Worried about daycare & BFing, support needed please

[P.J.]

My baby Max will be starting 3 days / week, 9am-3pm, at a child minder in May. He will be 1 year old then. As of now (9 mo) he is eating solids and I would say getting around 40% of his nutrition that way. Of course that is increasing all the time, so I reckon in a few months he'll be getting more like 60-70% from food. He nurses quite irregularly but I would say an average of every couple hours. Much of the time it's more like comfort nursing (he can be pretty high needs) and I would guess for nutrition it's more like every 4 hours he needs my milk, but it's hard to tell.

I absolutely adore the child minder, she is wonderful with the kids and her home is like a children's wonderland. Max loves it there - we go together for 1 hour/ week to slowly get him used to it. Anyway my only major concern about sending him there is how it will affect our BFing relationship. Of course I will be leaving a bottle of pumped milk there with him every day, and maybe give her some to keep in her freezer as well. I am somehow thinking he won't miss the comfort nursing as much, simply because he's in a totally different environment and won't expect it there, plus he'll be so preoccupied and busy he won't think of it. But we shall see... I'm kind of scared about having this "break" in our regular nursing routine. I really hope it doesn't screw things up.

Has anyone also done this and have any advice as to how we can ease the transition from such regular nursing to having these 3x / week breaks of 6 hours? And any tips on making sure my supply stays up would also be welcome. TIA!

[carepear]

Hi PJ,

It'll be okay.  I don't think one bottle a day will affect your nursing relationship.  My kiddo has been in daycare since 8 weeks and we have an extremely strong breastfeeding relationship.  We actually struggle with her not wanting to take a bottle consistently but she has no problems nursing like crazy.

[Marissamom]

when DD was 9 months, I started working full time. she was home with her dad, so not in a different environment, and she still didn't need to comfort nurse when I was gone. she would take one bottle in the 9 hours I was gone and nursed like crazy when I was home. she stopped even taking the bottle at 15 months. a month after that I stopped working, and she started nursing frequently during the day again, though on a more toddler schedule. she's still nursing 3-5 times a day at 21 months, and would nurse more some days if I would let her. 

I'm assuming that if you plan on having a bottle every day, that you'll be pumping at work? doing that and nursing right before you leave and right after you get back will help to keep your supply up. 

[Megan73]

I wouldn't worry. My DS started DC full time at a year and kept nursing enthusiastically. He also napped well at DC even though I'd always nursed him down before. While we were separated, I pumped at lunch time and once in the late afternoon if I would be working late.

Also, there's no need to introduce a bottle at one year - he'll likely be fine with a straw cup, sippy or even open cup.

[BarefootGirl]

My DS has been in daycare part-time since 10 weeks old and he is 15 weeks old now.  He is usually there about 6 hours.  He gets one bottle of pumped milk in the morning and I go by to nurse him midway between the morning bottle and the time I pick him up in the afternoon.  I send a couple ounces in a second bottle for the afternoon in case he can't wait.  At the beginning he almost always wanted that second bottle but now he almost always waits for me   I was worried that the bottles would cause a problem, but everything has been fine.  But really with your son being old enough for a sippy cup, I would use that instead of a bottle.  It seems to me that would be even less likely to disturb the nursing relationship.

[P.J.]

Yes, we will be using a sippy cup, but also leaving a bottle in case he wants that. And yes I will pump every day at least once while he's gone, depending on how full my breasts get!

And thank you for the reassurance about napping. I also nurse him down and have worried he might not sleep well there, but the child minder assured me they play so hard and get so tired that by afternoon they sleep easily.