Baby EBF & I'm back to work in 2 months - HELP!

[didigodman]

Hi everyone,

I'm back to work at the beginning of January and feeling very stressed. My baby boy (nearly 7 months) is exclusively breast fed and he never accepted a bottle of any kind, despite lots of attempts.

I now feel introducing a bottle wont make sense so we are trying to get him used to small open cups and a training beaker but he doesn't seem to "get" them. I am only putting water in them as I didn't want to be pouring expressed milk away that doesn't get drunk after x amount of time.

I'm feeling stressed that 2 months is not enough time for him to drink milk out of something, but he really needs to as he'll be at a childminders 2 days a week and I want us to crack this before he starts there.

Does anyone have advice? Should I try the beakers with milk instead or keep going with the water until he understands and then replace them with milk?

He's not loving solids either which is only adding to the problem. He only wants boob. HELP!!

Mine reached a turning point at around 9 months with eating and understanding how to use a beaker. I just put water in initially as it often got dropped/thrown. Once DS got how to use it, I transitioned to milk too. During that time though he massively increased what he was eating and cut down on breastmilk to 3 times a day (morning, evening and overnight).

Sorry, I don't have any advice as they seem to get it in their own time but change so rapidly at that age. I tried so many different foods - finger foods and purees and eventually he started eating some (and now doesn't stop). Just keep persevering with it

Could you try with formula while you're training him, so it's still milk but you're not wasting expressed milk?

Have you tried the munchkin 360 cups? That's what we started with.

I went back to work for 2 days a week when my little boy was 7 months, he's like your little one - refused all bottles, cups and not a huge fan of solids at all.

I found he worked best with the free flow sippy cup from boots and rice crackers, baby biscuits to keep him happy while I was away for 8 hours a day. I found storing my breastmilk in 1/2oz bags and the childminder defrosting and offering every 1 or 1 and a half hours worked best and there was v little wasted. Offered water throughout the day too 😊

I went back to work full time when my dd was 9 months (I did 4 long days). She was ebf. She is 7 now so I can't remember the details, but she wasn't regularly having a bottle. She adjusted quickly to having a bottle of expressed milk or formula at nursery. I continued to bf on demand on the 3 days I was with her, and she continued to bf until she was nearly 4.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for all your advice. We've been using an IKEA training beaker which is okay but does spill a lot or goes straight on the floor. Will try out a 360 cup and with some formula too!

@2021expecting great idea to have small bags of milk, I'll definitely do that for childminder. I'm just terrified that he'll go there and cry all day because he's hungry but hopefully he'll be eating solids much better by then too fingers crossed

Mine were both bottle refusers. Wouldn't take expressed milk or formula at all. They were both 8 months when I went back to work. They took sips of water from Munchkin Miracle 360 cups and ate food and we're fine but they did reverse cycle i.e. for the first couple of months they fed what seemed like constantly in the evening and overnight, so I was really tired. They calmed down though maybe after about 8 weeks & settled into breastfeed before and after creche, before bed type routine. I think its Dr Jack Newman who has some reassuring information about EBF babies when mum is returning to work.

Mine refused the bottle if I was in same building. But once I left, they’d take the bottle. Yours may be similar.

I had a v similar experience to misty - my bottle refuser just fed all night. It was exhausting. I was counting down the days until he turned 1 as was just going to cut out night feeds then (and by extension, milk, if he wouldn’t take it from a cup) - and then 3 days before he turned one the little bugger grabbed a bottle (had offered every single day over the last 6 months) and hoofed the whole thing down. I almost cried.

My LO did 3 days at nursery from 9 months and never drank any milk out of a cup, beaker or bottle (despite our best efforts!). He was very keen on solids though so ate very well whilst there and then I just breastfed him at home. Two months is still a long time in the life of a baby so you might well find a solution by then but even if you don’t he may well be fine just having food in the day. Though you might want to prepare yourself for a LOT of bf overnight while he adjusts 😬

Babies change so much at that age so I wouldn't worry too much- it will probably suddenly click with him one day.
My suggestion is that you drink from whatever beaker/cup you want him to use in front of him at mealtimes so he sees what to do and wants to copy you.

We only ever used a simple sippy cup.

My LO went to nursery at 10 months and just had water out of a cup. Did not want to introduce formula. He also would have a feed just before we left and then when we got home. Initially I would give him a feed in the car but wanted to get home so stopped it.

Mine wouldn't use the cup if I was in the room as he preferred milk from me.
If I wasn't around he would drink expressed milk from a bottle, and then from a cup. You might need to try not being there.

This was exactly us earlier this year - I planned to switch my EBF, bottle refusing baby's daytime feeds to the bottle before I went back to work. Ended up leaving it til the last minute because I was dreading it and actually for us that worked well - all done in a couple of weeks and way less painful than I expected. As a PP said, I think it was partly that she was just older and more adaptable but it also helped that, because we had a looming deadline, once I had decided to switch a feed over, it was bottle or nothing. On all previous attempts to get her to take a bottle I had eventually relented and given her boob so of course she was holding out! In terms of how we did it: we used the Mam trainer bottle cup thing, with the spout shaped like a sippy cup and handles - she seemed to prefer this to the regular bottles, possibly because it was more different to breast? Or she just liked the handles, who knows! DP did the first bottle feed while I was out - there was a lot of protest but she did have some. After that, I always did that same feed with a bottle and she was fine. We transitioned a feed roughly every three days (I continued breastfeeding morning and evening). And we used formula, so milk down the drain was no stress.

If I were you I would try with a bottle (maybe worth trying that mam trainer one) and formula - at his age something to suck on plus milk will be a lot more appealing than a cup of water. If dad's around, get him to do the first attempt when you're not around. And maybe worth trying a couple of different formulas - we got small ready made cartons of a few to avoid having to buy canisters that would go to waste. Good luck!

Even send a good few frozen 1oz bags down to store in your childminders freezer to save you sorting it each time.

Try not to worry, they adapt so well - I thought my little boy would scream the house down the first few times but he's adapted and drinks enough small amounts of milk/water until I get home. You may find your little boy will reverse cycle and feed lots when you get home and at night.

Maybe try sending him to the childminders for an hour or few over the next month or two, to get him used to it before you go back. It'll ease you both in gently x