How much to send to daycare?

[spunky84]

LO will be 8 weeks tomorrow and will be her first day at daycare.

I've been trying to keep track of how many bottles & ounces LO is taking during the time she will be in daycare, but it's just been impossible.

She's taking on average 4 oz. Sometimes she'll take 5oz.

She'll be dropped off between 7:00 - 7:30 and will be picked up between 4:00 - 4:30. Closer to 7:30 - 4:00 though may vary by 15 minutes.

I'm thinking maybe 4-5 bottles of 4oz. They also ask that we take some frozen just in case there is a spill. Do you think this would be enough?

I'm exclusively expressing, so I usually just combine what I get from both sides into the bottle & that's what we give her. If she wants more, we'll give her more. So if I only expressed 3 oz, that's what we'll give her (sometimes that's all she wants). If she wants a little more, we'll pour out another 1-2 oz from another bottle.

I'm think I'll have to start making sure that each bottle is 4oz though. Though I'm worried because if I combine 2 from the fridge, from my understanding you aren't supposed to add more than the amount you're adding to. How am I supposed to do this when I have the odd ounce here and there? If I end up with odd end ounces here and there, how am I supposed to feed those to her?

What if sending 16 - 20 oz isn't enough? We used to have to supplement, so before it wasn't an issue thinking that she would just have formula. Now that I'm expressing enough, we haven't had to supplement. I'm expressing between 25-30 oz each day. Should I put formula in there just in case an emergency type of situation?

LO takes well to formula as she has been supplemented on it for the first 4-5 weeks and then was strictly on it the other week while I was in the hospital & did wonderfully on it. I'd rather not have to use the formula, but should I as an emergency measure?

I'm really anxious and stressed about having everything and all the right stuff for her tomorrow. I'm gathering everything and making lists between pumping today so that everything is ready for tomorrow.

I think I need more bottles as I'll need to take about 9 with me for work, plus what she'll be taking to daycare, plus if there is anything we haven't had a chance to wash from the middle of the night pumping.

 

[seaweed eater]

How much does she take per day? 7:30-4 is 7.5 hours...including commute time let's say 8-8.5. So you should aim to send a third of the total amount of milk she consumes during each day, or a bit more than that if she takes less at night. 16-20 is A VERY LARGE AMOUNT for an 8 wk old. 4-5 oz is a large quantity per bottle at that age too. They may also have a policy about throwing out leftovers -- you should check -- so smaller bottles are a good idea for that reason too.

I would send 5 3-oz bottles on the first day and that should be more than enough. If she wants more, you can adjust later. She will NOT go hungry if you send 15 oz for 8 hours.

It might be a good idea to go over paced bottle feeding with DCP too, especially if you do that at home.

 

[spunky84]

I'm really glad I didn't do the 4-5 bottles of 4oz...

I did the 5 - 3oz like you suggested and she only took 3 of those! So the daycare suggested that next week just send 4 and if she continues to only take 3 then we can go down to 3.

So, yeah, it was more than enough.

What is paced bottle feeding? I've never heard of it. Sounds like something DH and I should look into at home. I really think we over feed her at home.

 

[seaweed eater]

That sounds perfect! I'm glad it worked out.

Paced bottle feeding is a method to feed from bottles more slowly / in a way that better mimics nursing. You hold the bottle horizontally instead of with the nipple pointing all the way downward, to slow the flow and encourage LO to work for it a little more. And you give breaks. There are YouTube videos you can look up if you're interested.