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Going back to work - still breastfeeding (Help needed!)

So im going back to work on the 9th september. Thought everything would be ok - work shifts so hubby would be bringing her in to work for last feed around 7pm when on a late shift. He has now stated that he feels this is a bit of a faff and doesnt think it will work out Morning shifts are ok as she has a long gap between feeds and I can stretch her out a bit longer with good entertainment from a fab fab fab Nanna!!!
Sooooo the problem is - she wont take a bottle (9 months old so not worth bothering anyway I suppose) and she isnt a fan of beakers etc and likes to drink out of glasses, mugs and anything else she shouldnt oooops! She will have a small amount (and I mean small) out of a Doidy cup. She isnt a big drinker and relies on me really for her fluid intake which will be a problem if hubby wont bring her to work. Contemplated formula but will have the same issue as expressed breast milk if she wont drink it from anywhere except the boobies!!!
Anyone else had this problem??? Work are being good about expressing etc so no problems there - its just getting her to take the good stuff from anything apart from a boob!!!
Help me please!!!!!
xxxx

Replies

  • will watch with interest as still have this issue with my 6 month old - i've tried every bottle under the sun, i did manage to get an ounce into him a couple of times from the mam bottles if that helps xx
  • Absolute nightmare isn't it!! Will keep an eye out for those - ive got a breastflow bottle to try supposed to simulate breastfeeding - doesnt look like any nipple ive ever seen though lol x
  • if your reall determined for lo to take a bottle, and to stop b/f id say just stop altogether - my lo was like this tried absolutely everything. then at 8.5mths, he stopped latching on to me for whatever reason - so i stopped b/f him (saw it as an opportunity really to stop-although a hard choice to make!). he was taking in no liquids at all for a good 12 days - kept offering him everything at every opportunity, then on the morning of day 13 he just decided to latch on to a bottle and take formula - and has been fine ever since! hope that helps - but i believe that they eventutally will if you keep offering now. good luck with it all. xx
  • At 9 months old is it essential for her nutrition that she have lots of boob feeds? I understand that they can get by at this age on just a couple of boob/formula feeds a day, say morning and bedtime. There's no way I'd be bringing a 9 month old into work for a boob feed, I think by this age they can be reducing this nutrition and increasing their solids, 3 meals a day plus snacks. I'm also interested to see what other people say.
  • been there done that lol he didn;t take it, HOWEVER, there have been other girls on the site that have had lo's take to bottles that mine didn't - I;ve treid breastflow, avent, tt ctn, nuk, mam, playtex and a cheapie chemist one, im out a fotune lol x
  • Dollywotsit - you probably didnt mean to but your comment came across a bit harsh! It is essential for her nutrition they need a pint a day of milk until a year old. She has proper meals and snacks with 3 -4 milk feeds a day. Same for a formula fed baby I presume. If she wont take her milk any other way I will have to have her brought into work as she needs that feed. Hope I havent come across harsh in my reply xx
  • im a bit worried about milk intake too as my lo is fully weaned and takes 5 feeds a day however i was looking at the readbrek packet this morning and it is really fortified with calcium so much so that most of the daily allowance would be in a bowl of it so I am deffo going to make sure ds2 has this in the time when I'm trying to get him onto the bottle, like some one else said for me I think its going to be when i stop bfing whic will be soon and as much as i;ve moaned about it I;m going to be so gutted to stop it image
  • I dont want to stop!! Ive moaned too much about it aswell in the past but now its so easy! Its just awkward as the boobs dont come off and go with her lol!! Stopping will be the hardest decision I have ever had to make x
  • Hi - I have the same situation in that I'm going back to work in Oct when Toby will be 9 months. He has been EBF until now and even though I used to give him bottles every now and then when he was little (because I had heard stories like this!) I got complacent when he was about 4 months and stopped bothering and now he refuses!!

    I did try a bunch of other bottles and sippy cups but had no joy. However, in the last few days we have had a breakthrough and he has been taking a few oz when I offer it to him. I actually don't think the type of bottle makes any difference (although the size of teat might). It's just that I kept persevering and offered him formula before each BF through the day (as my plan is to FF while he is in daycare but continue to BF in morning and at night).

    We were using the TT CTN bottles which I have always found to be good and quite breast like!

    So I would suggest that during the day just offer the bottle before each BF. Your LO will probably just use it as a teething toy for a while but in the course of chewing it will probably squirt some milk into her mouth. I stopped as soon as she really pushed the bottle away as I didn't want it to become a battle. Gradually she will start playing with it for longer and longer, then maybe suck on it every now and then and then eventually start drinking. You waste a lot of milk doing this so only put a couple of oz in each time - esp if you're using the liquid gold EBM!

    So try not to stress about it and be prepared for the process to take quite a long time. We've been trying for a good month and only just now is he starting to take a couple of oz from a bottle (I then top him up with a BF) but I'm hoping that within the next couple of weeks he will be fully FF during the day so that we can establish that routine before he starts daycare, otherwise it's going to be an avalanche of change all at once!

    I am a bit gutted about having to stop BF, even just during the day, as I wanted to keep going until he was 1 but unfortunately I have to go back 3 months earlier than planned for financial reasons and there's no way I could express enough to keep up image However we can all take oslace int he fact that we have given our LOs a great start and they will still get the good stuff at night.

    Good luck, hope it doesn't take as long for you as it is for us!!

    C image
  • milk is still an essential part of the diet especially in a baby less than a year, but i spoke to my HV last week as i was concerned that my LO was taking a max of 8oz of milk a day spread over 3 feeds (he is 8months) She told me that there is as much calcium in a yoghurt/fromage frais as there is in 1/3 pint of milk! so i now make sure he has at least 1 yoghurt a day, he also has milk on his cereal and i try to incorporate milk/cheese sauce into lots of his meals.
    If you can encourage even one feed of EBM to be taken out of a beaker and also increase the amount of dairy you offer your LO in a day then you will be more than satisfying the needs of your LO.

  • see this is where I get comfused when they say your baby needs a pint of milk for calcium is teh calcium intake counted on cows milk of formula

    cows milk has 15mg of calcium whereas formulas has 53 per 100 ml so cow milk = about 75mg or calcium needed per day whereas formula would be about 250mg

    yougarts etc tend to be like for like portion size with cows milk but if going by calcium in cows milk they would need to eat about 20 to come even close??

    any takers??!! lol
  • Sorry didn't mean to sound harsh, I just meant that I couldn't bear to bring LO into work for a boob feed at 9 months, as much as I love BF I'm also looking forward to having my body and mind back to myself for those few hours at work. My understanding is the same, that nutritional needs are taken care of in a good diet with plenty of dairy. I wasn't suggesting your LO wasn't eating enough or anything. I just couldn't believe anyone would bring baby into work at 9 months. I sympathise though, it's tough having give up even just in the daytime but it's a wrench that I think will be good for me in the long run and baby has had a fab long start of lots and lots and lots of boob!
  • .........and she isnt a fan of beakers etc and likes to drink out of glasses, mugs and anything else she shouldnt oooops! ........

    If she will drink out of glasses/beakers then why bother with a bottle? :\?

    Just give the EBM in a mug or something she 'isnt allowed' and make sure she is fully supervised when she is drinking it - it might be a bit messy the first couple of times but she will soon get used to it

    image

    xx
  • My Lo is just the same and won't take a bottle. However he will take some from a doidy cup or beaker (not a lit though).
    I also return to work at the start of Sept and he will be 8 1/2 months then. My HV has said he only needs 3 feeds a day now (which seems right as I was doing 4 but he hardly fed for the 2 day ones!) so suggested feeding morning, when I get home from work (4.30-5pm ish) and before bed. I have tried just feeding at these times the past few days and he has been fine with it. However I might have a baby who is just not that into milk as he will miss feeds if we are out as he won't feed as he is so nosey!
    Also on a kit day (when he was 6 months) I got my mum to give him milk in the doidy cup and then use the left over (as he only took a couple of oz) in baby rice so I knew he'd had enough milk.
    Xxxx
  • Its ok Dollywotsit! I think im just a bit emotional about the thought that its all going to come to an end soon image I could give her expressed milk out of a cup/mug but she doesnt drink enough of it and gets bored easily. She has 1-2 yoghurts a day anyway. My main concern was the feed before bed where she wont take milk from anything but me - more for comfort than anything else. Because I work shifts I wont be about for this feed. Any how.... Made a breakthrough - SHE TOOK A BOTTLE!! on a variflow teat. We will be keeping this just for when I am on late shifts so hubby can give her her milk and settle her. When I am not at work I will still feed her myself before bed. So its basicly for emergency use only lol!!
    For anyones interest I used an avent bottle with an asda own brand variflow teat which cost a ??1 and is exactly the same shape as the avent teats but a lot cheaper! Thanks for all your help x
  • i just wanted to ask if you had looked at the BF part of your maternity policy as it may allow you to not work shifts until you stop BF as they have to allow for this, is am not totally sure of how far they have to go to accomodate but its worth a look x
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