DS is 14.5 months and fully BF. I started working again in April very part time, 3 hrs one day and 5 hrs another, so for those days would express milk. After a few weeks DS was able to go without milk for the day I worked 3 hrs and I fed him as soon as I got home and not long after that he got used to going without for the 5hr day too. Around the same time he dropped a day feed so now has 2 little ones in the morning, 1 before his day nap and 1 before bed. So now my supply has dropped quite a bit which is fine as I have just enough for DS and no longer get engorged at work or ever really. Only problem is now I have a great deal of trouble expressing anything...I can never get more than 15mls at a time (I have a Medela electric pump).

On my 5hr day I work 12-5pm and DS's nap is slap bang in the middle of this. He doesn't *need* the feed as he just tends to not nap on these days but then is cranky until I come home. He won't nap without a feed, DH has tried extra food, rocking him, patting him all to no avail. So I'm not really sure what to do? So far we're just making do by getting DS to wait until I come home but it would make life easier if we could just get him to sleep. It also means we can't go out at night as whoever looks after him has no chance of getting him to sleep....

The other night DH and I went out for a few hours while MIL looked after him, he ended up getting cranky and eventually falling asleep at midnight as he was just so exhausted but I'm thinking had he had some milk he would've gone to bed happy and at 9.30 like usual. So what can I do? I'm really not keen on using formula as we've gone without it all this time, but is it my only choice? Or is something like oat milk or rice milk an option? We rarely go out so it's not like he'd be having it all time. I think we can evenutally get him used to going without while I'm at work, this would mainly be for when we go out at night or if he was super cranky and as a last resort while I was at work.
Food just doesn't seem to cut it...I think the act of sucking is what helps him know it's sleeping time. I'm seriously confused! :dontknow:
Would love some advice