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Parenting after a Loss
BF moms and daycare
Just wondering how you bring you milk to daycare.
Do you bring it in the number of bottles LO will use each day? Do you bring it frozen, or thaw it and put it in plastic containers?
I feel like I should thaw it so I know it's done properly.... My day care provider (in home) said she would store a few bags of frozen milk in case they need more.
Also, how do you know how many ounces LO eats at each feeding?
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Re: BF moms and daycare
we started day care around 3 months - She's there from 7-4. I bring 3 bottles for her if I don't nurse her during lunch. We can't keep BM there and the bottles have to be prepared at home.
on Sunday, I thaw milk from the freezer and make bottles for Monday. Tuesday, I use what I pumped on Monday and continue throughout the week. Friday I freeze whatever I have left over.
At 3 months - I think she was taking about 4 oz per bottle. She's nearly 6 months and not taking much more than that still
I bring it in the three 5-ounce bottles he will have during the day. I pump at work pretty much what he will have the next day. I store it in the Medela bottles with lids (I was using two big Avent bottles with nipples and lids but had a disastrous leak on the train home one day), and as soon as I get home I transfer it to the Dr. Brown bottles he drinks from because if you leave it to chill too long the fatty stuff sticks to the sides of the bottle and you have to warm it up again to mix it in. I've only had to use frozen for the first day.
I pump a little on weekends to stay ahead or to fill in if I pump less than 15 oz. at work. For example, right now I have two full bottles in the fridge in addition to the three he took with him to daycare. Daycare has an extra 4-oz bottle in the freezer for him just in case.
I started giving him the bottle before he went back to daycare to be sure he would do it -- I HIGHLY recommend this! Kiran had a lot of troubles taking the bottle at first, we had to wait until he was REALLY hungry or he would choke and cry and refuse it. I started with 4 oz. and he would finish that sometimes and take more boob, so I went up to 5 oz. That seemed like the right amount -- sometimes he finishes it, sometimes not. I asked daycare if they thought he needed more but they said he always seems happy after finishing so they didn't think so. I always get a report card each day saying how many ounces he had at each feeding, and his weight gain has been fine, 50th percentile each time, so I don't think I'm starving him. He still eats in the night, though.
ETA: Some of my freezer stash might be expiring, so I probably will thaw those and send them in to daycare and freeze the new milk to replace them. I would just put them in water in the morning and then into his bottle.
also, I take out the oldest milk on Sunday so that my freezer stash rotates and won't expire.
You can bring 'more' milk to see how much she's eating - maybe one or two extra 1-2 oz bottles, just make sure the "extra" is fresh milk, not frozen, so that you can use it for the next day
DS started daycare at 3.5 months (14 weeks). He is there from about 7:45 to 3:30 and that covers 3 meals. I work close enough so that I can go up and BF him his lunch.
In the weeks up to starting daycare, I was pumping during his late afternoon/early evening meal and DH would give it to him in a bottle. I used this as a gauge of how much he was probably eating during a meal. I put a little bit more than that in a bottle for him and we adjusted as needed.
My daycare does not want any parts of preparing breastmilk--it has to be ready to go in the warmer, so I take 3 bottles in with me, numbered in order of use and labeled with the time/day that the milk was pumped. I transport it in a thermal lunch bag with an ice pack and it is stored in the fridge. He only uses 2 of the bottles, bottle #3 is just in case they would need extra.
When #3 comes home at the end of the day, it is re-bottled and labeled as the #1 bottle for the next day. The milk that I pump throughout the day at work becomes bottle #2, and the milk that I pump in the morning while DS is eating his first meal becomes bottle #3. That way I am constantly keeping the milk in use, I don't freeze much during the week. The milk that I pump on Friday is really the only milk I freeze because I BF all weekend.
It's a complicated system, but it works for me. HTH!
Same with us.
I started with 4 bottles of 3oz (Austin ate every 2 hrs). I havte since gone to 2 bottles of 5oz and 2 with 3. He usually eats around 2 or 3 and when I get him at 4 he wants to nurse even if he just ate (that's why the last bottle is only 3 oz) One of these bottles is an extra bottle just in case.
I send 2 thawed that I prepared at home and 2 fresh. If we have fresh left over, whick we normally have 1 bottle, we sesnd it again the next day. The teachyer always feeds the thawed first.