EBF and DC

gusabbey

My boys will be starting daycare when i go back to work in march and ive never used dc before, so im at a loss. My dc provider has NEVER had a bf baby. She said shes had 11 babies under 6 mos, and they were all FF.

So i was kinda relying on her to tell me what she needed as far as bottles, milk stash, etc, but now im at a loss. I heard in MD bottles had to be premade and labelled, but she said that is not the case.

Should i leave my freezer stash with her? Should i leave a bunch of clean bottles? Would you prepare bottles every day?

I kind of want to take the used bottles home to make sure theyre cleaned thoroughly. Anyone have a link to the general 'rules' of breastmilk?

Im over thinking this, but hey the board is slow.

Starry Again

I am going to a center. I just dropped off 20 ounces from my freezer stash today. I plan on bringing four 3 ounce bottles a day and washing them at night in the dishwasher. Maybe more depending on how much she eats next week when she stays with DH (he is going to track naps and bottles). They can use the freezer stash if she is hungry before I get there.

I wonder if your inhome provider is following all the state rules? If she is there should be a list you can follow. 

AmyP4383

I think you should def try some bottles at home to see how much you need during the 95 or whatever your timing may be.
I will be bringing 34 5oz filled bottles a day and leaving a few freezer bags there. My dc rinses the bottles and I will clean each night.

CLLDLL

Here's what's been working for us for the last 2.5 weeks.

On Mondays I send two 4oz bottles of thawed BM from my stash and 2 4oz bottles of fresh milk that I pumped Sunday and Monday morning.  (I still pump at 3AM because I'm afraid LO will reverse cycle and/or quit sleeping through the night.  I plan to gradually wean off this pumping session starting in a couple weeks.)

On Tuesdays - Fridays I send 4 4oz bottles of fresh milk that I pumped at work the day before.  Any extra milk from my pumping sessions gets frozen that night. 

I send the bottles pre-made so that no one else is touching and potentially contaminating the milk.  Call me paranoid. 

We keep 18oz of frozen milk in their freezer as a back-up for a growth spurt etc.

DC rinses the bottles after DS eats and I wash at home at night and re-fill.

I like sending mostly fresh milk because it is better for LO, has antibodies for anything he might be fighting off, and has the right fat content for his age.  (Since BM fat content changes as baby grows, your froze stash will be differen than fresh.)  I just send the frozen to rotate my freezer stash and make sure nothing goes bad.

ETA:  I don't have a link to milk handleing rules, but check out kellymom.  I'm sure there's something on there.  Fresh can stay in the fridge from 3-8 days.  Thawed frozen milk needs to be used within 24 hours of when it's fully thawed.  One baby drinks from a bottle it needs to be used within an hour.