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Daycare wants DD to hold her bottles

Jmj070211Jmj070211 member
in Breastfeeding
My daughter is 9 months old and EBF plus solids. This morning the daycare teacher asked me how often we use bottles at home and I responded that we use them very infrequently. She said that she wants DD to be able to hold her own bottle. Daycare has been nagging me for 4 months about how long it takes DD to finish her bottles. In June I caved into the pressure and switched her to medium flow nipples. She started taking her bottles much better, but went on a nursing strike about 3 weeks after the switch. I'm not sure if the nursing strike was due to bottle preference or not, but I switched her back to slow flow nipples. After taking 2 bottles with the slow flow nipple, she went back to nursing. About a month ago daycare asked again if I would switch to a faster flow nipple and I said no, because of the nursing strike and explained that breastfed babies should always use slow flow. We introduced a sippy trainer cup (munchkin). DD is able to hold it and drink water. I've tried it with breast milk, but a lot of it ends up dripping out. I struggle with low supply and don't want to keep wasting the milk in the sippy. I'm thinking about introducing a bottle with handles, but I'm worried that DD won't take it. When she was 3 months old we tried born free, Dr. Brown's, Mimijumi, and Comotomo bottles. She would only take the Comotomo bottle. Born free makes handle that you can add to the bottle, so that would be great if she would take that bottle. Another option is a bottle pet, which a stuffed animal that fits over the bottle. Does anyone have any other ideas? TIA
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Re: Daycare wants DD to hold her bottles

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  • vvvvvfeevvvvvfee member
    yeah, i'm kind of inclined to agree with PP.

    if your LO prefers having the bottle given to her, or is having trouble holding it herself, then they should hold her and feed it to her. many BF babies stay on newborn-flow nipples until they stop drinking BM out of bottles, so that's not unusual. and yes, it takes a long time, but too bad. they should be willing to work with you on this.

    you could try introducing a straw cup (you can have her practice with water). sippy cups aren't great for kids' ears or their oral development, and she might find it easier since you don't have to tip your head back. but she may always want BM out of a bottle (my DS would never accept BM in anything except a bottle, even after he had been drinking water out of a straw cup for months).
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  • Jmj070211Jmj070211 member
    @mommatotwo2‌ this was my first reaction too. It seems like the daycare teacher doesn't have a clue about breastfed babies. My husband and I toured a bunch of different daycares in May when I first had issues with feeding and we didn't find a better option. :(. I'm also really reluctant to change, because DD seems happy there. She's going through separation anxiety right now. She even cries if other family members hold her, but she smiles when I drop her off at daycare. I think it would be worse if I tried to switch her at this point. The daycare room that she's in has 2 little babies, who require a lot of holding. There are only 4 babies and 1 teacher, so I kind of understand that the teacher can't always spend 30-40 min holding DD to feed her. She's started writing down how long it takes for each bottle and sometimes it's 20 min for 2 oz. I send 3 4 oz. bottles plus 2 puréed meals. DD just gets distracted and wants to play instead of being fed. I think that the teacher probably thinks it would be better if DD could take sips of her milk while playing.
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  • mommatotwo2mommatotwo2 member
    I totally hear what you're saying and my LO has a similar personality. Daycares are notoriously terrible about a breastfed baby, which is so sad and frustrating. I'd tell her that she can work with DD to encourage her to hold her bottle, but on DDs terms, not the teachers. I understand the 4:1 ratio is difficult, but chances are all 4 don't need to eat at once, especially if two of the babies are older. I would talk to the director about your concern. If her teachers can't handle whatever care 4 babies need, then they need to consider lowering their ratio or have teachers that can float from other rooms to assist as needed.
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  • jenn43jenn43 member
    At my DC the ratio is 5:1 (this is pretty typical for my area), and I think 5 of the 8 babies in the infant room still need help with their bottles.  Usually they have a teacher float from another room to help with feeding.  I agree with PP about talking with the director.  Is silly to risk your breastfeeding relationship because LO takes a few extra minutes to eat a bottle.
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  • ErinO21ErinO21 member
    My 9 month old has zero interest in holding his own bottle. He can do it. Heck I've seen him laid back, nice and relaxed with one hand on the bottle and one had on his belly before. He just doesn't want too. I'm sorry you're dealing with this!
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  • mythreeboysandadogmythreeboysandadog member
    edited September 2014
    While I agree that they should still hold your baby's bottle, have you asked them if the milk is warm?  The reason I ask, is that the milk flows out MUCH slower if it is not sufficiently warmed. A couple of times I have received calls from sitters telling me that my DS is taking forever to drink his bottle and doesn't seem hungry.  I always ask them to make sure the milk is warm, and each time, he ends up finishing it quickly.
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  • Lara0802Lara0802 member
    I agree with others - I'd look for a new daycare.

    But, one thing we did to get our daughter to hold her bottles was we had Avent bottles, and they make sippy cups that you can swap the nipples out. So, we'd use a bottle nipple in the sippy cup, which had handles. It doesn't leak, at all, and you can still use slow flow.

    We plan on doing that with my son as well. It worked awesome!
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