Working Mom's who Pump

RachelMarie83

I have EBF my LO up until this point and I would like to keep going until a year.  I am returning to work in September and plan on pumping so that I can send BM to daycare with LO.  Because she is EBF, I am not exactly sure how much milk to send with her.  

So, my question to you all is how many bottles per day do you send and how many ounces are in each bottle.  What hours is your LO at daycare (so I can compare to my LO's schedule)?  How old is your LO?

Thanks! 

mommyjenny257

Have you been using a bottle with your LO yet?  I would work with her and see how much she takes in a bottle.  Also watch how often she feeds on that bottle. 

 My LO eats about 5oz every 3 hours.  (He's 4 mo old..so yours may already be eating more like 6oz.) Since he is with a sitter, I just bring her almost all of my frozen supply (I keep about a day's worth at home).  I drop him off around 6:30 am (he eats at home at 6am) and pick him up around 5pm, so he's eating approximately 15oz-20z per day at the sitter's.  Always make sure the daycare has a couple of extras frozen in case your LO has an extra hungry day though. 

RachelMarie83

MommyJenny257:

Have you been using a bottle with your LO yet?  I would work with her and see how much she takes in a bottle.  Also watch how often she feeds on that bottle. 

She has taken a bottle, but never consecutive bottles.  And each time I give a bottle it varies.  Sometimes she will only take 2oz and other times she will take 5oz.  That's why I'm really not sure what to do. 

astroMom

https://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html

If you don't want to do a trial run, then I'd send one extra feeding worth.

Melanie2003

my nearly 9 mos old peanut has 3 bottles at daycare - each are 4 oz. I nurse her 1-2x in the morning before we leave, and once when we get home and again at bedtime.

she's at daycare from 9-5, but we leave the house around 7:45am - we've got a long commute. we get home at 6:30pm.

MWoodside

DD has been consistant sine about 6 mo old.  I would leave 4 small bottles & also bring one extra just in case I was running late or she was super hungry that day.  I was gone 7:30am-6pm.

QueenNini

My 11 mo DS drinks 3/ 4.5 or 5 oz bottles at my MIL's, plus some solids. She always has extra BM in her freezer, just in case.

588loves551

DD is 10 weeks.  She eats about 4-5 ounces before school at 0700.  She gets there around 8:30 and I pick her up at 5:50.  I send her with 4 bottles of about 4 oz each.  And they are usually gone when I pick her up (or just finishing her last one).  Sometimes I may have an extra bottle come back, rarely does she need more.  They have a few of my frozen bags, not only in case she is hungry, but in case they drop one, spill one, etc, then she will still have food.

Also, they give a report card every day of how many times and how many ounces at each feeding.  She could easily eat 5-7oz at home so I was sending larger bottles.  But I saw on her report card that some meals were only 3-4oz, so I asked what they did with what she didn't eat.  Their policy is to toss it after an hour!   It was only her second week when I figured it out- I had no idea they threw it away! So that's why I send smaller quantities.  And now, she's been steady at 4 ounces, 4 times a day (during daycare hours). HTH!

Helix07

DS eats 3oz every 2.5-3 hours while I am gone.  I send 3 3oz bottles because that is all I can pump.  I feed him right before I leave the house at 7. DH drops him off at 8:30.  I pick him up at 4 and feed him either there or right when I get home.

pitterpatter129

My kiddo eats every three hours, 4 oz bottles.  I feed him before I leave at 6:30, daycare or Daddy does 4 oz at 9:00 and 4 oz at 12:00 and I'm home at 3:30 to feed him again.  If I have faculty meetings that day, I leave an extra bottle for the 3:00 feeding.  I can pump exactly four ounces per pumping too, so that works out great. 

He's been taking the same amount of milk since he was five months old also.  Remember that bm increases in calories on it's own, so they don't need bigger and bigger bottles like formula babies.  Don't let your daycare try to convince you to use faster flow nipples or give bigger bottles if you think your LO is satisfied with what you send. ( I know mine is fine because my husband is the caregiver three times a week.)  We've never had to go up in ounces.  Some daycares are horrified that there is ONLY four ounces, but it's usually enough. 

mie

With my older two, I started out by sending 5 bottles with 3 oz in each bottle.  Eventually I went down to 4 bottles with 3-4 oz in each bottle.  They were in daycare for 9.5 hours.  I intend to do the same with my third LO. (My oldest was almost 6 months old when I went back to work, my second was 5 months old and my third will be 4 months old when I return to work.)