Preparing for the inevitable

[Pinkhippo]

Hi there,
My LO is 9 months and 3 weeks presently... and she will be starting daycare in a month and a half.
She is one of those EFB who never took a bottle.  She now accepts one of her feeds via the sippy cup.. so I am quite happy about that, although I need some advice with how to proceed.
My dilemna, is that I have a manual pump, and to fill the sippy cup, I end up pumping in the night so that that I have enough milk for her sippy cup feed.  When I try to pump directly after she BF, I only get an ounce or 2 maximum.  So, I am sort of at a loss of when to do my pumpling, if I am going to try to get her to take more than one serving of breast milk a day.
I have been pondering perhaps, supplementing her breast milk servings with whole milk.  I am wondering if this will take the pressure off of finding the right moments to pump, and instead allow me to start getting her used to having more than one serving a day via sippy cup.  What has been holding me back from this plan, is that I feel guilty.  I really wanted to only give my LO breast milk till one year, however, with daycare on the horizon, trying to keep my newly walking LO out of mischief, and trying to manage her budding separation anxiety in a thoughtful manner.... I must admit I feel overwhelmed, worn out, and a bit lost. Do you have any suggestions or alternate plans?
I should also say, that my LO has a fantastic appetite for solids, but does not seem to be self-weaning in any way.  She is still getting breast milk every 3 or so hours during the day and then sleeps a 10-11hour night.
What are your thoughts?

[*Ali*]

The advice in the UK is to only give cows milk as a drink after 1yo but I think your recs in Canada may have changed recently so you may wish to check with your dr whether cows milk would be ok to give at this age.

How long will you be at work/will she be at daycare each day? Is it 5 days a week? How many feeds would she normally get during that time and how many could you squeeze in before and after daycare?

So she will be just over 11mo when she starts daycare? At that age I would be happy with 3-4 breast milk feeds a day. You could probably get by on feeding her morning and BT yourself and giving her usual sippy of breast milk at some point during the day. Since she is currently feeding frequently you will probably find when you miss those feeds that you have milk there to pump more easily if you start doing it straight away.

I would try to get in the habit if offering water with her solid food so she can maintain that at daycare.

[Pinkhippo]

Hi there,
Thanks for your prompt reply, to answer some of your questions:
1) I have spoken with a lactation consultant who said, you can give whole milk after 9 months, although standard recomendations are 1 year.
2) I will be at work 9 hours. Usually she feeds 3-4 times in this space of time. She will be 11 months when she starts daycare.
3)Basically, I am sensing that you think if I pumped twice in the space of 24 hours, we could get my LO comfy with having the sippy 2 times a day and this would set her up adequately for daycare. Is this correct?
Cheers,
Alli

[*Ali*]

2 sippies would be plenty if she is nursing morning and BT as well. 4 BFs a day is fine at this age IMO. My boys were on 4 BFs at this age and many LOs drop to 3 feeds or even 2 by 12mo. Some who wean completely will just be on solids and cows milk as a drink.