Daycare and Number of Bottles

babywhoknows28

Hello!

DD is starting daycare tommorow - I can't decide what to do with her feeding schedule.  How long is your LO at daycare, how many bottles do you leave, and for how much?  DD is 3.5 months, and is exclusively breastfed.

TIA!

CMDR513

DS was FF so it varied. How much does DD drink per day. I'd leave more than average.

j&jp

ditto pp.  I also left more than she needed.  It really depends on how much/often she drinks and how long she will be there.

sju

DD started daycare at 4 mos and she was EBF at the time.  I used to send (5) 4-oz bottles for the days I worked 8 hours and she was there 9 hrs.

 

lewis514

DD was formula fed but I always sent 2 extra bottles just in case. When she started she was on 4 oz bottles at 3 months every 3 hours. She would have only needed 3 per day usually due to her schedule but I usually sent 5.

jillms413

My 4 month old eats 4 oz every 2 hours.  So for an 8-9 hour day, I leave 4 bottles.  I also leave formula in the cabinet for extras just in case.  They have needed to tap into that only once or twice.

 

makclair

How much will he take from a bottle?  I sent 5 3.5 oz bottles at first in case he wanted to eat more frequently but he quickly adapted to an every three hour feeding schedule there (he took 4 oz till maybe 5 months, then up to a max of  6 oz closer to a year). Anyway, i sent more than I thought he would need just in case. Make sure you send fresh milk so that you can reuse what he doesn't drink the next day (the bottles that weren't used at all obviously)

justrachet

Looks like your daycare started yesterday, so maybe you've figured it out, but I wanted to offer our experience.

Since DS has always had formula at daycare, we didn't have to figure out how much to send. They just make it as they need it. He has 4 bottles at daycare, which they wash every day. When he started, at 6 weeks, he was taking 3 or 4 oz every 2 or 3 hours. Sometimes he'd have 3 bottles at daycare, sometimes 4, between 12 and 16 oz per day. Around 3.5 months, we increased to 6 oz every 3 hours.

The first month or so, I just let them sort of figure out when he needed to eat, and let him eat as much as he wanted. He only started eating predictably a few weeks ago.