Getting ahead of myself, but can you drop to 3 BFs at 9 months?

[Erin M]

OK, so Allie is only 3.5 months old, but this thought has been bothering me for a bit.  I need to go back to work in late July/early August when Allie will be 9 months old, so she will go to daycare.  I'm a teacher and somehow I don't think that pumping will work out all that well, esp since I'll be going into a totally new situation -- I could be wrong, but I'd hate to plan on it and not have it work out.  I know it's the law, but it was also the law where we used to live and one of my teaching friends used to have to take her lunch break to pump in the bathroom stall.  So, I've been wondering if she'd be ok with an AM BF, a mid-afternoon BF (when I pick her up after school) and a before bedtime BF -- any thoughts?  The other thought being that she's vehemently rejecting the bottle right now, so I'll have to get past that hurdle if she needs something while she's at daycare. 

TIA (about 5 months in advance )

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

If she can get the total amount of milk she needs in a day on 3 feeds, then I don't see why not, although I know most babies keep to 4 feeds longer than that.  Any thoughts of starting to pump an extra supply now for then? BM can keep in a chest freezer for up to 6 months.

[LyndaManus]

I dropped down to three feeds at 9 mths and ds did just fine.  I do still pump extra to keep supply up like the pp mentioned.  FYI - We dropped down to two feeds this week (10 mths) and ds is doing great. 

[Samuel's mum]

I was a teacher so I can relate to the pumping at work issue - I can't imagine that would have been easy - but you may surprise yourself.  I would agree with the thought that you could consider pumping a stash in advance or even fitting in a pumping session at home e.g. in the evening after bedtime. I think 3 feeds at 9 months is possible if you are careful to ensure they are really good feeds but it might be tricky as presumably the evening feeds will be either side of an evening meal by then. You could try and load her solids so you have solid meals earlier in the day - like a meal around 11ish or something as well as a later lunch - if daycare are prepared to do that.

I would try not to worry to much at the moment. It's good to be prepared but it's also not fun to worry in advance if you can't really predict what might happen. I would pump in advance and build up a stash but you never know you might be able to pump a 4th feed once you start work. As for the bottle thing - you've got a long time to sort that out and she could be a sippy cup expert by then.

[LyndaManus]

Erin, I hesitate to recommend this because it is not exactly the "BW" way, but I work full time and pump and try to get as many sessions with ds as possible so, I thought I would share what I did.  At thee/four mths I was on a 4 hour EASY. 

I did a df at 10pm, another df at 6am (dh sleeps from 8pm to 8am), ebm at 10, ebm at 2pm, bf at 6pm.

When the df at 6 am started to not work as well (around the time we should have been dropping to 4 feeds) we changed the schedule to df at 10pm, ebm at 8am, ebm at 1pm and bf at 6pm (I get home at 6pm).

Then, at 9.5 mths I dropped the df (later than bw recommends but it worked great for us and I really loved the df).  So, we were left with ebm at 8am (I pump at 7:30 right before work and dh feeds him), ebm at 2pm and bf at 6pm.  Now we are at two feeds (8am and 6pm).

Hope that helps as a slightly alternative schedule. 

[Erin M]

Thanks
Emma, that's a good point about the afternoon/night feeds being close to dinner time, that would probably interfere with feeds.

Pumping in advance is a good thought, I could definitely do that if I pumped every day before going back, that would at least get us to the point where I would feel more comfortable with her on 3 feeds.

Lynda - thanks for your thoughts, even though it isn't exactly the "BW way" it's really helpful to hear some alternatives -- reminds me that all problems don't have straight forward solutions   Besides the BW way is what works best for you, your baby, and your family - sounds like you've got a good thing going. 

Not terribly worried about the bottle thing, dd1 did the same thing and with patience and perseverence I got her to take a bottle with no tears  

I know I'm worried about this way in advance, but I've been home since before dd1 was born so this whole going back thing is a bit stressful!  Thanks again