BLWers- come and talk to me about BLW, BF and going back to work

[jeffily]

DD is 7.5 months, I am going back to work part time in Jan and she has her first full day at nursery on 16th Dec to start settling in. She's going to nursery 1 day a week, 2 with daddy, 4 with me.

I'm fretting! (as per usual it seems !) I offer her 3x meals a day, but I don't think very much is going in and she is still BFing at least 4 times a day ( and then three in the night, but that is another post ). I am offering her snacks at the times of day that she wants a BF, or just before so she's not starving, and also offering her formula in a doidy cup in the hopes that she will start to glug down milk from there, but have been since starting weaning at 24 weeks- so no progress there in 8 weeks.
She is showing no signs of starting to eat lots in the near future. I know that this is not anything to worry about, and if I was able to just stay at home with her I wouldn't, but I am going back to work and I worry that
a) she will be hungry and unhappy all day when she cannot BF
b) she won't sleep during the day because of a
c) she won't sleep at night because of a and b!

HV has suggested that I start to 'get strict' with BF to make it fair on her and her carers when I am not around, but I want to carry on as long as I can, and also hope to BF her on the days that I am with her as much as she wants- is this realistic or will I be spending all day with sore boobs and will she be spending her days not with me sad cos she can't have boob?

Any thoughts/experiences v v much appreciated!

If I were you, I would stretch the time between the morning feed and the evening feed out bit by bit till baby is only having feeds before and after the times you will be home from work, with cup and food in between.

This is what I did with mine.

Also, can you go out all day, leaving babe with husband to test how they go without the boob?? I also did this to set my mind at rest and found that if I was not there, son would take food and milk from a cup and did not miss the boob.

Thanks eggontoast. That is basically what my HV suggested and I know that it is a good idea really, just the thought of giving up BF in the day makes me feel . She's growing up!

Any other experiences?

My DS went to nursery when he was 11mo. I was bf on demand, and he was bf to sleep. He would drink water from a cup, sips of milk (I started on cows milk then having given up on formula). He wasn't BLW'd as such, but in practice that is probably what we were doing because he wouldn't eat from a spoon (or much of anything really). I did fret about it, but the deadline for going back to work snuck up on me and I still had all these issues. It was pretty stressful.

He wouldn't eat much when he was at nursery to start with, other than snacks I would send in for him (rice cakes, home made ham and cheese muffins etc - things I knew he would pick on). He was at nursery all day and I would bf before, and after.

The nursery staff did get him to sleep (lots of cuddles, and tears I suspect but I would rather not think about that part of it...)

Over time things improved and now he eats seconds of his meals most days, naps regularly and easily (I still have to bf him to sleep at home though and he is 2.5 yo now!!). He carried on bf on demand on the days we were together and after nursery we always had a lovely cuddle and bf which was a lovely part of my day.

I think you need to make sure the nursery know about where he is up to and make sure you are comfortable that they will give lots of cuddles and love to your baby. It won't be easy to start with but over time, it will be fine.