Packing milk for daycare

[jesster88]

We have discussed how often to pump at work, but what about how much milk to send with LO? We visited daycare yesterday to get familiar with the system and I am trying to figure out how many bottles to send with him. I assume this is standard, but dcfs in my state only allows for the bottle to be given within one hour. DS has been nursing every two hours (at least) at home for about a week now. I guess I am just trying to avoid sending 5 4oz bottles and wasting a lot of milk and I can't pump enough to keep up. I don't want the little guy to be hungry either, although my job is flexible and I could leave work to feed him if necessary. What if he has a growth spurt and wants to eat every 90 minutes? Maybe I am just nervous and over thinking it. I do plan to do a few practice days of pumping/bottles at home so I can gauge how many oz he is eating during the day.

Also does anyone have hacks for pumping at work/milk storage/etc? I think we have the basics down but I am interested in tips experienced moms have learned along the way.

Edit to add that ds will be 11 weeks when he starts daycare.

[danisgossipgirl]

This is not a hack, we're only a few days in anyway, but I've been sending a bottle prefilled with 3oz and an empty bottle and extra milk in a storage bag. I'm also going to leave several oz extra in the freezer. My LO is still getting the hang of bottle feeding and sometimes takes only an oz or 2, especially in the morning at her first bottle after being at the breast earlier. Dc can then modify what they give based on her cues.

[emmyg65]

At my daycare, you have to send milk in bottles ready to eat, no bags. I used the Kellymom calculator (http://kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/) and found that 4 3-oz. bottles should cover him for the 10 hours I'm away. I plan to send an extra just in case. The daycare also allows me to send a few bottles to keep in the freezer in case of additional hunger or spillage. Dunno how it'll all work because I have a few weeks of work left, but that's my plan.

[vvvvvfee]

definitely check out the kellymom milk calculator linked above. you are not going to need more than about 12-15 ounces for the average workday. what i would do is send a lot of smaller bottles-- so maybe send 4, 3-oz bottles. or even 5 2.5-oz bottles. then you are minimizing waste and the chance that they will overfeed your LO (which is an unfortunate tendency when bottle-feeding BF babies). kellymom has a great printable sheet with tips on how to bottle-feed: www.kellymom.com/store/freehandouts/bottle_feeding.pdf another thing you can do is give your DCP a pacifier, and you can tell them to try offering that if it's only been a little while since the last feed. sometimes LOs just want to comfort-suck.

i would not bother with a "practice day" of pumping and bottles. it takes a little trial and error, and you will never get the amounts perfect. just estimate as best you can and pack small bottles, so you aren't wasting milk.

as far as tips for pumping at work--
-get a hands-free pumping bra
-no need to wash all your parts in between pumping sessions. just keep all your parts in a cooler bag with an ice pack in between sessions. it will all stay plenty cold in there
- have 2 sets of pump parts and multiple bottles so that you can run everything through the dishwasher each night and still have a spare set for the next day

[Deleted]

Yeah kellymom calculator will get you in the ballpark for oz. Start there
It's basically 1 oz per hour so if baby is there 8 hours plus your drive time expect about 8-9 oz.
It's also figured from 25 oz a day divide by avg number of feeds a day. So if baby is eating every two hours and you have 10-12 feeds a day that gives you a bottle size of around 2-2.5 oz a feeding. If baby stretches out to 3 hours between feeds your expect closer to 3 oz bottles. Most don't go over 4 oz bottles til they drop down to six feeds a day. Or start sttn

What is usually best practice is to eyeball an avg milk size and set up bottles in that size. So right now you say baby is eating every two hours so bottle size two oz for every two hours. 8 hours =4 bottles. Then Send an extra couple of 1-2 oz bottles for topping baby off if two oz isnt enough. Talk to daycare to see if they will add milk into the bottle they are using from a larger container for topping off or does it need to be just another bottle to give. Cause if they'll add you could send a container of several oz for them to use as needed. Or leave some small bags in their freezer for giving extra milk.

Keep in mind and share with them that baby may want a larger bottle first thing in the an even up to about four oz. But that as the day goes by it will probably drop in amt to a smaller size.

It's a lot of trial and error and hopefully they have experience with breastfed babies and paced feedings and won't be a daycare that is always trying to get you to give huge bottles like formula fed babies get. That's a common struggle.

[kwitt319]

If you can I would send freshly pumped milk (instead of frozen). This way if he doesn't drink a bottle you don't have to dump it. Also what does your daycare allow in terms of breast milk? My friends daycare allows her to get a stash of frozen milk there (obvis not a ton). This way they just take what they need, as they need it.

[ashanne88]

PP gave good advice for DC.

For pumping at work, you'll definitely want a way to pump hands free, whether that's a hands-free bra or using a nursing bra/tank to hold the phalanges (this is what I do). I pump and then put in bottles. At the end of the week, I freeze extra milk to build my stash. I also don't wash parts after every feeding. I just keep everything in the cooler bag and wash at night.

I was definitely intimidated at first with pumping at work and all the logistics of sending milk to day care. It just takes a little time for everyone to adjust to it and figure out what works and what doesn't.

[melody330]

I gave DC one frozen 4 oz bag in case of emergency. I made sure emergency was defined as a spilled bottle, or totally refused bottle. I would have never given them access to more than that. Typically, DC providers don't understand how to bottle feed a breastfed baby and tend to over fed at first. It's way too easy to reach into the freezer for a few more oz.

[ellabee]

Like pp mentions, a lot of this depends on exactly what your dcp will allow. Does the full feeding have to be in one full bottle? Do they allow storage bags that they can transfer into a bottle? Do they allow you to keep a frozen bottle just in case?

You've gotten good advice on how to calculate the # of oz.

As for work pumping, here's my perfected routine (after 10.5 months, I've gotten pretty efficient...):

- Pump stays at work during the week so it's one less thing to worry about (I have a manual if I need to pump anything at home).
- Each day, clean pump parts go in a wet bag (opaque, so I can throw it in the fridge at work). Ice pack goes in small cooler (I have a long commute). Take everything to work with me.
- I pack 3 collection bottles. After my first pump I combine bottles 1 & 2, cap that off, then attach the clean one and throw everything in the fridge. I also use the Kiinde Twist storage bags (though I don't pump directly into them because it's hard to get an accurate oz reading), so when I have a full bottle, I'll transfer into the storage bag and put it in the cooler.
- I don't wash the parts in between pumping sessions.
- When I get home, the storage bags go in the fridge along with the collection bottle of any extra oz.
- Pump parts get washed (dishwasher, or by hand).
- My daycare provider gets 1 clean bottle and 3 4.5oz bags that she can transfer (the Kiinde Twist nipple that connects directly to the storage bag was too fast for LO, so we just got into the habit of using a regular bottle).
- Fridays the bags go in the freezer and DD gets frozen ones on Mondays so I can rotate my stash.

[jesster88]

Thanks for the advice. I managed to find a pediatrician that is super bf friendly but daycare is not. It sounds like most of their babies tend to be ff. They were the ones to suggest packing 4oz bottles which I get is more convenient for them. I think they don't realize how precious bm is if they aren't the ones pumping it. I think I will do like pp suggested and make a bunch of small bottles...I don't think there is any way he actually takes 4oz that frequently. I will have to ask about keeping frozen bags there and how they can handle adding to a bottle.

[liziz]

We are lucky in that I am able to take a mason jar of milk to our babysitter, and she doles it out throughout the day, so I've never had to figure out bottles.

We also leave milk in the freezer there, for just in case kinda stuff like you're describing (spilled milk, etc.) just to be sure LO is covered.

[casey]

Feb 19, 2015 12:48:10 GMT -5 jesster88 said:

Thanks for the advice. I managed to find a pediatrician that is super bf friendly but daycare is not. It sounds like most of their babies tend to be ff. They were the ones to suggest packing 4oz bottles which I get is more convenient for them. I think they don't realize how precious bm is if they aren't the ones pumping it. I think I will do like pp suggested and make a bunch of small bottles...I don't think there is any way he actually takes 4oz that frequently. I will have to ask about keeping frozen bags there and how they can handle adding to a bottle.

So, my DC was not at all BF either.  They had state formula regulations that they insisted on applying to my BM, even with a letter from Pedi and Pedi's LC.  Bottles had to be finished within 45 minutes of heating.  They could not refrigerate leftovers to take home.  They required excessive labeling (permanent marker on bottle, permanent marker on cap, color coded tape all over all of it, sealed in signed/dated gallon bag).  They would not keep frozen back-up there just in case. I'm pretty sure they also thought I was depriving my 80th percentile EBF baby of adequate nutrition when we didn't push solids and maxed out at 5oz bottles (not until 7 months-ish).

LO was there 10 hours.  What we did
- Printed out the Kellymom paced feeding recs and hand-wrote a note thanking them in advance
- Started out by sending 3-3oz bottles and 2-2oz back-up bottles labelled differently with instructions that they were onto to use in case of spoilage or if Leah finished a bottle and still seemed hungry 20+ minutes later. 
- I essentially made it a pain in the ass to overfeed her
- I kept track of her daily logs for a couple weeks of settling in and got a better sense of what she needed. As I got more confident, I stopped sending the second back-up bottle.  We settled in on 3 - 3.5oz bottles for a while.  Then we increased in 1/2 ounce increments based on feedback (maxed out at 5oz bottles 3 times a day).  She usually left 1/4-1/2 oz in her bottles.  When she was sucking all of them dry, I new it was time to bump up the numbers.  If she left a lot behind, I moved things down.

There will be a settling in period for each of you.  LO may want to suck more for comfort when apart.  Or may refuse the bottles because they are not you.  Both are normal. 

Remember that LO will still be able to nurse from you all the rest of the day and night.  So, if growth spurt or whatnot, he or she will make up for what not getting at DC during that time.

[casey]

Oh, and a couple more things...

My LO liked to nurse at least every 2 hours together for almost the full first year, but she settled into a nice 3 hour rotation at DC.
As with pumping schedules, start out kind but firm with the providers. You can always relax later.
Agree with PPs handfree setup, not washing pump during day, rotation schedule, etc.

[saraml13]

It will depend on LO's personality, as well. Some babies eat more from a bottle. DS doesn't love bottles and eats less at daycare than I think he does nursing. He takes bottles when he's hungry, but if he's not very hungry he will just kind of play around with the nipple.

DS is 4.5 months and it's about 11 hours between when I last nurse him in the morning and first nurse him in the evening. I send 4 bottles that are 2.5-3oz, so about 11 oz total. Many days he only eats 3 of the bottles, about 8-9oz total. I also keep a few bags of frozen milk at daycare in case he is extra hungry or they spill a bottle.

Based on DS's frequent nursing and good weight gain, I had thought that he would eat more at daycare. The first week I sent 5 bottles just to be sure he had enough milk, but he never needed that much.

In terms of routines and tips:
Have multiple sets of pump parts and lots of extra bottles so that you can rotate through a set in use and a set in the wash, instead of having to handwash every night.

When I pump at work, I usually get bottles that are 2.5-3oz (the size DH takes). Monday - Thursday, when I pick DS up from daycare, I drop off bottles I pumped that day for him to eat the next day. If he has a bottle left over, I leave it to be used the next day. Extra bottles I bring home to freeze.

I've settled on a kind of pumping at work "uniform". I usually wear dress pants, a dressy tank top or shell, and a sweater. When I pump, I leave everything on and just pull up the shell and my bra and put on the pumping bra. This saves time on undressing and redressing and also keeps me from freezing in our too-cool office.

[theresat858]

For pumping at work, I use my manual pump. I used a double electric for 9 months with DD1. I have used it once this week. The manual is so much easier and faster than me, though it is not hands free. But it doesn't require any set up time; I don't have to get undressed to put on the hands free bra; I just pull down my shirt and bra and pump (one side at a time, but each for less than 10 minutes). Some women don't respond well to the manual, but it is working amazingly well for me. (Which I only know bc I tried it for a conference shortly after I returned to work). I pump every 2-ish hours.

For bottle amount...it's tricky if they won't save the leftovers for you. Our daycare saves leftover BM for the next feeding. I send 4, 4oz bottles, and DD usually takes all of it by the time I get home (but the last bottle is usually from DH at home).