XP: Preparing for daycare

el_twirpo

i go back to work the start of january and have been storing up a freezer stash with one morning pump a day. i think i have almost 200 oz of milk.

a couple questions:

1) how are you using your freezer stash for daycare if you're also pumping while at work? make one bottle from freezer and rest fresh from previous day? making all bottles with oldest frozen and add all newly pumped to the freezer stash?

2) if every pump throughout the work day is replacing a feeding, should i just pump the equivalent amount (DS takes about 3 oz) or should i pump until both sides empty, which would be more than 3 oz? 

MrsBeckO

DD wasn't in daycare while we were nursing, but speaking from the infant teacher side of it.. most of our breastfeeding moms send prepared (usually pumped the day before) bottles each day and keep a few bags of frozen milk in the freezer should baby go through all the fresh stuff. 

We peek at the dates of the freezer stuff ever so often, to give mamas a heads up when they've been in there a while. They usually ask us to use it up before the 3-4 month mark and they bring in a new freezer stash at that point. 

I can't answer about how much you should pump, though. I know rssn was one of our resident rockstar pumpers, so hopefully she'll chime in. 

Mrs.Froggianna

Luke was only in (in-home) daycare for about 6-8 weeks, so I don't have long term pumping from work experience but I did exactly what BeckO described--sending fresh milk each day but keeping a bit of frozen at daycare as back up.

As for pumping amounts, I'd pump as much as I possibly could at each session.  I almost always pumped what he would've eaten but sometimes I didn't.  It seemed like after having nursed him all weekend my supply was better on Monday but by Friday I wouldn't get as much at each pumping session.  Then nursing all weekend would help it "rebound" so to speak.  I don't think it could hurt to pump as much as you can get.  Worse case scenario is you'll have a mega freezer stash.  Good luck!!

el_twirpo

that makes sense to keep some in their freezer as back-up if they go through all the fresh milk. and i assume less is pumped out by friday since pumping is less efficient than nursing.

what do you do with a mega freezer stash? since it's only good for 3-4 months and i'd mostly be sending fresh milk, when would i have time to use the freezer stash?

smb29

I'd make one frozen and the rest fresh bottles so you are cycling through your stash.  Pump as much as you can because over time the pump just doesn't keep your supply up the way breastfeeding does.  You may have times your supply dips or the baby goes through a growth spurt and you need the extra ounces.

MrsBeckO

el_twirpo:

that makes sense to keep some in their freezer as back-up if they go through all the fresh milk. and i assume less is pumped out by friday since pumping is less efficient than nursing.

what do you do with a mega freezer stash? since it's only good for 3-4 months and i'd mostly be sending fresh milk, when would i have time to use the freezer stash?

I think I remember that you can keep frozen breastmilk in the freezer for up to 6 months (longer if its a deep freeze). Our moms just tend to cycle through more frequently than that. 

ACR

1) I never had a ton in my freezer. Typically I would send freshly pumped milk to daycare. If it was getting close to needing to use up some of the frozen, I'd send that and freeze the fresh. Mostly I found that I needed the frozen stash to make up the difference during phases when DS would eat more than usual - or when he was starting to increase his intake before my supply caught up.

2) I say pump til empty - soon enough he'll probably be wanting more. In my experience, it was easier to deal with excess milk than to fret about producing more.

el_twirpo

very good points about pumping til empty. always better to have more than to try to up my supply later. thanks, ladies!

jml5q

smb29:

I'd make one frozen and the rest fresh bottles so you are cycling through your stash.  Pump as much as you can because over time the pump just doesn't keep your supply up the way breastfeeding does.  You may have times your supply dips or the baby goes through a growth spurt and you need the extra ounces.

ditto this. plus by then your ds may be taking more than 3 oz a feeding. my ds started with 4oz per bottle and quickly moved up to 5 oz per bottle.

i have my milk in a deep freezer so it'll last closer to 6 months. but i'm already started to go through it as it's not always feasible to pump on a strict schedule at work so i'm starting to fall behind on pumping.

el_twirpo

jml5q:

ditto this. plus by then your ds may be taking more than 3 oz a feeding. my ds started with 4oz per bottle and quickly moved up to 5 oz per bottle.

i have my milk in a deep freezer so it'll last closer to 6 months. but i'm already started to go through it as it's not always feasible to pump on a strict schedule at work so i'm starting to fall behind on pumping.

when would you say the amount started to change? after another growth spurt?