Moms who EBF and are returning/or returned to work

I am returning to work in September - I work in a school. I will be dropping DS off around 7am and picking him up around 2:30-3pm the latest. I will obviously be BF around 6am and when I get home from work.

He usually eats every 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

DS will be 14 weeks. He gets a bottle once a day and now we give about 5oz.

How many bottles should I prepare for my sister-in-law who is watching him?
Should they be 5 oz bottles?
Is it gross to give her extra BM 'just in case' but who says she wants my BM in her freezer?

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

Message edited 8/3/2009 7:40:07 AM.

Re: Moms who EBF and are returning/or returned to work

I haven't gone back full time but have gone to work a day here and there. I would make up enough bottles that she has one for every feeding she is going to give DS based on the 5ozs unless you see that as you get closer to going back to work that he is taking more and then give an extra bottle so that if she needs an extra oz or so she has it from the extra bottle (this bottle I usually don't put a nipple on just a cap. ANy extra she doesn't use can be used for the next day.

Re: Moms who EBF and are returning/or returned to work

I work in a school and when I went back DD was 20 weeks. I would wait until about 1 - 2 weeks before to see how much your DC is eating b/c they change so much in 5 weeks! I didn't pump at work (no time to do it), so I fed DD at 6:30 before I left and at 3 right when I picked her up. She drank 2 bottle while I was gone (formula and BM mixed from my stash). For the first few weeks/months I packed an extra bottle just in case. You could pack an extra BM bag and have her keep it in the freezer for the day, or keep on hold. You could give it to her in a tupperware or something so it is not that visible if you feel awkward about it. Chances are she will be fine about it.

Good luck, don't worry it will all work out!

Re: Moms who EBF and are returning/or returned to work

If you go to kellymom.com there is a calculator that you enter in the average # of times your DC eats per day. (type calculator in the search box and in the results, go to "how much expressed milk will my baby need) This will tell you the average amount they take per feeding. My DD eats 6 times a day, so per this calcultor she takes about 4oz per feeding.....I give her about 4.25oz bottles while I am at work. And I also pump this amount while I am at work. I have been back to work full time for 2 months and DD is still EBF.....it can be done! I know that she could probably do with a little less per feeding - 1 day, I had a "low pumping" day and one of her bottles for the next day was only about 3.5oz and she was just fine with it. All of my babysitters (my mom, MIL, and aunt) all have a stash of my frozen BM in their freezers.

Re: Moms who EBF and are returning/or returned to work

I usually gave 3 bottles with some extra milk in them (if DS ate 4oz, I would put 5). My m-i-l also preferred to keep about 5 frozen bags in her fridge just in case.

Re: Moms who EBF and are returning/or returned to work

DS was 3.5 months old when I returned to work. He ate every 3-4 hours. He's in daycare for a bit longer than your DC. For the first month, I prepared 3 bottles plus an extra 2 oz bottle in case he was still hungry. I used the same extra bottle 2 days in a row and then I'd switch it out and make a new 2 oz bottle with freshly pumped milk. He never took the extra bottle so I stopped preparing it. For a little while, he took 4-4.5 oz. bottles. Then, I increased it to 5 oz. By 5-6 months, he was taking 5.5-6 oz bottles.