getting 2oz so need more sessions. Typing one handed now!!

Thanks

Thanks for all your replies! I'll start building up my EBM stocks then. Hopefully he@ll be more proficient with a cup then, as he won't take a bottle.

I think I have that excess lipase thing tho where it makes your milk a bit sour when defrosted. I read boiling the milk in a pan straight after expressing can help. Do you think I could do it in the microwave??

Hi not sure I can help with the sour milk thing - but you are never ever meant to use a microwave to heat breastmilk. It detroys the goodness of your milk.

I also don't see why you would boil bm - but someone more informed might be able to come along.

Thanks willowflower, didn't know that about the microwave.

Re heating it, from what I read, you need to heat it in a pan to just about boiling to kill the lipase enzyme, then cool it immediately. Which sounds a right faff, twice a day.... I know that's not a very good-motherly-selfless attitude, but time's short enough as it is!!!

Not sure about the lipase thing, how do you know if you've got it?

I don't freeze my milk at all, just stay a day ahead at the moment and keep it in the fridge. Have read the whole freezing process kills off some of the good stuff in BM and there's no point to freezing if it is going to get used within a few days (I've read up to 8 is ok for fridge, but have decided to go with 5 days so label all the milk I take to nursery with a 'use by' date).

link

YanknCock - apparently it smells funny? And I had noticed this when I defrosted milk before and wondered why and is it safe?
I've not been sure how long bm can be kept in the fridge for as I've read everything from 24hours to a fortnight - so haven't been sure what to go with!!

That link Gracie posted to the kellymom site was very informative.

FWIW, I don't think my milk smells as nice after being frozen/defrosted as it does if just kept in the fridge.

I know what you mean about being confused on how long you can refrigerate for--I've read everything from 24 hours up to 8 days. The kellymom site is very well researched and based on scientific evidence, so I tend to take what I read on there as the best information. It says up to 8 days in the fridge, and part of the reason I've chosen not to freeze regularly is because the milk loses some of the immune properties.

However, I do think it's worthwhile to have a freezer stash for emergencies, and I need to build mine back up soon!