Pumping and sending bottles to daycare

So I have started back at work and ds is now at daycare. I am concerned that I am not able to pump the amount that he needs.

For the past two days, I hand express 2-4 ounces in the am since I am very full and ds wakes up after me. DS nurses at 6:15 and I drop him off at 7 and then pick him up at 3:45 (eventually this will be 4:45). I pump sometime between 8:45 and 10 and then again between 11:30 and 12:15, each time getting 4 ounces. I then leave work at 3:10 and pick him up - if I was staying the extra hour, I would pump again between 2:45 and 3:15 - when I have tried to pump at this time I am not really able to get 4 ounces.

I have been providing daycare with 3 4 ounce bottles and then an "emergency" 1-2 ounce bottle. He has not needed the emergency bottle, but he does need to be nursed right when we get home at 3:50 This means day 2 of pumping and I am just barely making enough. When I do eventually get to him an hour later, he'll be starving...

Any advice? Should I send 3 ounces in 4 bottles instead?

Re: Pumping and sending bottles to daycare

It sounds like he's eating pretty often, especially since you said he eats again when you pick him up. I think some providers aren't as experienced with BF babies and tend to assume that most cries are hunger cues. How often does he eat at daycare vs. at home?

FWIW, my boys both ate every 3-4 hours at daycare. I brought 3 bottles and at the beginning, also brought a 2 oz extra bottle in case it was needed (which it wasn't). Sometimes, depending on the sleeping and eating schedule, they didn't even need the third bottle.

Make sure you're eating and drinking enough. Do you have a freezer stash? That really helped me when my supply started to drop. I never produced as much during the afternoon sessions as the morning ones. Can you pump a little more in the morning? That's usually when your supply is best. I'd also pump instead of hand expressing in the morning since you'll get more from that. Pumping at least once per day either before or after the morning feeding on the weekends can also help your stash.

I'd probably give 3 oz bottles and see if that's enough to satisfy him. You can always increase the bottles by .5-1 oz or make a smaller bottle for the afternoon if you know he'lll nurse when you pick him up.

Re: Pumping and sending bottles to daycare

When I went back top work with dd1, I added a pumping session right before I went to bed.

Re: Pumping and sending bottles to daycare

If your son is drinking the 4 oz bottle you should definitely not decrease to 3 oz or he'll be hungry even sooner. I'd suggest even trying a 5 oz bottle if he's eating so frequently. If he can take more, it might hold him over longer.

Also, I think babies tend to feed as soon as they are picked up from daycare for comfort more than anything. It's his way of saying, "Hi Mommy! I'm happy to see you!"

Re: Pumping and sending bottles to daycare

i agree with the above poster - you get more in the morning. i would pump instead of hand expressing. also, if your LO is sttn, maybe pump before you go to bed.

how old is your LO? maybe instead of 3 4oz bottles, increase the bottles so he goes a little longer between feedings so you arent rushing to nurse him the moment you get home. i would NOT decrease the amount you give per feeding bc you will only end up making him want another feeding.

i found with dd it was best to give daycare a schedule - i originally went in basically saying she was fed on demand, here are bottles. but we realized that doesnt work out so well in daycare/with bottles.

what is his schedule in terms of feeding? if you nurse him at 6:15am, i would think his earliest schedule would be every 3 hours (but i have no idea how old he is). so 9:15am, 12:15pm, 3:15pm would be the feeding he gets in daycare, followed by 6:15pm feeding at home.
if you are pumping 14 ounces a day (lets say 3oz early morning, 4oz, 4oz and another 3oz when you add in your day end session) and you leave the daycare three bottles to space out every 3 hours....increase each bottle by half an ounce and see if that helps. your emergency bottle would be what you may not have enough for - do you have a stash you could use for that?

or, depending how your LO is sleeping, can you add in one pump session before you go to bed. even if you dont do it nightly, but if you do it every other night youll have an additional few ounces to play around with? you may need to end up increasing the bottles to 5oz,

i just went back to work and leave ds 6oz bottles. he takes them every 4 hours. sometimes he eats 5oz, most of the time he eats all 6oz.

Pumping and sending bottles to daycare

DS is 4 months old (19 weeks).

I am definitely drinking enough water. I drink at least 48 ounces when I am at work. As for eating, I am eating the same as I have since he was born.

This morning I pumped 5 ounces before he nursed. I could have pumped more, but I needed to get DS up and nurse him so I could leave for work on time.

DS' sleeping is unpredictable at best. Two weeks ago, he was up 4+ times a night. Then he STTN for 2 days. Then he was up 1 time for a few days. For the past few days, he has been sleeping 8-6.

He has no real schedule at home. I told daycare every 2.5-3 hours and they seem to be sticking to that.

I have some in the freezer -probably a little over 200 ounces. I also provided daycare with some frozen milk just in case.

I will try giving 4.5 or 5 ounce bottles and see if that helps him stretch out eating longer.