Dropping day feeds?

Hi all,

DD is coming up to 11mths and has always demand fed, but pretty regularly - since about 6mths she's been on 4-5 day feeds and sometimes 1 overnight.

I was expecting her to start dropping a day feed (esp when I fell pg) but she has shown no interest in feeding less and is still wanting 4-5 a day.

I have no problem with this except today I returned to work. I'm planning three days a week and was hoping to express for her while I was at work.

Today however, I expressed once - 7hrs after I fed her - and I got 20mLs out.

So my question is not how can I increase this amount as I have tried a few various things and nothing seems to work... my question is will it be ok if she only has 2 or 3 b/f a day?

If I feed before I leave, as soon as I get home and then before bed?

MIL said she was fine today with just one bottle and even then she didn't seem to want it as such, MIL just gave it to her as it had defrosted in the heat and she didn't want to waste it!

What do you think? She should be ok with water/cow's milk while I am not there?

Hi,

I'm not sure with the expressing but I would say at that age she would be fine with what u suggested with the 2-3feeds. I would say how often she feeds would be a comfort thing and oh there's mummy so she wants a cuddle/feed time but if you're not there she doesn't want a replacement cause its not about the food? I would say have somethign there as a back up and just see how she goes, if she continues to be happy enough well there's your answer!

But yea it sounds like she will be fine so it just comes down to what you're comfortable with

She'll probably be inclined to bf more often when you're around to make up for the missed feeds. She's old enough to be offered what ebm you have and water while you're away from her. If you bf her before you leave and as soon as you return and she has water and ebm on hand JIC while you're gone she'll be completely fine. You might find that even with only a small amount being expressed, you want to express while you're at work for comfort at least once during the day.

GL with returning to work!