Growth spurts while in daycare

[rhiOrion]

How does this work?

I'm thinking we may be having a growth spurt right now (11 weeks today...so the three month spurt, perhaps?)

I'm so glad it's happening now (if that's what this is), because she's basically been a crying mess today if she's not directly attached to my breast. We're in the bed right now because that's the easiest place for me to let her stay latched on all day.

She starts daycare on monday.

So, how does that work with day care? Will a good provider somehow magically know that she needs more bottles? I mean, feeding "on demand" sounds good and all, but it took me a while even to realize what was going on today. I kept thinking, "she JUST ate, so it's got to be something else". Then I'd run out of ideas and let her eat and she'd be happy.

So, let's say she settles into usually eating 4 times while at daycare... how would i know when to send extra bottles? EEEK!

I do have the benefit that if she were to ever run out of bottles it would generally not be a big deal for me to run to her daycare with one I'd pumped that day, or to go by and nurse her. Probably nobody at work would ever even notice I was gone!

Sorry, this is rambly. You're probably going to see a lot of random rambling posts from me in the near future. Maybe I should start my own "Rhiannon is freaking out about sending her kid to daycare" thread!

[CarrieMF]

I'd send a few extra bags of frozen milk for the provider to have on hand(if they'd let you)

[StephandOwen]

I worked at a daycare for about 2 1/2 years (mostly in the infant room). What we asked was to pick whichever of these options worked for you....

A) send in one more bottle of bm than you thought she would need. So if she tends to drink 4 bottles each day then send in 5 bottles each day. Most parents who picked this option would just feed the extra bottle to the kid either when they picked the kid up (if they had a long drive home) or when they got home or sometime that night.

B) send in a frozen bag (or 2) of bm (properly labeled!!!!) to keep in the freezer for the dc provider to use if the kid was going through a growth spurt.

or C) send in a small container of formula (either premade in the little bottles, the little tiny packs that make 4 oz or whatever or a small can) to be used in an emergency (all bottles are gone, baby is a screaming mess and they can't get ahold of you for some reason).

Most parents picked C. I never understood why more didn't pick B. Check with the daycare about which options are available to you.

As for how they would know.... in my experience nobody I worked with in those 2 1/2 years WANTED to hear a baby cry. We did everything we could think of to keep those babies happy. When a baby is crying and not consoled by anything there's a good chance they are hungry, and most providers know that.

[Carita]

i did B i had them keep a couple 2 oz bags on hand as well just in case ds needed just a bit to tie him over til i could get there, not just for growth spurts.

[rhiOrion]

Hmm, I'll ask, but I'm not sure if B is an option. I think they send home any extra with you every night. I'm not sure they allow you to store any there. But maybe they just don't advertise it.

Right now my DD cries a lot, and I end up offering her the boob a LOT.

*sigh*

This is going to be a complete and total nightmare.

At least I know that in an emergency I can, according to google, be there in 4 minutes. She's a pretty quick eater, so I could really go there, feed her, and come back to work and barely use more than my "break time" (which nobody pays any attention to anyhow).

And I'm giving them the front desk number to my work, so it should be very very rare that I can't be found.

I'm thinking I'll start with five 3oz bottles per day? Or maybe just four? I'll be going to nurse her at lunch at least for the first couple of weeks.

[leam811]

Oh mama I know...I went back to work at 9 weeks pp (3 days in and two at home), and while I had a nanny at home for that, which was amazing, we started daycare full time around 6 mos (she's now approaching 11 mos).

I bet you'll be fine with 4 bottles and nursing at lunch. I found, early on, that DD would eat a little less away from me and save up to nurse when we were together. I was able to build up a little frozen stash for a while, which is now serving me well.

My daycare won't store fresh/bottled breastmilk, but they will store frozen.

And I will just say...it is hard to leave them, and you'll cry, and she'll cry, AND she'll be fine. My DD STILL cries at dropoff (twice a day, since I still nurse her at lunch - she's not really eating solids yet, so still 100% bm), but within a couple minutes she's fine.

Good luck!

[cchrissyy]

remember the daycare people have worked with countless babies. they will be good at reading the signs, they know all the stages and what's normal.

you have valuable info for them as your girl's mom, and they have valuable info for you as the people who've seen this age a hundred times before.

[Momily]

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

At least I know that in an emergency I can, according to google, be there in 4 minutes. She's a pretty quick eater, so I could really go there, feed her, and come back to work and barely use more than my "break time" (which nobody pays any attention to anyhow).
.

It shouldn't be an "emergency" though. If she's going through bottles faster than usual, they'll know before they run out of the last bottle. Either you get in the habit of checking on the bottles at lunch (e.g. you usually see 2 bottles left at lunch time, so if there's one or none you know you need to plan another trip over to nurse or bring a pumped bottle), or you have them call you if she gets down to 1 bottle before X time, which gives you, well I don't know, but longer than 4 minutes to figure out a plan.

[rhiOrion]

Originally Posted by Momily

It shouldn't be an "emergency" though. If she's going through bottles faster than usual, they'll know before they run out of the last bottle. Either you get in the habit of checking on the bottles at lunch (e.g. you usually see 2 bottles left at lunch time, so if there's one or none you know you need to plan another trip over to nurse or bring a pumped bottle), or you have them call you if she gets down to 1 bottle before X time, which gives you, well I don't know, but longer than 4 minutes to figure out a plan.

I guess with the four minutes there thing I was thinking more along the lines of being able to get there and back without having to clock out and take vacation time or sick leave.

[Momily]

Originally Posted by rhiOrion

I guess with the four minutes there thing I was thinking more along the lines of being able to get there and back without having to clock out and take vacation time or sick leave.

OK, I was just remembering how when I was a new daycare parent I'd think "How fast could I get to him if X happened", and wanted to reassure you that this wouldn't be one of those situations, more likely you'd know at lunch time whether you were going to run out and could plan accordingly.

Hope it's going well!

[Quinalla]

Yeah, at my daycare they encourage BFing moms to have a couple bags of frozen BM in the freezer with an extra bottle for them to put it in for those types of things, also, what if (God forbid) someone spilled a bottle of BM? Not to add to your worries and it has never happened to me, but still, it could. And the ladies at my daycare are very good at reading my daughter's cues if she is more hungry one day, so I would put that worry out of your mind.