bf to bottle to return to work

[fee's]

I have looked at the other threads regarding this kind of thing and still have some questions.
Since bub was a few weeks old I have tried him with bottles of expressed milk and in the last few months have tried him on formula. Have tried a number of different bottles, teats, sipper cups etc. Some days he will humour me and drink about 100mls but apart from that I have had no luck.
He is 9 1/2 mths old and I am returning to work when he is one and I am panicking about how he will go at child care with needing to drink for hunger, thirst and comfort.
He is on 3 solid meals a day and about 5 bf a day - 6am, 9.30am, 1pm, 3.00pm, 7.30pm. I usually try to sneak in the formula at about 5pm to keep him going till dinner time but most days he just laughs at me and either plays away happily or gets really cranky till he gets the boob.
Can anyone help with some advice on how to fix this. I would keep breast feeding if I could but will be working from 8am till 5 or 6pm at night and don't have the ability to get to him during the day.
help??????:confused: :confused: :crying:

[jarrahsmumma]

IMO i would keep up with the morning and night breastfeed. are you able to express any for childcare??

if he doesn't drink it then i would assume he is not ravishingly hungry and can probably wait til you arrive (you may find he wants a quick snack before you leave the childcare centre)

when all else fails, call the ABA, just click this link http://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/products/counselling.asp

it can be done

[xkwzit]

Hi Fee's
I really think he'll be OK. You can still BF morning and night, maybe also when you pick him up / get home. He will be flexible to meet your changed circumstances. If he will drink from a bottle for you (even if only occasionally), I am sure he will if he needs to while at daycare too. Sometimes they just won't when you are around, but when you're not there he will know that a bottle or cup is it.

I can tell you what a LC consultant told me about teats for a BF baby and that is to steer away from the orthodontic teats with that flat, angled bit and stick to ones with a round cross section, preferably as long as the last two joints on your little finger (I am sure you've got some of those).

Can you work for half days at first for a week or so (or pop him in for a few half days before you start work. Then it will only be a few hours at a time and you can ease both of you into the new routine. Another tip I heard is that when you start work, start on a Wed or Thur so you've only got 2 or 3 days to cope with. You can iron the bugs out of your routine w/o looking down the barrel of a full working week. I'm sure you will both be fine. :hugs:

Cheers

[fee's]

Thanks heaps guys, I know it can be done, millions of people do it everyday just hard to see him get so worked up. My bosses wife used to be involved in the breastfeeding assoc so I should talk to her that could give me some leway in flexible hrs too if I am lucky.
thanks again.