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Leaving 9 month old without milk

notreallyirishnotreallyirish member
in Attachment Parenting

So, I have had plans to return to school or at least finish my master's thesis several times that have always been thwarted by DS's refusal to take a bottle.  It hasn't been a big deal, but now I really do need to be able to leave him for a long-ish stretch of time.

He's 9 months and eating some solids.  I try to give him 3 meals a day, but I estimate he only eats about 1.5 tablespoons at most per meal including purees and finger foods.  He will drink water from a sippy, but doesn't get much out.  I generally nurse every 3 hours or so during the day.  I'd like to be able to leave him for 6 or 7 hours.  I thought I could leave for 3 hour stretches, but if you factor in the commute to and from school I could only get like 90 mins of work done. Also, pumping is not really an option even with the sippy since I get like zero out at this stage.

I was reading info from the Newman clinic that said he really doesn't need to take a bottle or drink milk or formula if he nurses on demand when I'm with him and he eats some solids and has water while I'm gone.  Do you think it would be okay to just have him take solids and water or juice for 6 or 7 hours?  He's a chunk, so he obviously won't starve and I guess he can make up the quantity of milk when I get home.  It just makes me nervous. Thoughts?

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Re: Leaving 9 month old without milk

  • Lotte134Lotte134
    I agree it's probably fine.  There are babies that reverse cycle and do that all the time.  How often would you be doing this?  If it were me I would probably feel better leaving some BM or formula if BM wasn't an option.  That way whoever is caring for him could at least offer if he seems really hungry. 
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  • anna7602anna7602 member

    imageLotte134:
    I agree it's probably fine.  There are babies that reverse cycle and do that all the time.  How often would you be doing this?  If it were me I would probably feel better leaving some BM or formula if BM wasn't an option.  That way whoever is caring for him could at least offer if he seems really hungry. 

    I agree with this. It would entirely depend on how often you plan to do this. Is it 1-2 times/week, every weekday, consecutive days? I'd probably be most comfortable spacing it out (ie, not on consecutive days) and I definitely would leave formula to offer in a sippy cup even if he has refused that in the past.

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  • notreallyirishnotreallyirish member
    It will be every other day.  Most likely Monday/Wednesday and maybe Friday.  Our 9 month well baby is on Tuesday so I plan on discussing it with the pedi then.  I think I will probably leave formula just in case.  Newman says you can give cow's milk at this age if the baby is mostly getting breastmilk, but I have a feeling the pedi won't be wild about that idea.  I guess formula will last longer without expiring anyway if he's not going to be drinking that much to begin with.  We tried giving formula somewhat recently and while he wasn't wild about it and only drank like 3 sips he didn't hate it either.
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  • anna7602anna7602 member
    I'm not wild about cow's milk to begin with, but Kellymom has some good info about why introducing it too soon isn't a good idea. I don't have the links handy, but I remember finding a lot of info when I wondered if it was okay to give DD things baked with milk, etc. (baking was ok, as far as I remember, but giving straight milk was different.)
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  • jen5-03jen5-03 member

    I put DD in MDO 5 hours a day 3x a week at 9mo old. She pretty much refused a bottle. I did send bottles with formula, but after a couple weeks of trying, they gave up. I sent a sippy and plenty of food and she was fine.

    If you do try to send formula, know that a can of powdered formula expires 30 days after you open it.

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  • celiabwatsonceliabwatson
    My boy weaned himself from one of his day care bottles at about 9 months. Now he goes from 4 or 5 am until noon (so more than 6 hours) without any breastmilk. He has a breastmilk bottle at noon. He used to have one at 8 am but weaned himself. So, it's not unheard of for a baby of that age to go without breastmilk for that long. However, I always knew that it was there and he would take it if he needed it so I agree that leaving an alternative (formula whatever) is a good idea, just for your sanity. You could also try it out by skipping a feeding at home (replace with snack and water in a sippy) and see how long he goes.
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