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G/C BF question!

Hi



I am a BIO mummy but will be going back to work in about 6 months time (you guys are 6 months ahead of me) and I wondered if any of you could give me some advice?



LO is 4 months old and has been EBF i have started on baby rice this week. Despite best efforts over a long period she will not take a bottle, so think i will be BF for the long term.



I am basicially worrying about whether i will be able to get her off the breast by the time i go back to work when she is 10 months old. Are your LO's pretty much weaned by this point? Do they still need a milk feed from breast/bottle or do they take a cup now? I have tried LO on a first sippy cup suitable from 4 months, but because she cant suck from a bottle, she cant suck from the spout either - although i accept that it's early days with this!



For those of you who had to go back to work whilst still BF for some feeds, how do you cope?



A lot of questions, which i am sorry about , but i hope that you can allay some of my fears!



Ta MM xx

Replies

  • I had just the same worries as you - DD would never take a bottle. We started weaning at 21 weeks and I started offering her water in a sippy cup with her food. She seemed to get the hang of the cup pretty quickly and was actually able to drink from it herself quite soon.



    In November (when she was 6.5 months) I had a trial run with MIL who has her one day a week now I'm back at work. I gave her some milk in the cup for that day. It was a bit of effort, but MIL managed to get pretty much a carton of Aptimil down her in seperate feeds during the day. I figured she would be ok with a morning and night BF from me and plenty of dairy in her food.



    I dropped one daytime feed at the end of November and just offered her the cup, although it was quite slow going. One day I was making up a feed in a bottle to transfer to the cup and she reached for it, so I gave it to her and she drank the lot! Haven't looked back, I went back to work in Jan and she still has 2 feeds from me and 2 bottles a day. I did think about by passing the bottle altogether, but frankly it was a lot less messy than the cup and she takes much more from the bottle. I'll try and wean her off as she gets closer to a year.



    Also - you might have to experiment with some sippy cups before you find one she gets on with. DD didn't get on at all with the ones that are from a young age with a valve, you have to suck way too hard! We just use a cheapy TT one with the flip up spout, although it's free flow and there was a bit of spluttering at the start, she quickly got the hang of it with me helping to regulate how far it was tipped up.
  • Thanks Lizzie that is a massive help, i think i will have to get a flip up spout bottle as she cant get the hang of the sucking on the valve one at all! It's nice to know that it al worked out ok for you - i am a massive panicker and could see myself having to leg it from work to feed her at nursery!!
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