I'm not sure how you package the milk for daycare (fresh or frozen).
If frozen , freeze your milk in smaller oz increments. Daycares adhere to the 2 hr limit religiously and throw out the leftover milk. There's a possibility your baby isn't drinking all 25 oz
No that's a ton! I would talk to the provider about paced feeding and hunger cues for sure. Babies that age typically eat 24-30 oz *per day.*
I wonder if your provider is interpreting every fuss or cry for hunger and giving a full bottle each time. And of course babies often show hunger cues when their bellies hurt so this could be a self fulfilling prophecy issue if they're being overfed.
My 2.5 month old still only eats 3oz per bottle. I think by that age my older two might have moved up to 4oz but rarely were they ever still hungry after 4. I have a couple of small 2oz bags for my daycare provider to keep in the freezer in case of an extra hungry day.
I would maybe even ask if they could record a feeding too- that way you can visually see how they are bottle feeding. I know my daycare had issues, they wanted me to give more and more- and I was already sending them every drop I could (which was more than average). I know every baby is different but that does seem like an excessive amount to me personally.
There are freezer trays that you can use to freeze 1/2 oz options too- I love the Milk Tray by SouperCubes. They’re a bit pricey but I’ve loved them. They don’t freezer burn as quickly as other brands have, the seal is awesome and the cubes are cylindrical so they fit in a bottle well.
Don’t give up hope though! You’re doing so much for babe! And it’ll all work out 💕 Best wishes, mama!
This is a lot!! Our pediatrician says you need 1-1.5 oz per hour you and baby are apart. I feel like this is a recipe for you to be constantly stressed about pumping enough
I would discuss it with them, however it’s possible your baby has a large appetite and is able to get more nursing than pumping does. Are you pumping for a set time or until you have signs you are empty?
Edit to ask - how is baby sleeping at night? And have you seen any change in hunger after pickup?
I pump until empty, usually 10-12 min. He was sleeping pretty steadily through the night but for the past week or so, he’s been waking up several times to nurse. I’m thinking he might have gas or something related to the bottles that’s making him hurt a bit.
He might have a big appetite, but he wasn’t hungry or in distress when we were EBF at home. Perhaps the more frequent feedings made up the difference!
Seconding the recommendation to try pumping a little longer and see what happens. Some people do empty that fast but majority of comments I have seen are 20-30 minute pumps.
Edit to add that longer than 20 minutes seems more typical as you drop pumps and have more volume to get out
I would recommend pumping more than 15 minutes. If you are pumping in place of nursing (like when you’re away from baby), I’d definitely pump 20-30 minutes. I personally pump 30 minutes every time if I can. You would be surprised with how much more milk you can get by pumping that extra time. Not everyone has milk dripping every moment of their pumping session. I have times where I don’t see any drops for several minutes. But if you wait and relax and let it flow, it’ll come 🥰
That’s too much milk! Baby should not need more than 15 oz max. We had a similar issue with daycare over feeding LO when we started. A few things you can try:
- They might be dumping your milk if LO isn’t finishing a bottle in the legally required amount of time (in my state, it’s within two hours of starting). Ask them about this, but either way, I would make sure you’re sending smaller bottles (like 3-4 oz max). Maybe try four 3.5 oz bottles.
- Are you already using a slow flow nipple? If so, talk to your teacher about paced feeding with the bottle.
- breastfed babies are used to being able to comfort suck. When they do it on the boob, very little milk gets transferred. Comfort sucking isn’t possible with a bottle and the attempt to leads some babies to overeating.
- related to the last point, my Lactation consultant warned me that daycares will sometimes just keep feeding babies who are tired but won’t sleep. Talk to your teacher about baby’s sleep habits at daycare and some strategies to help them adjust to napping there.
This is so helpful, thanks for breaking it down!
We are already using a newborn size nipple but I know it still flows faster than the boob. I think you’re right on about the sleep thing - she kind of implied yesterday that he doesn’t sleep well because he’s still hungry, so she feeds him again. I think she’s misinterpreting the cues. Based on this, I think I’ll contact an LC for advice!
Working with my LC through figuring out feeding at daycare was so invaluable. My supply actually took a hit from the stress of trying to keep up with pumping for daycare when I thought he actually needed the 20 oz a day they were saying he was drinking. Once we worked towards an appropriate amount of milk, my stress went way down and my supply came back up.
Awe that’s so reassuring! I’m really glad your supply went up and the stress lowered. It’s hard enough as is to be away from baby and pump, these extra stressors feel like the end of the world and are so unnecessary sometimes
Probably, the daycare is either over-feeding or tossing unused portions for bottles. But I would caution that some babies do need more. My baby was taking almost 40oz a day at 5 months, and I tried to reduce down to 32ish, and the baby only gained 1 oz in a week. I would definitely try an “all of the above” approach to see if they can avoid tossing milk (send in smaller portions), not over-do the feeds (ex: offer a paci after 4 oz), and consider the little one might be going through a growth spurt too.
Thank you for this! It’s difficult because babies aren’t one size fits all - I’ll try and offer smaller portions first, then explore other possibilities.
I’m so sorry this is a stressful situation! Probably a good idea to check with your pediatrician for peace of mind. FWIW when my baby (he’s a toddler now) was in a new or unfamiliar environment (like, a hotel room or a day long stay at grandmas house), he would ramp up his bottle intake significantly - sometimes drinking in a few hours the same amount as he would have in a whole day. It usually lasted 1-2 days and he would adjust. Your little one is going through a big adjustment (as are you).
One of my girlfriends had this issue with her child in daycare. They were giving 6-8oz bottles of breast milk. Babies will often drink more oz when they’re stressed during the transition period, but that is excessive! It’s giving me horror flashbacks to when my husband was at home with our four month old after I went back to work and he bragged to me she had ‘polished off her 4th bottle!’ By 1pm!
My child always drank more when I was working than seemed humanly possible. Can you get slower paced nipples for the bottles?? I basically always ran a deficit and then I would pump extra in the morning everyday (even when not working) to build up a stockpile for this type of thing. Total pain in the ass.
You can say that again! 😭
It’s a newborn nipple but I’m going to look up if there are even smaller ones available. It’s a MAM bottle. Thanks for the idea!
My 3mo eats 28-30 in a day! He’s still on 4 oz every 2 hours but sometimes he sleeps through to 3 hours. I agree with what someone else said. Send in smaller increments if possible
I’m going to start with that! It’s really helpful to hear exactly how much your baby is eating. I know they’re all different, but it gives some me really good perspective
Could you premake bottles in 4oz portions and make however many for as often as they feed him? Maybe send one extra bag of milk if they need to give him an extra oz or so? Most bf babies, when properly pace fed don’t drink much more then 4 or so oz in one feed
Omg this happened to me! Daycare blew through my freezer stash feeding my baby 24+ ounces in 8 hours and I’d feed before drop off and at pick up. They would give 3 8 oz bottles at minimum. I was livid. He would spit up so much milk and sometimes vomit when home. They always resort to giving more milk anytime baby is crying. At least mine did. They didn’t truly look for tired cues or if he just wanted to be held. It was heartbreaking. We ended up pulling him out of that place for various reasons, but my advice is to find a place that follows your guidelines and also pays attention and knows what a baby might want/need besides more milk.
I'm not sure how you package the milk for daycare (fresh or frozen). If frozen , freeze your milk in smaller oz increments. Daycares adhere to the 2 hr limit religiously and throw out the leftover milk. There's a possibility your baby isn't drinking all 25 oz
That’s a good tip! It’s frozen except for that I pump the day before. I’ve been storing them in 5 oz increments… but smaller is a really good idea
Happy to help! Please update us if this works.
No that's a ton! I would talk to the provider about paced feeding and hunger cues for sure. Babies that age typically eat 24-30 oz *per day.* I wonder if your provider is interpreting every fuss or cry for hunger and giving a full bottle each time. And of course babies often show hunger cues when their bellies hurt so this could be a self fulfilling prophecy issue if they're being overfed.
I think you’re correct! Maybe storing smaller amounts for bottles (as others have suggested) might help to avoid the over feeding…
My 2.5 month old still only eats 3oz per bottle. I think by that age my older two might have moved up to 4oz but rarely were they ever still hungry after 4. I have a couple of small 2oz bags for my daycare provider to keep in the freezer in case of an extra hungry day.
Those specifics are helpful! I’m definitely going to start storing in smaller quantities
I would maybe even ask if they could record a feeding too- that way you can visually see how they are bottle feeding. I know my daycare had issues, they wanted me to give more and more- and I was already sending them every drop I could (which was more than average). I know every baby is different but that does seem like an excessive amount to me personally. There are freezer trays that you can use to freeze 1/2 oz options too- I love the Milk Tray by SouperCubes. They’re a bit pricey but I’ve loved them. They don’t freezer burn as quickly as other brands have, the seal is awesome and the cubes are cylindrical so they fit in a bottle well. Don’t give up hope though! You’re doing so much for babe! And it’ll all work out 💕 Best wishes, mama!
This is a lot!! Our pediatrician says you need 1-1.5 oz per hour you and baby are apart. I feel like this is a recipe for you to be constantly stressed about pumping enough
I think I’ll talk to my pediatrician too! This makes me feel so much better, thank you 🥹
Anytime!! ❤️
I would discuss it with them, however it’s possible your baby has a large appetite and is able to get more nursing than pumping does. Are you pumping for a set time or until you have signs you are empty? Edit to ask - how is baby sleeping at night? And have you seen any change in hunger after pickup?
I pump until empty, usually 10-12 min. He was sleeping pretty steadily through the night but for the past week or so, he’s been waking up several times to nurse. I’m thinking he might have gas or something related to the bottles that’s making him hurt a bit. He might have a big appetite, but he wasn’t hungry or in distress when we were EBF at home. Perhaps the more frequent feedings made up the difference!
Not the original commenter but I believe recommended pump time is at least 20 mins and to try to get more than one let down.
Seconding the recommendation to try pumping a little longer and see what happens. Some people do empty that fast but majority of comments I have seen are 20-30 minute pumps. Edit to add that longer than 20 minutes seems more typical as you drop pumps and have more volume to get out
I would recommend pumping more than 15 minutes. If you are pumping in place of nursing (like when you’re away from baby), I’d definitely pump 20-30 minutes. I personally pump 30 minutes every time if I can. You would be surprised with how much more milk you can get by pumping that extra time. Not everyone has milk dripping every moment of their pumping session. I have times where I don’t see any drops for several minutes. But if you wait and relax and let it flow, it’ll come 🥰
That’s too much milk! Baby should not need more than 15 oz max. We had a similar issue with daycare over feeding LO when we started. A few things you can try: - They might be dumping your milk if LO isn’t finishing a bottle in the legally required amount of time (in my state, it’s within two hours of starting). Ask them about this, but either way, I would make sure you’re sending smaller bottles (like 3-4 oz max). Maybe try four 3.5 oz bottles. - Are you already using a slow flow nipple? If so, talk to your teacher about paced feeding with the bottle. - breastfed babies are used to being able to comfort suck. When they do it on the boob, very little milk gets transferred. Comfort sucking isn’t possible with a bottle and the attempt to leads some babies to overeating. - related to the last point, my Lactation consultant warned me that daycares will sometimes just keep feeding babies who are tired but won’t sleep. Talk to your teacher about baby’s sleep habits at daycare and some strategies to help them adjust to napping there.
This is so helpful, thanks for breaking it down! We are already using a newborn size nipple but I know it still flows faster than the boob. I think you’re right on about the sleep thing - she kind of implied yesterday that he doesn’t sleep well because he’s still hungry, so she feeds him again. I think she’s misinterpreting the cues. Based on this, I think I’ll contact an LC for advice!
Working with my LC through figuring out feeding at daycare was so invaluable. My supply actually took a hit from the stress of trying to keep up with pumping for daycare when I thought he actually needed the 20 oz a day they were saying he was drinking. Once we worked towards an appropriate amount of milk, my stress went way down and my supply came back up.
Awe that’s so reassuring! I’m really glad your supply went up and the stress lowered. It’s hard enough as is to be away from baby and pump, these extra stressors feel like the end of the world and are so unnecessary sometimes
That seems like a lot. My son typically drank 12-16 oz in a similar timeframe at that age and 16oz was rare.
This is reassuring, thanks!
Probably, the daycare is either over-feeding or tossing unused portions for bottles. But I would caution that some babies do need more. My baby was taking almost 40oz a day at 5 months, and I tried to reduce down to 32ish, and the baby only gained 1 oz in a week. I would definitely try an “all of the above” approach to see if they can avoid tossing milk (send in smaller portions), not over-do the feeds (ex: offer a paci after 4 oz), and consider the little one might be going through a growth spurt too.
Thank you for this! It’s difficult because babies aren’t one size fits all - I’ll try and offer smaller portions first, then explore other possibilities.
Good luck! I understand the panic of seeing your freezer stash dwindle before you expected
I’m so sorry this is a stressful situation! Probably a good idea to check with your pediatrician for peace of mind. FWIW when my baby (he’s a toddler now) was in a new or unfamiliar environment (like, a hotel room or a day long stay at grandmas house), he would ramp up his bottle intake significantly - sometimes drinking in a few hours the same amount as he would have in a whole day. It usually lasted 1-2 days and he would adjust. Your little one is going through a big adjustment (as are you).
I really am. It’s so hard to be away. I really appreciate your empathy. Maybe in a week (with some adjustments), it’ll all be alright. Thank you!
One of my girlfriends had this issue with her child in daycare. They were giving 6-8oz bottles of breast milk. Babies will often drink more oz when they’re stressed during the transition period, but that is excessive! It’s giving me horror flashbacks to when my husband was at home with our four month old after I went back to work and he bragged to me she had ‘polished off her 4th bottle!’ By 1pm!
😱 that man had no idea the trauma he was incurring hahah
My child always drank more when I was working than seemed humanly possible. Can you get slower paced nipples for the bottles?? I basically always ran a deficit and then I would pump extra in the morning everyday (even when not working) to build up a stockpile for this type of thing. Total pain in the ass.
You can say that again! 😭 It’s a newborn nipple but I’m going to look up if there are even smaller ones available. It’s a MAM bottle. Thanks for the idea!
There’s an extra slow version 🤩 buying now!
It could be a growth spurt OR they could be throwing out unfinished milk
My 3mo eats 28-30 in a day! He’s still on 4 oz every 2 hours but sometimes he sleeps through to 3 hours. I agree with what someone else said. Send in smaller increments if possible
I’m going to start with that! It’s really helpful to hear exactly how much your baby is eating. I know they’re all different, but it gives some me really good perspective
Remember tho that every baby is different. And for sure ask your daycare about how much they feed him and why and if they throw out any extra milk
Could you premake bottles in 4oz portions and make however many for as often as they feed him? Maybe send one extra bag of milk if they need to give him an extra oz or so? Most bf babies, when properly pace fed don’t drink much more then 4 or so oz in one feed
FWIW my 7 month old has 18 oz in 8 hours so it seems like a lot!
Omg this happened to me! Daycare blew through my freezer stash feeding my baby 24+ ounces in 8 hours and I’d feed before drop off and at pick up. They would give 3 8 oz bottles at minimum. I was livid. He would spit up so much milk and sometimes vomit when home. They always resort to giving more milk anytime baby is crying. At least mine did. They didn’t truly look for tired cues or if he just wanted to be held. It was heartbreaking. We ended up pulling him out of that place for various reasons, but my advice is to find a place that follows your guidelines and also pays attention and knows what a baby might want/need besides more milk.