DC BM bottles

jocgymnast72 · July 2013

Hello. My LO is EBF and will be about 6.5 months when he starts at a day care center in September. I'm freaking out about how many bottles to send and how much breast milk to put in each. At home he eats about every 2 hours. I believe the center said if a bottle isn't finished in one feeding it must be thrown out. Also, I own 2 4 oz Avent Natural bottles, which are the wide ones, and that's the only kind baby has had. I'm not sure if I should go ahead and buy a bunch of 9 oz bottles, and if it would be ok to switch to Avent Classic now that nipple confusion should no longer be an issue? Thoughts? How many bottles do you send for DC, how much in each, and how often is LO fed? I think he will be there from about 7:30 to 4:30. Thanks!

g8trkim · July 2013

You will need to buy some more bottles and I would say get the 9 oz ones because at some point 4 oz will be too small. My advice is to send them not very full to see how much he ends up taking. I had this issue with DS. I filled the bottles kind of full but he wouldn't drink a lot at a time and they had to throw them out after a certain point. I HATED the idea of wasting that precious stuff. Also, he probably won't eat every 2 hours on the bottle. It would probably be every 3 or 4. If I had to guess I would say he will take like 4 - 4oz bottles in a day but you should probably send 5 bottles in case he doesn't take one and they have to dump it.

lafayettegirl · July 2013

DS is formula fed, but he takes 3-4 4oz bottles at day care. Generally, day care gives him 3 of the 4 bottles and by the time we get him home it is time for the 4th. The bottles we give at home are 6-6.5 oz each. In total, he consumes about 31-32 oz for formula in a 24 hour period.

cowgirltu · July 2013

I send 5 4oz bottles for my ebf son. He eats only 4, but I send one extra in case I have to work late. My son is there from 6:30-4:30, and he eats every 2-3 hours depending on when he gets hungry. I would stick with a slow flow nipple. That one is the closest to your breast. If he gets used to a faster flow nipple on the bottle, he may become upset and frustrated when you nurse.

cowgirltu · July 2013

Oh, my son is also 6.5 mo.

fusionbride · July 2013

at that age my LO took 3 bottles of 5.5oz of breastmilk when she was at daycare from 9 to 5.

I agree with PP to stay with the slow flow nipple. And in terms of size of bottles, the general rule is that breast fed babies don't drink a ton at once, so you can often get away with 5oz bottles (I still use my 5 oz bottles for the 5.5 oz my LO drinks-- I just fill them nearly to the top). But I think 4oz might be on the small side.

Also, you definitely will want 2 days worth of bottles (so at least 6 in my case), so that you can fill tomorrow's bottles with your pumped milk right when you get home without having to immediately wash today's bottles first.

abenson3 · July 2013

Just so you know, the Avent natural bottles will hold 6 ounces filled to the top, so those should hold all the bm you would ever need to put in them.

SingleMom31 · July 2013

My DD was still on BM at that point. She'd eat 3 4 oz bottles at daycare, but solids at every meal. She could have taken a fourth at 5, but I'd rather nurse as soon as I got her than give her one at the end of the day and have to pump again.

kjsmith9 · July 2013

DD does 4 4oz bottles between 630am and 330pm. She's done this since she was 6 months old, and is now almost 8 months. I don't agree with PP that you need to go buy bigger bottles... Try what you have first. I don't expect DD to take bigger bottles from here on out... She's eating solids, plus growth in BF babies slows after 6 months.

beccalee721 · July 2013

Don't waste your time buying anymore 4 oz bottles, just go for the 9 oz ones. And, if you want to switch nipple types, just buy one pack first to see if your LO will make the switch. Since you have some time, I would start giving him bottles during the day during the times he would be at daycare (7:30-4:30 right?) and then breastfeed him the rest of the time. That way, you can start to get a better idea of how many bottles to take. At 6.5 months I was taking 4 bottles of about 4-5 oz I think (Sorry it's been a few month) The policy of having to throw out the milk sounds bad, but for the most part they continuously try to feed the baby before it "expires" which I believe is an hour. So, they start heating it after your baby gives them cues and then they have an hour to finish it, so it isn't as bad as it sounds. GL!

winecastle14 · July 2013

You probably won't ever need to send more than 5 ounces. Breastfed babies rarely go over 5 ounces at a time. I'd say check out Kellymom.com and workandpump.com for some great info. I'd try a few different kind of bottles before buying a lot of them. What about the ones you are going to pump into? For a while, DD had to use Avent or it would upset her tummy but now I just send her the bottles that I pump into the day before...which are Medela.

Also, when my DD started day care she ate every 2 hours so I sent four 3 ounce bottles. At some point she started eating every 3 hours and now I send 3 five ounce bottles.

Formula has to be disposed of an hour after it's been eaten from/sitting out. Breast milk doesn't go bad as quickly. If the baby doesn't eat all of the bottle at the feeding, it can safely be re-offered at the next feeding (throw it away after about 6 hours). BM is liquid gold and if someone threw mine away I'd go crazy. Do NOT let them throw away your hard earned BM, seriously!

SingleMom31 · July 2013

AmberEA14 said:
You probably won't ever need to send more than 5 ounces. Breastfed babies rarely go over 5 ounces at a time. I'd say check out Kellymom.com and workandpump.com for some great info. I'd try a few different kind of bottles before buying a lot of them. What about the ones you are going to pump into? For a while, DD had to use Avent or it would upset her tummy but now I just send her the bottles that I pump into the day before...which are Medela.

Also, when my DD started day care she ate every 2 hours so I sent four 3 ounce bottles. At some point she started eating every 3 hours and now I send 3 five ounce bottles.

Formula has to be disposed of an hour after it's been eaten from/sitting out. Breast milk doesn't go bad as quickly. If the baby doesn't eat all of the bottle at the feeding, it can safely be re-offered at the next feeding (throw it away after about 6 hours). BM is liquid gold and if someone threw mine away I'd go crazy. Do NOT let them throw away your hard earned BM, seriously!

In Michigan where I live, DC providers can't reheat the unused portion at the next feeding. It's apparently the same regulation whether its formula or BM. So, yours may be like that. Ours was willing to compromise though... They couldn't feed it to her again, but they could leave it in the fridge for us to feed to her again. So we'd give it to her at night and I'd pump instead.

FreshBakedBrownies · July 2013

I have the wide glass Avent natural 4oz bottles for my DS who is almost 8mo. Like pp said, you can fit more than 4oz in them. I haven't needed bigger bottles yet. I send 4 bottles with 5oz breastmilk each for my son from 7:45am to about 5:30pm. He was drinking that same amount at 6mo, but I do send one 4oz jar of fruit or veggies too.

winecastle14 · July 2013

SingleMom31 said:

You probably won't ever need to send more than 5 ounces. Breastfed babies rarely go over 5 ounces at a time. I'd say check out Kellymom.com and workandpump.com for some great info. I'd try a few different kind of bottles before buying a lot of them. What about the ones you are going to pump into? For a while, DD had to use Avent or it would upset her tummy but now I just send her the bottles that I pump into the day before...which are Medela.

Also, when my DD started day care she ate every 2 hours so I sent four 3 ounce bottles. At some point she started eating every 3 hours and now I send 3 five ounce bottles.

Formula has to be disposed of an hour after it's been eaten from/sitting out. Breast milk doesn't go bad as quickly. If the baby doesn't eat all of the bottle at the feeding, it can safely be re-offered at the next feeding (throw it away after about 6 hours). BM is liquid gold and if someone threw mine away I'd go crazy. Do NOT let them throw away your hard earned BM, seriously!
In Michigan where I live, DC providers can't reheat the unused portion at the next feeding. It's apparently the same regulation whether its formula or BM. So, yours may be like that. Ours was willing to compromise though... They couldn't feed it to her again, but they could leave it in the fridge for us to feed to her again. So we'd give it to her at night and I'd pump instead.

Aw man, that stinks. Thank goodness GA doesn't have that regulation....although DD really never has any left anyway but still.

DC BM bottles

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