Working moms who pump

Mrs. Diss

How many bottles do you send with your LO to daycare and how many ounces are they?  Addie's first day is tomorrow and I'm trying to figure out how much to give them, I'm so afraid of not giving enough.

Also, when you pump on a Friday. Do you freeze that BM or just leave it in the fridge till Monday?  Also, if I were to pump too much for the next day (not counting on it, but just want to be prepared) should I leave it in the fridge for two days from then or freeze it? Can I put BM in the freezer after it has been sitting in a fridge all day?

THANKS!

popcorn13

Mallory takes 4 oz at a time.  In a normal day (7:30-5:15) she takes 3 of them.  This is with me nursing her around 7 AM and when she gets home around 5:30.  We also send a spare and she has occassionally used it.  When she started she took 3.5 oz bottles but I let them tell me whether she needed more. 

Sometimes I keep Friday's milk in the fridge and send it on Monday.  Sometimes I freeze it.  Just remember that if you freeze it and thaw it Sunday night for Monday's bottle that it has to be used within 24 hours.  I've had some spoil before that 24 hour period.  I hate for it to get thrown out.  Last Friday I didn't pump enough on Friday so I'll have to add some milk from this weekend in order to have enough for her bottles.  Because of that I'm going to freeze the stuff from Friday.  I'll then thaw out enough for three bottles from the oldest stuff in the freezer.  The spare bottle (I number them) will be from the fresh stuff I pumped over the weekend.  This way your stash is rotated in the freezer.

I don't know if it's recommended but I have left milk in the fridge for a day or two and then frozen it and have not had issues with it once it's been thawed. 

Good luck with your first day.  Just know that pumping will get easier -- the first day is a bit awkward and it makes it a bit hard.  I also don't know your line of work, but it helped me to block off times on my shared calendar for pumping.  Otherwise I'd get booked for meetings and it became stressful for me to try and fit in pumpings.  I treat pumping sessions just like meetings and other then my manager, my co-workers don't know what I'm doing and just think I'm in meetings.  It helps me to relax to know that I have a full 30 minutes blocked off each time and I don't need the full time.  That way if I'm running late I don't have to rush.  It also gives me time to go to the bathroom, grab a water or hot chocolate and relax.  Hope you have a good first day back and your LO does well at daycare!

Vandy05

Sara takes 4- 6oz bottles at about 10, 1, 330 and 6-7. At you lo's age I wasnt pumping so I have no idea. But at 3 months when I went back to work she did 5- 5oz bottles a day 10, 12, 2, 420, 630 about.

 

You can freeze BM that has been in the fridge. I just leave mine in the fridge. I think freezing kills some of the good antibodies in the milk so I try to have it be as fresh as it can be.

RebandJake

Mine drinks anywhere from 2-4 oz at a time.  I leave 12 oz (4 3 oz bottles) for a work day and so far that's about exactly what she drinks.  I keep it all in the fridge.  I'm trying to get a little ahead, and if I can get one full day ahead, I am going to freeze some for my stash.