Several Questions (?)

[Aysa_Mom]

Aysa started her first week of daycare on Monday so that I could fine tune the amount of bottles she'll need, the time(s) of day i'll be pumping, and when i'll be taking lunch so that I can go to the daycare and feed her. I didn't allow her to stay the entire day, she went from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., so I only sent two (2) 3 ounce bottles to daycare with her.

This is what our schedule will be like:

Aysa's schedule: My schedule:
6:30 a.m: breastfeed Aysa 6:30 a.m: feed Aysa
7:30 a.m: drop Aysa off to daycare 10:30 a.m: pump (a.m. break)
8:30 a.m: 3 ounce bottle 12:30 p.m: feed Aysa (lunch)
10:30 a.m: 3 ounce bottle 3:30 p.m: pump
12:30 p.m: breastfed Aysa (lunch) 5-5:15 p.m: pick Aysa up & feed her
2:30 p.m: 3 ounce bottle
5-5:15 p.m: pick Aysa up and feed her
at daycare or when we make
it home

?'s:
1.) Does this schedule seem okay? Should I be pumping more to keep my supply up or does what i'm doing/planning to do seem fine?

2.) Since Aysa was only at daycare for 1/2 day, I only pumped at 10:30 a.m. since I was feeding her at 12:30 at the daycare then bringing her home. During that one (1) pumping session at 10:30 I was getting 7-9 ounces of milk which will cover the 3 bottles she'll need to bring to her full days at daycare. I already have a huge freezer stash so i'm wondering, since i'll be pumping at 3:30 as well, how should I begin using my freezer stash so that all my pumped milk will not go to waste?

3.) Since i'm pumping so much should I be sending more in Aysa's bottles like 4 ounces instead of 3?

4.) I know the rule of thumb is 1 ounce for every hour, but Aysa is between 12 & 13 pounds and 12 weeks old and she normally breastfeeds between 10 & 12 times a day still. Isn't the amount of output reflective of the amount she's eating or am I just an over producer and should expect to see a decrease in production since I'll be pumping instead of feeding her, at least, 3 times a day?

Please advise.

[zediseot]

That schedule looks really good to me, especially since you can feed her at lunch. I don't get anywhere near 7-9 ozs per session so I'm completely jealous at your nice freezer stash. I don't know what you do with all that extra milk. You could always donate! :)

I always sent 4 oz bottles with ds. The ped wants us to feed dd 4 oz bottles when I'm gone, but she'll rarely take that much and it's usually closer to 3 ozs and spaced closer like your dd. DS ate less often, which you may find your dd doing if she takes in more. My dd is doing fine weight-wise so I'm not worrying about it.

You may see some decrease in production from pumping while you're at work. The baby is generally more efficient than the pump. Or maybe not. The good news is that if you do, you have a good stash to fall back on.

[Aysa_Mom]

Zediseot,

Why 4 oz bottles? Is it so that your baby would go longer than 2 hours between feedings? Just curious.

Aysa's daycare takes care of several breastfed babies. They are all on a 2 - 2.5 hour feeding schedule and the daycare provider doesn't have a problem with it. In fact, i'd printed a bunch of literature to give them, but after talking with them and several parents about their understanding of the needs of a breastfed baby I didn't need to give them the stuff i'd printed. They are very knowledgeable there which makes me feel very comfortable leaving my girl there.

[zediseot]

I have no idea why the recommendation for 4 oz bottles except that they think she needs to take in more per feeding. She was a preemie so they keep a pretty close eye on her. However, she simply won't take more than 3 ozs usually and my guess is that she's no doubled her weight at 3 months (she was almost there a few weeks ago) so I'm not concerned at all.
I think the 2-2.5 hours is closer to what she does anyway when I'm home during the day.

[smllfry]

Estimate the number of times that baby nurses per day (24 hours).
Then divide 25 oz by the number of nursings.
This gives you a "ballpark" figure for the amount of expressed milk your exclusively breastfed baby will need at one feeding.

From Kellymom.com

That would mean if she eats 10 to 12 times a day each bottle would be 2 to 2.5 oz. This is based on averages. It is based on a 1 to 6 month old that would eat 25 oz a day.

[whitnessforhim]

IA with smallfry's estimation. If you want the actual link go here http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html to estimate the amount.

Putting 4oz in a bottle just because can either 1) over feed your baby or 2) waste milk. IMO most pedi's are not educated about breastfeeding. I've found that they typically go by whats the norm for a formula fed baby. This does not work for the breastfed baby. 2-3oz at a time is a very normal amount for or a BF baby to drink. It is also very normal for them to eat more often, only going 2-3hrs between feedings, sometimes less.

Your schedule sounds really good and as you get more into the routine you'll find what works for you and what doesn't. I pumped 3x's a day for DD but I wasn't able to nurse her for lunch. I think your schedule sounds fine.

7-9oz from one pumping session is A LOTTA MILK! Thats fantastic. I never pumped nearly that much but I did manage to accumulate a huge freezer stash myself. I ended up donated the milk through MilkShare. It's a yahoo group that you can join to donate your milk to a baby in need. I had about 400oz in the freezer and I realized that I really was never going to use all that milk and I didn't want it to go to waste. I did, however, always leave enough milk up there just in case.

Really I wouldn't send more if it's not what she would normally eat. I would just send her with whatever you know she's going to eat and maybe a little extra in an extra bottle.

[Prettyskittle82]

My baby didn't start taking 4 oz bottles until he was about 10 months old. It was always about 3.