Milk Help Please

[charlie84]

Hi Girls Calleigh starts nursery the beginning of January and she will just be 9 months by then, i am hoping to still be breastfeeding possibly a big feed in the morn and feed when i finish. I will be away from her for near 9 hours
Anyway what i need to know is will she need milk left for her in the day to have? She currently doesnt take a bottle so how would she drink it if needed?

Another quick question is that she will also have some trial days in December so basically the same question as above.

How much milk does a 8/9 month old need to be drinking? Do i need to try a bottle again to see if she will take it, although i am reluctant to introduce one at this late age.

Anybody had to do a similar thing and what did you do?

 

[zebrastripes]

Maybe you could try her with a sippy cup? One of those my first cup thingys? Thats just what I send with wills

 

[charlie84]

She does have a sippy cup in which she has water. She is still getting the hang of it.
I just didnt know whether that would confuse her iykwim

 

[Squiglet]

Don't bother with a bottle... honestly... Just move on to cups... She won't get confused any more than if you give her a bottle and she has to use them eventually and the earlier you start the easier it is imo... Lil miss doesn't really drink milk unless it comes from a boob... but consumes huge amounts of water in the day. So if I am working for a long time... I just make sure she has water around 5oz of boob juice and plenty of food.

More often enough I come home to find only 3oz of boob juice taken but they are on their second cup of water and the food is all gone. Then she has a HOOOGE booby feed from me. They will get their milk somehow although you might find she starts waking through the night to get it which is what happened to lil miss..

 

[charlie84]

Ok so if i aim to leave her milk that she can have in her sippy cup hopefully that will be ok.

Sorry another question, i am not expressing anymore as i have bust my pump and dont get a substantial amount from hand expressing. I am not sure whether it will be worth getting another pump or just sending her with some formula

Squig did you give lil miss milk in a cup before you went back to work so she got used to it?

 

[LilysMummy]

I know Im bottlefeeder but Lly is on 3 bottles at 8oz each, if that helps you work out volumes

 

[charlie84]

Cheers that does help as i have no idea of what amount babies have.
I think my plan is to send her to nursery with some milk in the hope that she takes it. Maybe start giving her some milk now in practise.

 

[KJ]

Hi Charlie,

I went back to work when Asher was 8.5months old. He was exclusively boob fed until about 7 months. Then I started to try and introduce one bottle mid afternoon. It was terrible for a few weeks, he would hardly drink any and would scream. But I persevered and eventually he got it. Then I introduced a bit of formula instead of expressed breastmilk in that afternoon bottle.

By the time he went to nursery, he would happily take a bottle in the afternoon. He was still breastfed morning and evening.

It worked very well for us, as I don't think I would have had the energy to express and send expressed milk with him. But I do think it's a good idea for them to be able to take a bottle. And it's quite difficult for breastfed babies to accept that.

As for volumes, I think he was having 6oz in the bottle. But then, he has never been a hungry baby, so others might take a lot more.

K.xx

 

[charlie84]

Hi Charlie,

I went back to work when Asher was 8.5months old. He was exclusively boob fed until about 7 months. Then I started to try and introduce one bottle mid afternoon. It was terrible for a few weeks, he would hardly drink any and would scream. But I persevered and eventually he got it. Then I introduced a bit of formula instead of expressed breastmilk in that afternoon bottle.

By the time he went to nursery, he would happily take a bottle in the afternoon. He was still breastfed morning and evening.

It worked very well for us, as I don't think I would have had the energy to express and send expressed milk with him. But I do think it's a good idea for them to be able to take a bottle. And it's quite difficult for breastfed babies to accept that.

As for volumes, I think he was having 6oz in the bottle. But then, he has never been a hungry baby, so others might take a lot more.

K.xx

Thanks ever so much for the advice

I think the reason i am getting so worked up about it is i know at the moment Calleigh loves her milk and i cant see it changing dramatically in the next month or so. So i am so worried as to what she will be like when she doesnt have access to me whilst at nursery.
I think i will look to introducing milk in the afternoon to see how she goes with it.
TBH i think i will have to go down the formula route as i dont have a working pump and really dont want to be stressing over expressing when i return to work as i will be doing full time hours

Another quick question. I know nothing about formulas is there one you would recommend to use or is any one ok?

 

[Clydesdaleclopper]

I went back to work when Q was 10 months. I am working part-time so he only goes into nursery for the afternoons. I send expressed milk for him to have from a doidy cup. Sometimes he drinks it sometimes he just has water. I actually find taking time out from work to express quite good as it gives me a break - but I do have a double electric pump with a hands free bustier so I can sit and read and eat chocolate while I'm doing it If you are used to feeding more frequently you may get quite uncomfortable if you don't express. The double pump was expensive but IMO it was worth it.

 

[Zodiac]

I start back at work next week & my LO is exclusively breastfed and currently 9.5months.

My plan was to get him to have his 2 daytime feeds from a cup/bottle & express milk to take to nursery/his nans...... However - it's not worked out that way!!!!

I dropped his 3pm feed about 2 months ago & started offering him a sippy cup of milk instead. He wasn't interested AT ALL and just took more on his other feeds.

After a month of this I then dropped his lunchtime feed & again offered milk in a cup instead. Again - not interested.

I've tried EBM & formula. I've tried free flow cup, valve cup & bottle all to no evail.

My HV said he's obviously just adapted & as long as I'm happy to continue with his morning & night milk feeds, he'll get enough from that so not to worry.

He drinks plenty of water throughout the day so won't get dehydrated.

He's still putting on weight & happy in himself, so I figure we're gonna be ok doing this