Breastfed babies and daycare

[NaturalMindedMomma]

I have a daycare provider I am happy with. I start my job Jnauary 18th. I am really concerned because my baby has been EBF. SHe HATES any artificial nipples. Besides the fact that I moved into my new apartment without my girls dad a couple of days ago. My two year old is adjusting really well to her new bed time and routine. The baby on the other hand is a mess. She is 5 months old, has never taken well to artificial nipples so she has really seldomly been away from me and when she has it is no more than 2 hours at most.

I NEED to work. I HATE the fact I have to, but I am the only income and I need to do this. She is a BIG baby. I am starting to wonder if my breastmilk isn't enough or something? She seems to be teething too. My family keeps telling me to wean her onto formula and I just hate to do that, but I am wondering if she is going to get that breasts are only at night and bottles are daytime??

Not sure if I should X post this in breastfeeding...

What bottles do you use? Any tips on making a smoother transition? Wondering about solids. She is swallowing tylenol and really interested in my food. Maybe some solids and really working on taking a bottle.. HMMM

[anj_rn]

Neither of my children would ever take a bottle from me, my DD would not take one if I was around, but the both took them at day care just fine. We used the avent bottles. Good luck to you.

[MommaSuzi]

Mine didn't care for bottles much either, and with daycare they couldn't re-use a bottle once they had tried for a bit to get her to take one. So we went to a process of sending about 6 separate 1.5- 2 ounce Avent bottles to get her through the day. She never took more than a couple ounces at a time from a bottle, and then just made up for it all when I got home. We spent hours nursing in the evenings and she stopped sleeping through the night so she could nurse more at night. It worked for us.

[petey44]

We didn't figure out that dd wouldn't take a bottle until a week before I was supposed to start back at work. That week was horrible for my dh, as he was the one who had to try to get her to take a bottle (what a pp said was true- most bf babies won't take the pumped milk from mom). Basically, I went out and bought one of every possible kind of bottle, and then we tried one out with a little pumped milk every time she seemed hungry. She'd scream and cry, and we'd give up and I'd nurse her. Then after a few days like that, she finally took a bottle. Maybe she just got used to the process or maybe she really liked that bottle better (Playtex Drop-In, with the brown latex nipple, not the clear silicone one).
I think it's definitely worth it to pump for daycare. After those first few days, my dd never had trouble either nursing with me or with taking a bottle from the daycare provider (she drank 2 bottles a day there).
Whichever bottle you choose, try out the brown nipple. I've heard of a lot of babies taking to them better because of the color and texture.
Hang in there!

[StephandOwen]

Originally Posted by MommaSuzi

Mine didn't care for bottles much either, and with daycare they couldn't re-use a bottle once they had tried for a bit to get her to take one. So we went to a process of sending about 6 separate 1.5- 2 ounce Avent bottles to get her through the day. She never took more than a couple ounces at a time from a bottle, and then just made up for it all when I got home. We spent hours nursing in the evenings and she stopped sleeping through the night so she could nurse more at night. It worked for us.

From a daycare worker.... this is the key to remember. I can't tell you how many parents of young infants who have been *really* upset at me because I had to throw out the breastmilk. I know why they were upset, I really do, but I have certain rules and regulations that I HAVE to follow, and it's all for your baby. Please do not send 2 bottles full of 8oz of breastmilk for a baby who barely even takes a bottle. It will not end well, as most will get thrown out. Sending more bottles with just 2 ounces each will work so much better. Also keep in mind that the daycare workers may have a few other things up their sleeves. I've had a few babies come through my room who refused to take a bottle. It's a lot of work, and the adult HAS to have a lot of patience, but it's possible to work with these babies. I've spoonfed babies breastmilk. I've used a little medicine syringe. Eventually they almost all take a bottle eventually. The other possibility, at 5 months old, is starting with a cup instead of a bottle. Some babies do much better with a cup. Just something else for you to think about.

[Alyantavid]

We reverse cycled for quite a while and mine did eventually take a bottle. The only ones my kid would use were the Playtex drop in ones. And not from me. He was ok taking a bottle from other people if I wasn't there, but if I was around, he wouldn't.

[Aubergine68]

My kids would drink from a straw sippy cup at that age in preference to using a bottle.

I taught them how by using water and a drinking straw. Put a short straw in the water, put my finger over one end of the straw to trap a bit of water in the straw, and put the straw in my baby's mouth and let the water go. Pretty soon , they start sucking at the straw to get water.

[claras_mom]

Originally Posted by StephandOwen

From a daycare worker.... this is the key to remember. I can't tell you how many parents of young infants who have been *really* upset at me because I had to throw out the breastmilk. I know why they were upset, I really do, but I have certain rules and regulations that I HAVE to follow, and it's all for your baby. Please do not send 2 bottles full of 8oz of breastmilk for a baby who barely even takes a bottle. It will not end well, as most will get thrown out. Sending more bottles with just 2 ounces each will work so much better. Also keep in mind that the daycare workers may have a few other things up their sleeves. I've had a few babies come through my room who refused to take a bottle. It's a lot of work, and the adult HAS to have a lot of patience, but it's possible to work with these babies. I've spoonfed babies breastmilk. I've used a little medicine syringe. Eventually they almost all take a bottle eventually. The other possibility, at 5 months old, is starting with a cup instead of a bottle. Some babies do much better with a cup. Just something else for you to think about.

Dd2 won't take a bottle from anyone....but she'll drink one just fine if she's allowed to do it herself. She's been like this since she started daycare at 5-1/2 months. It took us a couple of weeks to work through that, but now it's the norm.

[rivkah]

DD did not like bottles at all when I went back to work (12 weeks).

The first few days were hard. It all worked out, though.

She takes about 6-8 ounces during the day. We too tried all sorts of bottles and she prefers the breastflow--you can get them at target. She nurses a lot at night!

There is no reason to think your breastmilk is not enough. You said she is a big baby, so obviously she is growing fine. I doubt that formula would make your life any easier at all. Then she would have to adjust to a new taste (surely not as tasty as BM) as well as to bottles. In addition, you are going through so many transitions right now, it seems like you'd want to keep as much as possible consistent.

Good luck! These things can be hard, but lots of us have lived through it.

[Caneel]

Originally Posted by anj_rn

Neither of my children would ever take a bottle from me, my DD would not take one if I was around, but the both took them at day care just fine. We used the avent bottles. Good luck to you.

While DS did take a bottle for me a few times and DH a few times, he wasn't happy about it. (We did this in preparation for going to daycare.)

My aunt, my mother and his main provider at daycare, however, had no problems at all with his bottle feeding.

His provider said that more often than not, the parents' fears about the bottle were completely unfounded. I think with DS's daycare, those women had experience with many, many babies over the years and had far more tricks up their sleeves than imaginable to parents of one, two or three kids.

[listipton]

DS would not take a bottle easily from anyone. He will, however, take milk from a sippy cup. He was also a very large baby and did not have solids until he was just over a year. Don't worry, babies are smart and yours will figure out the routine while you are at work. The advice from several pp about smaller oz bags is VERY practical as well. for your situation. It's rough when you've got to change everything up like this.

[Halfasianmomma]

Mama, I know how hard it is to put your LO in daycare and to worry horribly about how she'll survive. Please know that it'll work out. Talk with your DCP about your concerns, formulate some strategies together (trying different bottle, sippy cups or straw cups, and discuss if you can call in regularly in the first few weeks to check up on your LO and settle your mind) and it'll make you feel better when you have a plan. The first two weeks may be rough on your both, but you'll both adapt.

My DD also refused any kind of bottle, but I later found out that I have high lipase and that my milk tasted pretty horrible when I gave it to her without scalding it. Eventually, the DCP would give her my scalded milk in a sippy, and gradually mixed it with soy milk (we were working on introducing solids then). Eventually, she only drank soy milk at daycare and reverse cycled with me at home. We still reverse-cycle and DD is now ahealthy 27 pound 17 month old toddler who goes to daycare full-time.

[gbutterflykissesm]

[QUOTE=Halfasianmomma;14887305]

My DD also refused any kind of bottle, but I later found out that I have high lipase and that my milk tasted pretty horrible when I gave it to her without scalding it. QUOTE]

This happened to me too. I noticed it about 2 weeks before I went back to work, and my DS is 7.5 mo now and I still have to scald my pumped milk. So if your baby won't take a bottle, you may want to try scalding the milk before you store it.

I use Gerber Nuk bottles. They are the only ones my DS would take, I think because the base is more breast shaped, so his mouth remains open around the nipple. We have never switched from a newborn nipple either. My DS never seemed frustrated with the slow flow nipples, and so he does fine with those. I think a lot of mamas may switch to a faster flow, which means that a baby who is also breastfed a lot of the time now gets his milk much more quickly out of the bottle, and may just want to suck for longer. I wonder if this is the reason why a lot of mamas are afraid their baby is still hungry after a bottle. Just a thought to consider.

IDK about solids. My DS doesn't do them yet... he only takes about 12 oz of BM in the 8 hours that I work. He usually only takes 3 oz or so at a time, so I second the motion to start with several small bottles.

Good luck with everything! This is a hard transition period, but it will be ok! Come back and post if you need support during your transition.