How much breast milk to send to daycare?

lauleger

I have 5 more weeks left of maternity leave and don't know how much breast milk to send with LO to daycare. He's 11 weeks and still wants to nurse every hour sometimes hour and a half during the day. At night he usually sleeps one long stretch of time then 2 shorter stretches. He's been weighed before/after nursing and eats about 2 oz. He'll be at daycare about 8 hours a day. He tends to eat more out of a bottle and I'm worried he'll eat a ton and run out of milk.

Sarcasm101

Is there any way you can test this while you are still home? Pump and see how much he eats out of a bottle over an 8 hour period

delujm0

I worked with my daycare teachers the first couple of weeks...i first sent a lot of milk, to be sure i'd have enough, and then we adjusted based on what LO really needed.  A few weeks ago, they asked for an additional bottle just to be safe.  She takes 4 oz bottles.  I know this because DH would give her a bottle every few days while i was on leave (we did this so she would get used to taking the bottle) adn she would take between 3-4 ounces.  NBow i send 4 oz bottles to daycare as well as two 2 oz bottles just in case she's still hungry after a 4 oz portion, or if she's due for a bottle around 5pm (i get there to pick her up between 5 and 5:30, but if she's fussing, they'll give her enough to take the edge off so i can still nurse her once i get home).

delujm0

lauleger said:

I'll have to end up doing that. I've just found it hard to have time to pump with his frequent nursing, so I don't want to deplete what I have in the freezer as backup. The day I try this should I pump the times he does take the bottle?

ALWAYS pump while LO is getting a bottle, especially in the first few months.  Your supply is still regulating, so your body needs to know when and how much LO is eating to do that.

 

I also had trouble pumping while on leave because LO was high needs and would NOT tolerate being put down for long stretches of time unless she was on top of me.  I would wake to pump MOTN if she slept a longer stretch while on leave (i stopped this once i went back to work), and then i'd pump whenever DH gave her a bottle.  I had a slight oversupply, and LO has reflux so she's more of a snacker - as a result of this, she only ever takes one side per feeding.  For a while, when on leave, i was feeding her from one side MOTN and pumping a few ounces out of the other side to build up my freezer stash.  Now she typically STTN from 7pm - 6/7am or wakes up once around 4:30am.  So i feed her before she goes to bed, then i pump around 10 before i go to bed, and then if she wakes at 4:30 i feed her from one side and then pump the other.  If she doesn't wake to feed, my alarm goes off at 5am and i pump both sides.  DH is on morning duty, so she gets bottles in the morning.  I double pump 3 times at work (about every 3 hours) and then i nurse her when we get home and before bed.  For a while i was getting a large surplus once i got back to work, and i still wind up with an extra 3-4 ounces every day, so you should be able to continue building your freezer stash.  I am hoping to have enough frozen that i am able to cut down from 3 work pumps a day to 2 when LO hits the 6 month mark.

 

I won't lie, keeping up with EBF when you go back to work is a massive chore.  The daily bottle cleaning and prep for the next day, and milk organization, is like an hour commitment every weekday.  but LO loves to nurse, so it's worth it.  It's only 12 months, maybe less if i have enough frozen reserve.  But trust...pumping at work suuuuuuuucks, even though i work for a very large organization and have really great lactation room resources.  Ugh.  Good luck!

lauleger

I'll have to end up doing that. I've just found it hard to have time to pump with his frequent nursing, so I don't want to deplete what I have in the freezer as backup. The day I try this should I pump the times he does take the bottle?