nursery and breastfeeding

[pollyr01]

Im a bit obsessed worried about what happens when my 7.5 month old goes to nursery next month when it comes to food / milk feeds. She is on 3 solid meals a day and eats well. she has 3 b/f a day and is exclusively b/f. She drinks water enthusiastically from a sippy cup (about half going down her front , bless her), but won't take a bottle (never has, only chews on it for 5 mins) and won't take milk from a sippy cup. obviously the middle /bf (about 3pm) is going to be when she is at nursery. does it matter if she misses this out as long as she has more dairy through the day? I'm seeing the nursey this week to ask them but was wondering if anyone has any experience of this? my husband would also dearly love me to shut up about this so looking forward to hopefully finding out it'll be ok....

Might be worth posting this in the Breastfeeding/Bottle feeding section too, as there are lots of experienced mums there to offer advice and it's a bit busier than this section.

My own son was 11 months when he went to nursery, and was also on about 3 BFs a day. I decided that it was fine for him to skip the middle feed as at nursery he eats a lot (morning fruit, lunch, afternoon snack) and eats plenty at home during breakfast & dinner. We provide his food, I always give Greek yogurt for his snack, and he has lots of whole milk at breakfast (to make his porridge). He's now 15 months and has 2 feeds (morn/bedtime) when with me all day but has 3 feeds (morn/right after pickup/bedtime) on the 4 days he's at nursery.

But his nursery said they would offer him expressed milk if that's what I wanted to do. You might find that your daughter takes expressed milk from someone at nursery when she won't take it from you/your DH. So you could start building up a freezer stash now if you want to try that.

You'll probably find your DD kind of jumps on you for a feed when you pick her up at the end of the day. It's totally normal, and is lovely and comforting as well as providing nutrition.

HTH

If you want to come in and breast fed it may be possible it depends on the nursery, we had a parent to do this for a few months, and as the baby got older and begun to get distressed with mum coming and going throughout the day, she stopped and she expressed, and asked us to use formula.

So you may be able to come in on your lunch break and feed her, some babies don't mind mum coming and going, but it can cause confusion and upset as often when parents come back they are there to take baby home not just for a cuddle and feed, and then leave again.

Or you could express and leave a bottle or two there for her to have during the day, the nursery should not have any issue with this. Obviously your dd may not take it at nursery but it is worth a shot, and to prepare her you and your dh could give her some bottles in the next month so she gets use to the idea.

My DD went to nursery at about the same age as yours. We managed just fine, she bf morning and again when I collected her, ate solids at nursery and took water - she wouldn't drink formula or expressed milk either.
I was mildly uncomfortable for a day or two and expressed a little at work for comfort, but by the second week all was well. Curiously, I went back to work 4 days a week, but when at home DD would feed as normal and have feeds during the daytime without any problems for her or me on other days back at work.

polly I think you should repost in Breast and Bottlefeeding as there are lots of mums on there that have experienced this and can help you.

At 8.5months, if eating well as you say, your DD will be able to manage the day without milk if she refuses to take it from a bottle or sippy cup. She may just make up for it by having bigger feeds in the morning and evening and perhaps an extra one at night (which she may do anyway for the comfort aspect of bf even if getting milk during the day, IYKWIM)

Many mums do find however, that although their DC won't take ebm from a cup/bottle when offered by mum or family member, they are more than willing to take it when offered at nursery, so you may want to build up a supply to give to the nursery to try.