Breast fed Daycare Babies - How much does your LO eat at Daycare?

JWSchwarz · April 2012

How many times and how many ounces do your babies eat each feeding and total while they are at daycare?

DS was refusing a bottle but he's starting to warm up to it. I don't think he's eating anywhere near enough though.

Also, what other times do they eat when they are home? I am struggling to get on a schedule since he eats nonstop to make up for the missed calories during the day.

MrsT2008 · April 2012

I nurse DD before we leave in the morning. She eats three 6oz bottles at daycare (every 3ish hours). I nurse her once or twice in the evening (usually just once before bed). And she wakes once overnight (usually around 3am)

Leap08 · April 2012

I nurse my daughter twice in the morning - usually around 4:30/5:00 and before we leave the house at 7:00. She eats three 5 oz bottles at daycare (every 3ish hours). I nurse her once in the evening before she goes to bed, and then I do a "dream feed" before I go to bed at about 10:00.

rockychryslerb2010 · April 2012

I nurse E in the mornings and when I get home from work. Usually only once overnight. He takes anywhere from 18-22 oz from our nanny between 7:30am and 530pm. She feeds on demand, so no real schedule here.

It took E awhile to get used to our nanny, so when I first went back to work he had some days where he only ate 8-10oz while I was gone. He nursed a lot before bed and was up a bunch during the night to make up for it. Just remember, they won't starve if they don't take the bottle during the day, if you feed on demand, your LO will make up for it when you are home. After about a week or week and a half, E was comfortable with the nanny and that is when we got to the 18-22oz he is doing today.

kimeetee · April 2012

I nurse DD once or twice in the mornings. Once, if she wakes up after 530 am, but usually twice as she mostly wakes at 450-5 am. She eats every 2 hours at daycare, 3.5-4 oz, which results in her eating 4-5 bottles per day (15-20 oz total). Usually she'll eat once or twice when we get home, depending on how early we can pick her up. She pretty much eats every two hours during the day, unless she has an extra long nap. DD STTN.

JWSchwarz · April 2012

Leap08:
I nurse my daughter twice in the morning - usually around 4:30/5:00 and before we leave the house at 7:00. She eats three 5 oz bottles at daycare (every 3ish hours). I nurse her once in the evening before she goes to bed, and then I do a "dream feed" before I go to bed at about 10:00.

This is my dream schedule:)

grrl79 · April 2012

My DD wakes up to nurse between 4:30 & 5:30 then back to sleep. I'll feed her again before we leave between 7 & 7:30.

She typically takes 3 5oz bottles during the day at DC. I always send 4 just in case. On days where we miss that 2nd AM nursing, she will usually drink all 4.

I pick her up around 5:30 and she'll nurse in the 6PM hour. She's usually down for bed around 8ish. And I've just started to "dream feed" her before I go to bed around 9:30 if she hasn't woken up to eat on her own.

Without the dream feed she will wake up around 3AM. With the dream feed she'll sleep through until the 4:30/5:30 feed. (most nights)

ArcadianDreams · April 2012

Until recently he took 16oz at daycare, 4oz bottles. Lately though it isn't enough so I've been sending 18oz, and soon we will start sending a solid for lunch.

Mrs.Greeko · April 2012

DS eats 2 4ounce bottles and 1 2-2.5 ounce bottle at daycare. so that's 10 or so ounces at daycare (8-4:30).

He also nurses 1-2 times in the morning (depends on what time he woke up), about every 25 minutes through the evening, at bedtime, and then he wakes up 2-3 times at night to eat (usually 2 times, between 11 and 12 and between 3 and 4).

admico821 · April 2012

LO has between 3 or 4 bottles a day (shes at daycare about 9 hours) each bottle has 4 oz so she gets between 12 to 16 oz during the day.. We recently started solids so she gets one small amount container of baby food (we use the baby bullet so the small container that came with it)

At home am not sure I only nurse at home we dont normally use bottles and I dont have DD on any schedule I just feed on demand - I would say she doesnt go more then 3 hours without eating, once in awhile she will go longer at night.

I wouldnt recommend getting them on a schedule yet just feed when they are hungry.

linnsey26 · April 2012

My LO wakes up around 5:30 am and has 2-3 oz. Then at daycare from 7 am - 3:30 pm, she has three 4-oz bottles (although sometimes she only drinks 3 of the 4 oz per bottle). I always pack an extra bottle too just in case. My daycare is pretty good about only offering the bottle every 3 hours and she does really well on that schedule.

katie0919 · April 2012

I doubt I am the norm here, but we sort of just fell into this pattern...and since my LO has been sleeping through the night and has not had a middle of the night feeding since he was 8 weeks old, I think it works pretty well! Mind you, my LO is "lazy" at the boob so I've been almost exclusively pumping since very early on. I nurse just because I enjoy it and it's my "me time" with him.

6:00 a.m. Nurse for 20 minutes

6:30 a.m.Feed him a 3-4 oz bottle while I pump

He then gets 3, 4 1/2 pz bottles at daycare at 9:30, 12:30 and 3:30

2-3 hour long naps at daycare

6:00 p.m. Nurse for 20 minutes, then feed him a 4 oz. bottle while I pump the remaining milk.

From then on, he eats on demand/cluster feeds and usually at the end of the day he's had 26-28 oz of milk in bottles and two nursing sessions (he nurses for 40 minutes total). I pump maybe an ounce extra everyday, so he pretty much eats everything I pump.I think what works for my LO is the cluster feeding at night, therefore he doesn't wake up. But I'm a FTM so I am fairly clueless! I let him create his own schedule.

Bed by 8:30 or 9, then he sleeps until 6 when we get him up.

GL!