Breastmilk babies & day care

Dixon813 · November 2014

I know this has been discussed before, but I feel like it's been awhile.

If your baby is breastfed (exclusive or supplemented) and is in day care, how many bottles and how many ounces is LO going though? And how much are you pumping?

Liam currently has 3 4oz bottles (4 bottles if we're going to pick him up late) and day care says he's been getting upset/still hungry at the end.

I pump three time at work and leave work with 9-10oz so I also pump before bed to get 3-4 more oz.

Just curious how others are doing!

Teresa1896 · November 2014

He gets 2-3 4 oz bottles for the 9 hours he's at daycare. I pump anywhere from 10-16 oz/day. I eat oatmeal every day with flaxseed meal and brewer's yeast, drink Gatorade, and take fenugreek when I remember to. LO is also just starting to sleep through the night, which will probably affect my daytime supply a bit.

smushi · November 2014

J gets 4 3-4oz bottles a day, and he goes usually goes 9 hours. I pump typically 10-12 oz a day (3 sessions), and I pump a fresh bottle for him first thing each morning while he eats from the other side. Or I do the same if he wakes MOTN.

We just switched rooms on Monday and the teachers complained that he was still hungry after each bottle, so I had to remind them he must be sat up to eat, and they need to burp him at least once during the bottle so he's not guzzling, and again after.

You might ask how they are feeding him, positioning him, etc. My daycare seems to prefer feeding them by the clock every 2 hours instead of waiting for signals.

Rrrrrachel · November 2014

Breastfed babies do not increase in volume after about two months. Day care has a hard time understanding this and wants them to eat like formula fed babies. The rule of thumb is always 1-1.5 ounces an hour you're away, until eventually they start needing less as they replace it with solids.

I send 6-12 ounces and my baby eats none of it, though, so easy for me to say.

smushi · November 2014

Maybe you could divide it up into 4 3oz bottles instead of 3 bigger bottles?

speechie517 · November 2014

Blaire is at daycare from 7:30- anywhere between 4-5. I send four 4 oz bottles and she always drinks three of them, and drinks the fourth 50% of the time. I pump 3x at work and usually get 8-10oz in the am, 4oz around lunch and 4oz right before I leave work. Oatmeal + flax and Brewer's yeast and fenugreek are my friends.

I do not send any solids with her at this time.

baileymama3 · November 2014

I send what I have--- usually 3- 4.5 oz bottles for 9 hrs. He typically eats all of it. I pump 2x/day and get anywhere from 12-16oz total. I freaked out in the beginning cause he was going through 20 oz of breastmilk at daycare but was having a growth spurt and it tapered off.

Dixon813 · November 2014

Right, @Rrrrrachel‌ that's what I've said to day care (though I've had a LC tell me otherwise...

) but I guess I'm concerned because Liam is on the bottom of the charts so I'm always worried if he's getting enough. If we let him, I feel like he would never stop eating (by bottle).

Thanks for the replies ladies.

Dixon813 · November 2014

@smushi‌ I haven't asked about how they're feeding in awhile so thank you for reminding me. And we tried smaller volumes, but he wasn't satisfied after only 3.

LolaX2 · November 2014

DD is on the small side, 15 pounds at 7 months old. She used to eat 18-22 oz from about 8-5:30 while I am at work. Since starting solids (only 2-4 oz of solids a day) she has been eating 10-16 oz of BM while at daycare.

She normally also nurses 2 times before bed, once overnight and at 6 am before daycare. She eats A LOT but only gained 1 pound from 4-6 months, but that is a whole different issue.

I usually pump at 7 am before work then twice at work and once more before bed for a total of 18-25 oz a day. I also eat a lot of oatmeal, granola with flax seed and drink a lot of water along with one Gatorade/Poweraid a day.

cjpell0 · November 2014

I give DS (also on the smaller side) 3-4-4.5 oz bottles while at daycare (9.5 hours). He also gets 3oz of solids, 2oz of water and a snack while he's there. Kid can eat all day if he wanted!

Here's what his week day looks like

7am - nurse

10am - bottle/I pump

11 am - solids

1am - bottle/pump

3 - puffs

4 - bottle/pump

5 - solids

6 - nurse

7 - nurse/bed

porterlove525 · November 2014

DS is off the charts for size (pushing 20lbs and almost 30" long at *almost* 7 months). He's gone from me for about 9-10hrs a day. I pump 3x at work and bring home 9-12oz. I send DS to daycare with 3, 3oz bottles every day. In the beginning daycare kept telling me he was still hungry so I was sending him with double the milk and he put on 5lbs in one month so I told them to start using other methods to entertain him. He only needs what I pump during the day if he isn't losing weight and he would make up for any missing ounces at night when we were together. We have had no issues since and he's gaining just fine. Some day he's even only had 2.5oz bottles.

He's been on solids now for a month and I still send him with the same amount of milk (9oz total) because that's what I'm pumping and makes sense by the 1/1.5oz rule. He now eats 2 meals at daycare in between bottles, dinner at home and nurses night and morning. I say send what you can and spread out in more bottles or try adding some purées in-between bottles to help satisfy him?

Dixon813 · November 2014

We're doing BLW at home, just started 2 weeks ago, but was thinking of making some food to take to day care.

kmos816 · November 2014

I am supplementing and pumping only mostly; so C nurses when she wakes up then gets 2-3 bottles at daycare (if I pick her up early she gets the 3rd at home); 6 oz each; one which is all breastmilk and the other two are formula (sometimes the third is all bm as well). I then nurse her before bed. I pump twice a day and get 10-12 oz. I follow this same routine on the weekends since my boobs were confused and C started a bottle preference which I just started following. She also nurses once per night.

kelbel2440 · November 2014

Glad you posted on this, I don't struggle with daycare, I struggle with MIL who takes him home after (she also works at the daycare, just not in his room). She is a very aggressive feeder and insists he is always fussy. I now give two 6 oz bottles for daycare and she gets a 7oz for after. She still insists he needs more and has even fed him up to 8, just to see if he would take it, and he did, so now she is convinced he needs 8. She offers no burp breaks in there cuz she doesn't feel he needs them. It's a loosing battle with her, and he is not packing on he pounds so I have laid off a bit. Daycare says he does fine with 6oz. He also has 1oz of food twice a day at daycare. I pump in he AM after he feeds, twice at work, and after the bedtime feeding to keep up with what he takes while gone. I don't have the ability to pump at work as often as he eats, which is a huge bummer.

Teresa1896 · November 2014

Wow. In my opinion 7-8 oz is waaaay more than a bf baby needs in a bottle. Just because LO eats it doesn't mean they're hungry for it. Have you ever overeaten because you ate too much too fast? Same idea.

*sparky* · November 2014

Wow, I feel like I am starving my LO compared to all of you. DD takes 2 5-oz bottles in the 8 hours she is with her sitter. I nurse her right before I drop her off and feed her as soon as we get home.

She also gets a late morning snack of cereal and/or fruit and then another purée in the afternoon.

I pump twice at work (I am only there about 6-6.5 hours) and I get 10 oz at the most. I have started mixing a bit of formula into DD's bottles if I don't have quite enough.

I tried doing oatmeal and Gatorade to increase my supply but my left boob is a total overachiever and I ended up with an oversupply on that side which made DD upset and now I have a milk blister. PITA.

ETA DD is actually 19.5 lbs and was only 7.9 at birth so she is obviously my starving. Just very different eating habits from some of these other babies! Her sitter was insisting she needed 6-6.5 oz in her bottles but I put a stop to that. She has never taken that much from me in a bottle and I have never pumped anywhere near that amount in the time I am away from her.

cmatteis · November 2014

3 4-5 oz bottles for 9 hrs. She always finishes. I pump 2x and get 12-15 oz.

nicole mackenzie · November 2014

LO nurses at 5am, then has 3, 4 ounce bottles at daycare, then DH picks her up and he feeds her another 6, then she nurses to sleep.

I was ahead on pumping so have a good stash as my supply is slowing. I'm getting sick of pumping...

I pump 3-4 times at work and get between 16-20 ounces.

rtv3 · November 2014

So jealous of all you pumping big amounts! I get three 15 min breaks, which is about 10 min of actual pumping time each time, and get 4oz, 2oz, 2oz. Then I pump at night and get 4oz. DD takes 3-4 4oz bottles at the babysitter, so I'm basically pumping just what she needs, sometimes a little under. The only thing saving me is a decent freezer stash from pumping all summer (I'm a teacher).

Asheebeth · November 2014

If I was able to nurse at lunch she got 2 4oz bottles, if not she got 3 4oz bottles. She eats every 3 hours so sometimes I brought an extra bottle home. I was able to pump when I needed to and I usually for what she ate +/- an oz or 2.

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