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bedtime nursing

taraleannetaraleanne member
in Breastfeeding
In the next few months I will be working on getting my LO off the boob during the day because I will be going back to work when he is 12 months old.  He is exclusively breastfed but will take a bottle of expressed milk when I am away for bedtime. If I'm away during the day, it's not usually long enough to skip a true feeding because he's also getting solids but we have experimented and he will take my milk in a straw cup (or regular with help or on his own with a lot of mess!)

Anyway, when I go back to work I plan to continue breastfeeding (so past 12m) for just morning and bedtime but there will still be some bedtimes that I will away for.  How long should I continue to leave a bottle if he's drinking from a cup every other time I'm away?  Should he drink his bedtime milk out of a cup too? Somehow I don't think it will have the same effect as a bottle (or boobie) would be…..     

And for those of you who are done nursing, do you offer milk in a cup at bedtime? Does LO get any milk before bed or is it just at supper now? My LO goes to bed shortly after dinner (if he's cranky, sometimes it's within an hour!)  

TIA!
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Re: bedtime nursing

  • CLLDLLCLLDLL member
    We do still nurse as part of our bedtime rountine at 18 months. I think we could drop it easily, but we both like it as a way to connect.

    That being said, I agree with Teresa that once baby can drink from a cup, no reason to offer a bottle anymore when you are gone.
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  • taraleannetaraleanne member
    theresat858 said:
    I'm confused...why does he need a bottle at night if he will drink from a sippy cup? Around one, DD stopped nursing to sleep. It may be a bit of an adjustment but he should be old enough to be put to sleep without "nursing" to sleep (with boob or bottle). Just give the milk before the rest of the bedtime routine and rock baby or rub baby's back or whatever works for sleep... No reason to need a nurse to sleep association after 1.
    Maybe I wasn't clear enough, sorry …..he can drink from a cup. But we don't do sippy as we were advised not to, we do straws and a regular cup. He doesn't nurse to sleep but at bedtime it IS part of our routine. He doesn't fall asleep at the boob (or bottle) but it definitely relaxes him at bedtime.  At nap time he doesn't get any milk (after yes but not before).  I'm just thinking about how alter the routine when I'm not there- I guess you're saying just having my hubby or my mom or whoever is watching him just sit with him as he drinks his milk from the cup and that's it. Maybe I'm just over thinking it. I just want to make sure he's getting enough milk and since the regular cup can be kinda messy I don't know if that's a good idea in his pi's before bed. There is some waste with the straw cup and I hate wasted breast milk! Perhaps I can wait until he's closer to one and on whole milk to worry about the switch….
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