confused about nutritional needs of one year old

[stripeyfish]

Hi

I have an 11 month old who feeds on demand night and day (ranging from 5 to 10 times per 24 hours). When he is 1 next month I'm returning to work but still plan to feed on demand when I am with him which will mainly be evenings and weekends and nighttimes.  When I'm not with him, at work, will he NEED expressed milk or some kind of substitute?  I am not very good at expressing anymore since my supply is not what it used to be when he fed every 2 hours day and night but I dont want to just start giving cows milk or formula.  Will he be ok with water (which he quite likes and is getting used to having with each meal) and his solids and then having breastfeeds just at night/evening? 

Im so confused about how much dairy/milk/calcium a 1 year old needs or how many breastfeeds he will need to make sure he gets enough nutrints.  He does love his solids but is slowing down and becoming more picky (still a very healthy appetite though), will the 9-12 hour gap each day matter if I am feeding during the night? And what if he starts sleeping through the night (which he is sometimes doing)?  Should I make sure he has lots of yoghurt and cheese during the days Im at work?

I havent had to think about anything until now as he's just had his milk whenever he wants it,no questions asked!

Wold two breastfeeds a day satisfy his nutritional requirements without adding cows milk or formula to his diet?

Thanks in advance for helping me understand :)

x

[DaisyMae08]

I have an 11 month old also and am still breastfeeding.  He goes to an in home daycare while I work (I teach high school) and drinks 2-3 bottles of expressed milk during the time he is at daycare (7-2:30ish).  He drinks milk 5 - 6 times/day in addition to 2-3 snacks and 3 solid food meals.  I nurse him once in the morning before I drop him off, he gets 2 - 3 bottles while there and then I nurse him at home in the afternoon and then right before bed.  I don't think he would make it through his time at daycare without milk as he'd be down to only 3 nursing sessions total/24 hours.

If your babe still does multiple night feedings, then maybe it would work for you but I still think that's a really long time to go without milk.  What is he eating for solid food?  My guy can be funny about what he will/won't eat and I feel better that he's still getting breastmilk just in terms of having his nutritional needs met.

[Fynns Mommy]

My son just turned 1. I'm not currently working, but I did work for a month when my son was 7.5 to 8.5 months old. During that month, he did really well. I found that he was more willing to eat solids when I was at work, probably because he knew I wasnt there to nurse him. He also was more willing to take bottles of ebm when I wasnt there. If you are working 9-12 hours, you will definitely want to express at some point during the day. Pumps never worked well for me, hand expressing works way better. I cant express anything more than a few drops currently, it seems only my son can get milk out properly. I always had a hard time expressing very much, I would only get 1 or 2 oz. But when I was at work, it was much easier. I was only working 6.5hr shifts, and had one break to express. I was able to get at least 3 or 4 oz each time, and there are times I could have expressed more but didnt want to overfill the storage bag.

I found that being away from my son for longer than usual made it easier for me to express. Thinking about him, looking at pictures of him on my phone, and listening to a recording of him crying helped with my letdown. So hopefully after you start work, you'll be able to express enough to get him through the day. Solids can be the main staple during the day (especially since he'll be 1), so you wont really need to express a TON. Especially if he likes water, too.

[stripeyfish]

thanks for your replies.  i'm starting to build a stock of expressed milk now (very slowly) so even just one bottle a day is better than nothing and i guess he will just feed a lot evening and nights to make up for it!

[pacificbliss]

With both kids I gave up pumping at work at after they turned one so I am going to say you do not need to send bottles. With that said I also need to add the caveat that they both ate yogurt and cheese and I let them have whole milk.

[anjsmama]

After 10 months I haven't left expressed milk for DD. She nurses twice/night, in the morning before I leave, when I get home, and again before bed. So she still has 5 nursing sessions in 24 hours. She drinks water and eats solids when I'm gone. She is a pretty big nearly-11-month-old and is walking, talking, and happy and healthy all around. Her ped doesn't seem to think she's missing anything and I am not planning to supplement with animal milks at any point since our family has a bad history with it.

[sunrayEJ]

I have a one year old and I work, just part time, and I'm away from my son for no more than 6 hours at a time.  I stopped pumping a few months ago, mainly because he wasn't even drinking much milk from a bottle, just playing with it/ chewing on it, and he's been eating a lot more solids.  I also was not getting much milk when pumping, and was dreading each time I had to try.  In our case, the time we spend apart has made for good opportunities to increase and experiment with nutritional solids.