Help/Advice needed (x-post in working moms)

b2b999

I just started back to work this past Monday, my dd is now 14 weeks and up until now has been ebf. We introduced bottles at 6 weeks and she took to them okay (though never loved them). We kept offering her bottles once or twice a week (in retrospect should have done it more I suppose) until Sandy hit, when we lost power (so I couldn't pump and all the bm in the freezer went bad). So she went 2.5 weeks without any bottles. When we reintroduced she refused to eat from them at all, we tried every bottle and every nipple combination on the market, and she refused to eat from any of them. Finally we were able to get her to eat from a large medicine dropper (5 ml). We kept trying with the bottle and finally she begrudgingly took it again. 

Well the past two days I have been working, Monday she ate about 4 ounces from 8 am until 5 pm, and today she only ate 3 ounces. Both last night and tonight I fed her as soon as I walked in the door and last night she ate for 4 hours straight (until 9:15) and then ate again from 10:30 until midnight.

I feed her really well in the morning before I leave (she ate for about 45 minutes this morning before I left) and has eaten again tonight since I got home and looks like she'll keep eating like she did last night.

Is this okay? For her to basically hunger strike all day and then cluster feed all evening? I am still pumping during the day at work, so my supply shouldn't be affected, but I am worried about what the impact will be on her weight (she is already on the small side in the 19th percentile for weight). 

What should I do? Any advice is appreciated!

P.S. I work too far away to come home to feed her on breaks, and DH works from home & takes care of her so he can't bring her to work for her to eat during the day either. 

desdemona39

Don't worry- she won't starve herself. There will be an adjustment period, and either she will start taking more during the day or she will reverse cycle.

Many babies reverse-cycle when mom goes back to work. She may start waking more at night to make up for the missed feedings which isn't easy for you, but kind of takes the pressure off from pumping so much. I found co-sleeping really helped me get the most sleep and still be functional at work.

b2b999

we still co-sleep and though I love that she sttn I would happily wake up and feed her at night so that she keeps growing. if she does reverse cycle though, does that mean she will sleep all day? what should we do about tummy time and play time then? will she start to miss milestones if i don"t get up and play with her at night?

desdemona39

No, it doesn't mean that she'll sleep all day and be up all night; it just means that she will drink more milk at night than during the day.

My DD took a longer nap during the day and woke to eat more frequently at night. It got a little better once she was taking in solids. She wanted it straight from the tap, took only 2-4oz in 10 hours from about 9-11 months and since 11 months she refused expressed milk all together. Prior to that she took much less than the standard 1oz per hour. She's growing great and meeting most of her milestones ahead of schedule (and still nurses at night).

I was never a great pumper, and if she hadn't reverse-cycled, I would have had to supplement. So as nice as it would have been to get better sleep,I'm glad I was able to meet her needs.

eta:  https://kellymom.com/bf/normal/reverse-cycling/

lisac1017

Don't beat yourself up about not offering a bottle more. DS was eBF too until solids but we introduced bottles at 3 weeks and then one day at 8 weeks he just flat out refused it. We tried all different kinds, all different ways. The most success we had was his syringe since he was used to taking Zantac. I didn't go back to work until he was 5.5 months so for over 3 months it was all nursing, no bottles. For some reason he liked the sippy cup though. We started him on it at 4 months but it took over a month for him to really get the hang of it. My first day at work he ate 3 oz, the second about 8 and by the third day he was back in full swing. And we def experienced some reverse cycling. I'd finally gotten him down to just 2 night feedings at 5 months and it went back up to 4+. Hang in there...it WILL get better I promise!