Working Moms who Breastfeed, can you help?

[h]

Not thawing milk unnecessarily (I left frozen milk in their freezer for emergencies, and initially they would thaw it "just in case" and end up wasting it).

Working to time feedings so that the baby was ready to eat when I picked him up.

Knowing rules regarding breast milk storage and heating.

[dbsk8dance]

Being respectful of the work that goes into pumping by not wasting milk.

[niki]

Tell me I was doing a good job. (Sounds generic enough, but it meant the world to a new mom.)

[rootbeerfloat]

Get my kids to take a bottle.

[mrsjrd23]

Practiced paced bottle feeding and held the bottle upright. DS never needed more than 3.5 oz in a bottle and we successfully BF over a year and had enough frozen milk at the end to go 2 months after I stopped pumping because they listened to my requests on how to feed him.

[7costanza]

My baby is watched at our home rather than daycare but I think these are still relevant.

Allow/encourage me to breastfeed before leaving for the day. Time feeding so he is ready to nurse when I get home. Keep close track of how much milk he takes so I know how much of my daily pumping output I can freeze. Not waste milk.

[water*drop]

Not waste milk. My state says that milk has to be thrown out one hour after heating; since DD was unpredictable about whether she'd take 0 oz, 2 oz, or 3-4 oz, I sent 2 oz bottles and had them heat a second one if she wanted it instead of sending a bigger bottle and risking them having to throw most of it out. Daycare was supportive of this even though it was more work for them.

[undecidedowl]

Welcome me to come nurse DS over my lunch hour and time feedings accordingly so that he would be hungry.

[AmyRI]

Let me nurse there at pickup time if needed.

Things they didn't do that I wish they did: More careful about swirl not shake, do not overheat bottles, and pace bottle feedings.

[countthestars]

Allowing me to bring my milk in the freezer bags and prepare bottles at her house so the bulk of my time spent washing is on pump supplies and not bottles.

[mpc]

Not wasting milk, which in our case meant not giving him an extra bottle 20 minutes before I come to pick him up at the end of the day.

[karinothing]

Have an open door policy which allowed me to go in and nurse him at lunch AND not throw away left over milk. They would mark it as unusable and give it to me at the end of the day.

[everafter07]

Being ok with saving any breastmilk that was left in her bottle for the next feeding. Apparently a lot of providers won't do this.

[Ashley&Scott]

Being patient with my bottle refusing baby.

[quickstepstar]

Sticking to a schedule and thawing more milk as necessary.

[londoncalling]

Being open to following my instructions about milk handling (their policies were already sound), paced feedings, timing bottles to not waste milk right before I arrived, and being willing to heat many small bottles as needed vs. one larger bottle per feed.

ETA:  @domerjen Can I be nosy and ask you to PM which daycare it is?  Your LLL group sounds awesome!

[havarti]

Allowing me to store a couple of bags of backup milk on site. Complimenting me on breastfeeding for so long (one daycare provider we considered had said, "I've had one mom who breastfed, but she didn't last very long once she was back at work." I didn't thing that was a very encouraging thing to say). Always holding the bottle for ds (to the point where that lazy little kid still doesn't much like to hold his own beverages! )

[litasail]

Feb 18, 2014 0:06:04 GMT -5 dbsk8dance said:

Being respectful of the work that goes into pumping by not wasting milk.

This, exactly.

[elcjet]

"respecting my feeding wishes.  Not feeding more milk than I deemed necessary in one feeding, or feeding more frequently than necessary.  And not pressuring me to move her on to formula or solids before she was ready."

[WhatYouSee]

Feb 18, 2014 11:09:13 GMT -5 elcjet said:

"respecting my feeding wishes.  Not feeding more milk than I deemed necessary in one feeding, or feeding more frequently than necessary.  And not pressuring me to move her on to formula or solids before she was ready."

This.  It was probably just a matter of education on the day care providers' part, but I had the distinct impression that they thought breastmilk alone wasn't "enough".  

[djc315]

Never tossing breastmilk. Letting me keep a (small) freezer stash.

I was super spoiled, but she also kept 3 Dr. Browns bottles and washed them, and I would send milk in medela bottles. She would make up the bottles as needed, and returned the medela bottles washed at the end of the day.

[livinitup]

Thaw in small batches and don't waste any BM. I about passed out when a new care giver in the baby room told me DD didn't eat a BM bottle so she threw it out " as per the rule". Jesus lady, do you KNOW what I went through to get that bottle to you?? Please take care of it likes it's liquid gold.

[spidervain]

Not giving bottles when not necessary. Basically what pp said.

[Deleted]

Follow my instructions.

[lmb5109]

Allow me to leave a few frozen servings in her freezer so I wouldn't have to send an extra bottle each day.

She started putting DD's BM serving in a sippy cup to get her off the bottle

Allowed me to send 1-2 frozen servings of BM till she was almost 14 months old