How many bottles/ounces do you send to daycare?

dianadvargas

My 3 months old will start daycare next week. I will go back to work 4 days a week (mon, tues, wed, and fri) My schedule will be from 8AM-4PM with the exception of tuesday when I work from 8AM-6PM (my long day). 

How much she eats, well it varies everyday sometimes she will breastfeed for 15 minutes and go 3, 4 hours. Most of the times however, she wants to feed for 5-10 minutes every hour. So i have no clue how many ounces and how many bottles. I dont want her to be hungry, But i dont want the daycare people to overfeed her or come home with extra bottle and waste the precious milk.....

What do you guys do or did when your baby was 3 months old? I was thinking maybe 4 bottles of 3 ounces each and maybe 1 bottle of formula as extra if needed....she never has had formula though....I don't know if I should give her one at home before she starts daycare to see how she reacts....but I was trying to avoid the formula until really necessary....IDK...confused confused confused!!!!

 

Dee! 

 

 

 

AimeeL85

When DS started DC at 3 months, I sent three 4 oz. bottles.  They say they will need approximately 1 oz. per hour that you are away from them, so that was a lot, but I did this because I instructed them to discard any milk left in a bottle if he didn't drink it within 1.5 hours of it being warmed up.  He didn't always drink 4 oz. in one sitting or by the 1.5 hour mark, so some would be wasted.  I never wanted to send too little, so I sent more than I knew they would need (it was hard to judge since he didn't have bottles at home).

Anyway, what I do is number the bottles on the bottom with a permanent marker and tell them to use the bottles in number order. Bottle #1 is always milk that I had frozen which has to be used within 24 hours.  Bottle #2 is either frozen, fresh, or a combo of both - that bottle always gets used, too.  Bottle #3 is always fresh milk that I pumped within the last day or two.  This way, if he does not drink his 3rd bottle and it gets sent home with me, I know it's milk that's still good.

I wouldn't go with a formula backup unless you absolutely can't produce enough to send a little extra.  Also, some centers will let you leave some frozen milk there as backup, so check with them on that.

harvest-wed

hi there, my little girl is just over 3 months now and I send her with 4 - 3oz bottles and usually a 2 oz bottle that doesn't get used.  She goes to daycare 2 days/week from 8-4ish sometimes I can get her by 3:30.  Today she was home with my hubby and I was gone just over 6 hours and she only took six ounces.  She doesn't nap well at daycare so she is fussy and they feed her...  she napped a lot today and just didn't eat as much.  She goes to a home daycare and the provider has some of my frozen BM in her freezer for emergencies.  But actually she has some formula in those tubes that make single servings there too.  That is an absolute last resort. 

My mom had her on my first day of work, I had 2.5 oz bottles then and didn't seem satisfied so I upped the bottles to 3 oz.

 

HTH and good luck!

babyblues314

At 3 months, we sent 4 3 oz bottles.  He only drank 3.  Now he is up to 4 oz, but only drinks 2 (goes longer between feedings now).  I always send 1 more extra bottle then what he normally drinks.  I also label the bottles with the dates.  I am lucky and produce more then enough milk, so I always send fresh milk.  I have mini sticky notes (https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/286981/Post-it-Arrow-Flags-1-34/) that I stick to the lid of the bottle.  Because they rotate the bottles by the day, the extra bottle that comes home with me on Friday is only a day or two old, so I either use it (let dad feed him) or freeze it. 

mschrick

Just thought I would chime in with something that I did that really helped me.  I brought over 20-25 oz's of frozen bm to daycare when my DD started.  I told the DCP that if she was ever still hungry after finishing the fresh BM that she could always defrost and feed her that.  So even if I have a low pumping day, I know that she will be covered with BM.  HTH

dianadvargas

Thank you very much ladies!!!!

I think it will be 4 - 3ounces bottles of EBM. I really like the idea you gave me of making the last bottle a fresh bottle of breastmilk so if she doesnt drink it at all I can just use it for the next day or freeze it. I thought at the beginning that I was just gonna get milk from my stash, but I think making the last bottle a fresh one works better so there is no waste.

 Thank u very much!!!!!

Dee! 

BeetleLinz1125

I send with 16oz every day, she usually drinks about 12.  I'd rather send her with more than have her run out.  I just feed her the extra at her next feeding, but I EP so it's a little different for me.