Need advice on sitter for my 4.5mth old.

[Greenlea]

My baby (along with his older brother) has been going to the sitter since he was 8 weeks old.  He goes PT, 3 days a week.  I provide her with 10oz of expressed BM, as I am gone from the baby for 10 hours on each day.  I have always read that baby needs 1oz of BM per hour I am gone, that's correct right?

Well she has been telling me that he needs more milk.  She says it seems like he just cannot get enough to eat.  She has even given him water at the end of the day if she has run out of milk.  I personally think she is feeding him too often, as in - he's crying or fussing, quick give him a bottle.  My LO fusses when he wants to sleep.  Sometimes I can even get him to nap without nursing.

I have been trying to pump more milk but my nipples are raw from so much pumping and its killing me.  I'm taking fenugreek and have done blessed thistle and More Milk Plus.  For the past couple days I have pumped about 2oz extra a day but I'm squeezing it all out to the last drop.

So, should I continue trying to give her more milk, or just re-emphasize that at this age that's all he needs.  I've tried telling her that he sometimes just gets fussy to sleep and doesn't need to eat.  BTW, she has never had kids herself or nursed.  I don't want my baby to starve, but I don't want to have to do formula, cuz then I'm just worried she will over feed him with that.  Many others have told me to start him on solids if he seems too hungry (as he's nursing alot at night too) but I feel 4.5 mths is too early.

Your thoughts?

[scotia]

Kellymom.com has a handy page to help you figure out how much milk your baby will probably need per feeding when you are away.  Basically, they say that "exclusively breastfed babies take in an average of 25 oz (750 mL) per day between the ages of 1 month and 6 months. Different babies take in different amounts of milk; a typical range of milk intakes is 19-30 oz per day (570-900 mL per day)."

So, depending how often your LO eats while you are gone would help figure out if he is getting enough or not.  If he is eating ten times a day, just for example, he would need about 2.5 oz per feeding.  If you're gone for ten hours, and he eats every two and a half hours, let's guess that he would need five feedings of 2.5 oz each, or about 12.5 oz total. 

That's just an average though - your little guy may be on the high or low end of things.

Sorry, this isn't much of a concrete answer, but the calculator on kellymom seems really handy for figuring things out, based on how many feedings he averages a day.  The page I'm referring to is here:  http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html

Would it help to try to feed him at your sitter's, after dropping him off but before you leave?  And then maybe right away again once you pick him up?  That might help cut down on the number of bottles she needs to give him, and also give you break from the pumping!

[D_McG]

I think 10oz is on the skimpy side for 10 hours. I'd want to leave another bottle. Maybe 13,14 oz.

Does he seem very hungry when you pick him up?

[Rani]

Also, try to build up a freezer stash. If he goes to sleep without nursing..PUMP and put in freezer...I pumped for a year..and yeah, about 9 oz was what i could get at a time at best. So, I pumped once at work and would pump if she skipped a feeding.  I didn't get over raw nipples because was replacing rather than additional if that makes sense?

Also, for whatever reason, carrot juice with wheat grass would make me engorged in mins :)

[Greenlea]

My DH picks him up and I'm home within 1-1.5 hours after that.  He doesn't seem too overly hungry when I come home, but I do feed him right when I get home.  One problem is he doesn't like to eat in the morning before I leave to drop them off.  I've been trying to add in pumping sessions whenever I can.  I now pump in the morning before I leave, and on my days off I pump on the other side after he eats.  But pumping has never really worked the best for me, and its working less and less lately even though I'm upping my pumping sessions.

Grrrr...if I can't get her more milk I guess I'll have to give her some formula.

[Beltane]

Are you using 'slow flow' nipples on your bottles?  That helped me quite a bit with DD's sitter - although she STILL says that DD is hungry.  (I think she's just tired, and the easiest way to get her to sleep is to feed her).  DD is at the babysitter for approximately 7 hours a day, five days a week, and I send her with 9 oz every day.  (I just increased it from 8.5 oz to 9 this last week - she will be 8 months in April).  I pump like a crazy lady - and IT IS WORK.  I pump twice at work for 20 minutes at a time and then again when I get home after work and DH is around.  I pump three times a day on the weekends also, which means pumping in the car using the car charger adapter between errands.  I don't go ANYWHERE without my pump, and only recently have the pump and I begun to make 'friends'.  Hang in there Mama - you're doing a great job.  I found that I could squeeze a pumping session in with DD around if I sat her on the couch with a toy and I sat right beside her.  Pumping has been really tough for me, but I will not and have not given DD any formula.  I second the pumping calculator on KellyMOM, there is also a page there that explains how to bottle-feed the breastfed baby - my sitter had no idea that she was doing it WRONG.  I'll see if I can find the links.  Hang in there.

[Beltane]

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/bottle-feeding.html

http://www.kellymom.com/bf/pumping/milkcalc.html

[Erin77]

FWIW, my son seemed to be at his hungriest around that age. He eats less now that he's 6 months old! If he's going through a growth spurt, he could definitely need more than 10 oz in ten hours. My son also liked to eat more when he was away from me- my husband thinks the milk helped him when he missed me.

[Greenlea]

I've been giving her 2oz more a day and she says that has helped a ton.  Then, the last time he was there, she sent me home with 3oz.  So maybe he had a good day and wasn't fussy, so she didn't feed him as much.  She has a problem with getting him to nap on his own, without her holding him, and I think she thinks he's still hungry if he won't sleep.  I have the same problem at home, and can actually get him to nap without nursing on some occassions.

I'm going to try to continue giving her the extra 2oz.  All the added pumping sessions I've been doing is helping with my supply, so its getting a bit easier.  Although he likes to nurse a ton when he's with me, so squeezing out extra milk after he's nursed is getting harder.