I have a 6 month old in an in home daycare. I was sending 4 4oz bottles plus baby food plus cereal...she ate it all & the daycare provider said she was "still hungry". I then sent 4 5oz bottles (yes I woke in the night to pump just to have enough). Daycare lady said she was still eating it all & that at one time she had an 8oz bottle! Of breastmilk! Im almost in tears because I know Im making enough and feel its being wasted. Any thoughts here?!
Re: daycare overfeeding BF baby
I am all for feeding a baby (i don't personally believe in strictly sticking to 1oz/hr if baby is still clearly hungry) but yah 8oz at once is HUGE. Even for. FFed baby. My DD1 was FFed and she IF she ever took that much she had a bunch of spit up.
I EP for my DD2 and the amt she eats depends on how often she eats. When she was wanting to eat every 2hrs (up till about 6mo) she ate 3oz. If I gave her even half oz more she spit it right up. Then she slowly started taking 3.5oz and then started extending to 3hrs between feeds. Now she takes 4oz about every 3hrs. I have NEVER been nazi about paced feedings, she paces herself. She's on a slow flow nipple and when she wants a break she just pushes it out with her tongue or turns her face.
What flow is your baby on?
Maybe talk to your provider about slowing the feeding a bit or about offering smaller more frequent feedings? But yeah 8oz in one feeding is crazy!
Is your daycare provided doing paced bottle feeding? Here is a really good video on paced bottle feeding:
Good luck!
One of the other ladies there said "oh... Right. Her milk has to go in the fridge" ... Like I was just being picky or something. Maybe they just don't have a lot of experience with breast fed babies? Am I expecting too much out of them? We feed on demand, nap when she needs it... Not on a set schedule (which I made them aware of). Are we just not cut out for daycare? They aren't big or that busy, there is usually 3 babies and at least two ladies, one being the director.
2nd round exp 8/20/18.
I'm creeping on this board (DD is 15 weeks) but she has 2-4oz of breastmilk every 2-2.5 hours at daycare. She's usually there from about 9:30am - 5:30pm. She eats when she gets up in the morning, between 4 and 10 oz, before going to daycare (if she STTN she will take down 6 oz right away and then 4 more about two hours later, which makes sense as she's been asleep for 12 hours at that point. If she woke in the night, she usually will sleep later and only take 4 oz before going to daycare). Once she's there she usually is fed around 10, 12, 2, and 4 (unless she's napping - they wait for her to fuss so they're kind of feeding on demand). I send four 4oz bottles and two 2oz bottles. That way if she's still a bit hungry after the 4oz bottles, they can tack on a 2oz bottle and not be wasteful. Also, if her naps have made it so that she's due for a bottle around 5, they'll only give her 2oz then because they know i'll be there soon and I like to feed her when I get her home. Generally she goes to daycare with 20oz prepared and comes home with anywhere from 4-8oz left over. I don't worry too much about it...she gets so much food during the day that she generally STTN, or will wake up only once MOTN to eat. I don't think she's being overfed...she won't really allow herself to be overfed. If she doesn't want to eat there is no way to force her to do so. She just won't accept the bottle (or breast if we're at home) unless she's actually hungry.
Are you sending a lot of older frozen milk to daycare? I ask because the properties of the milk change with the child's needs as it gets older - so if your frozen stash is 3 months old and that's what you're sending to daycare it might just not be as nutritious as LO needs right now. I have a very complicated frozen milk rotation going on...I make sure to use part fresh and part frozen every day for daycare so that way the frozen stuff isn't too old. Right now I think I'm operating on frozen milk that is from 5 weeks ago for 10-12oz/day and everything else is fresh. Whatever I pumped the previous day and didn't need for the next day's bottles gets immediately frozen. I am hoping that she'll continue to be a snacker and not take more than 4 oz in her normal feedings...mostly bc my bottles are only 4oz and I don't feel like buying bigger ones! we'll see how that works out.
My situation: my son is 8-months, he's in daycare M-F 8 am- 4:30p. We give them 2 6-oz (12 oz total) bottles of Breastmilk typically frozen milk from a month or two ago, and we give 2 4-oz pureed food and either a teether wafer or 4 oz of finger foods so he can work on his fine motor skills. He only has 2 bottom teeth, but the 4 teeth on the top are all starting to come in as well. I only mention the teething aspect because I noticed that he drank less but ate more solids when he was in pain from teething. We still only give 12 oz while he's at daycare and will give more solids if he's still hungry.
Bottom line: it's your child and you know best, however babies are constantly "leveling up" so maybe find a middle ground and set the expectations to get on the same page.
I can also tell you that the atmosphere in a daycare is much different than at home and that can affect your child’s behavior along with their eating and sleeping schedules! Babies are typically more active at daycare with there being new toys, other children, more adults and typically more stimulation than at home, this could lead to your baby exerting themselves a little more and in turn, needing more to eat. This is the case especially in a good daycare since it means your child is getting a lot of good playtime!
Also as a mother who breastfed for the beginning of my baby’s life I can empathize with the thought of wasting breast milk, it is heartbreaking! When I worked as an infant teacher my goal was to keep all the babies in my care happy and healthy, so maybe try to have a conversation with your baby’s teachers about the situation. If you’re worried about producing enough breast milk you could think about trying to supplement with formula. I know that some moms are very against this but it’s worth thinking about! Or if you could always try offering more solid foods to supplement. Try not to judge the daycare without sitting down with them to discuss different options for your child. If they are like the teachers I have worked with then I guarantee they just want what’s best for your child just like you!