Maryland Babies

Daycare bottles

I know different LOs eat differently and not all start at the same age, but DD will be starting dc soon and currently feeds on demand and is a bit of a "grazer" during the day. How many of what volume bottles would you send in the first week while she establishes a more consistent pattern? She'll be 12 weeks, but she's kind of small still.
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Re: Daycare bottles

  • When DS first started daycare, I sent enough bottles for each of his feedings (3) plus one extra (he was taking 3 5oz bottles at daycare at that time - 11 weeks old). We FF so I sent empty bottles and pre-measured powdered formula. Now I just send empty bottles and the can of formula and tell them how many ounces per bottle.

    If you're sending breastmilk, can you estimate how much LO will eat during that time and send that amount, plus a little extra? Do you have to make up the bottles ahead or can you send empty bottles and BM in storage bags?

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  • I'm breast feeding, which is why I have no idea how much she eats. I think I have to premake the bottles; I don't think they deal with storage bags, etc. I was thinking 4 bottles, but wasn't sure how much to put in each.
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  • I did 4 bottles with 3oz each for my DD when I went back to work at 3 months. The average intake for a breastfed baby from about 1 month - 6 months is 25oz/day, so "they" say to estimate 1oz/hour that you are away from your child. I was away 11 hours, so she got 12oz. It worked well for us and she had that much until about 9 months when I was able to take out one bottle and she got 9-10oz/day.

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

     Breastfed babies tend to eat more frequently so you may want to do a bunch of small bottles so that no milk gets wasted. That stuff is precious!

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  • Ditto to pp. Faith has always taken 3oz bottles (of bm) while I'm a work. Even though I'm away from her for 11 1/2 hours, she only take 3 bottles (9 oz total). I nurse right before I leave most mornings and as soon as I get home. 

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  • Claire also takes 3 oz. bottles.  My daycare has a few small bags of frozen milk just in case (she's never had to use it, but it's nice reassurance knowing it's there).
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  • Thanks ladies!  3 oz bottles it is.  I'll send one more than I think she'll need, just in case. 
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  • You might also want to try to weigh her before you feed and after, to see how much she is getting. (St. Agnes has a lactation consultant/bf support group that meets Tuesday mornings that does this. It is free and you do not have to have delivered there to attend.) My DD was tiny so I actually sent (4) 2 - 2.5 -oz bottles and then a bottle with an ounce. That fifth bottle was in case she was a bit hungrier or it was to be fed in the afternoon, if I was late arriving, so she would still bf when we got home. Later, I sent 4  - 3 oz bottles and an extra 2 ouncer.
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  • DD is EBF and also tiny but a little piggy. She wasnt even 12 lbs at 4 months. 

    She started daycare at 12 weeks and I sent 4 4oz bottles. Some days she would take 3 and other days she would take all 4.  We fortunately never ran into problems with reverse cycling but DD was almost the opposite and would eat more while she was away from me.

    I think 3 is a good place to start and then go up from there. I probably wouldnt do bottles more than 4.5-5 oz. If you're finding she needs to eat more I'd send in more bottles with fewer ounces than fewer bottles with more oz. 

    Id also go on Kellymom and print out the tips on how to bottle feed a breastfed baby. I gave a copy to my DCP. It sounds pushy but I worked hard to establish a good breastfeeding relationship and I didn't want it to go down the tubes.  

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  • DS is EBF and started on Monday. I've been sending 3 3.5 oz bottles for him which seems to be working. I also nurse him before I take him in and after we get home.  Definitely don't want to see it go down the drain-all that pumping for nothing!
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  • imagecamdenfaithful:

    Id also go on Kellymom and print out the tips on how to bottle feed a breastfed baby. I gave a copy to my DCP. It sounds pushy but I worked hard to establish a good breastfeeding relationship and I didn't want it to go down the tubes.  

    I was going to suggest this- it's easy to "overfeed" a bf'd baby.  

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  • D' started DC when he was about 5months old.  We sent him with 4 bottles with about 6oz of formula each.  He rarely finished any of them off.  Now we send him with 2 8oz bottles of milk & a big sippy with water (he's 20months).  He likes to have the milk before or after naps otherwise he's good with water.
    Dylan Gabriel 04/29/10 Aiden Drake 04/28/12
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