Daycare and bottles

[xctsclrx]

I send 4 4oz bottles of breast milk to daycare everyday with the intent that DD will eat 3 of them and the 4th is in case she is starving. Lately she has only been eating two bottles. She is going 13 hours and only eating 8oz. I feed her around 4 am and I get home around 430-500.  I also feed her when I get home and around 6 and usually a snack around 830. Then she is down from 9-4. I am concerned that she is not eating enough during the day. 


DD is odd in the fact that she doesn't really ask for food. Usually it is me offering her food because my boobs hurt. The only time she really asks for it at home is the 6pm and 4 am. At home she eats more often because I am right there. She also prefers eating from me vs the bottle, but will take a bottle as long as I am not the one giving it to her. 

My question: Should I have daycare feed her on a schedule? Such as don't let her go more than 4 hours without eating? That is closer to our schedule at home. I would like to also start a stricter bedtime routine and I think eating more during the day should help.


DS we had to put on a schedule so he didn't overeat. She is so much different. 

[waverly]

I think that is fine. Our daycare always offered in a schedule or every 3 or 4 hours depending on the age of the child.

I personally prefer to have extra milk, so it wouldn’t bother me if she occasionally only took 2 bottles but I would think 3 bottles would be the norm. I think what happens at the older age maybe is when they go to feed is about the time you would pick up but then you still have to drive home and get settled so then it ends up being pushed back later. Like is they did every 4 hours it would be 4,8,12 and 4 again and you pick up at 4:30 so maybe try every 3? Then she might end up using the 4th bottle though so that would depend on your preference for the milk I guess and her age.

I agree though if your priority is night sleep to get more feedings in during the day. Hopefully you can eliminate feedings and wakings at night.

I also wanted to add that this is common behavior in BF babies to eat less during the day and latch onto mom a lot at night. Annoying but very common.

[sdlaura]

Is her weight gain on track? If so I wouldn’t stress about it. But I would ask daycare to offer her a bottle every 3 hours.

[2chatter]

As long as she is gaining, has wet and dirty diapers I would not worry - my oldest ate what I thought was a lot, my middle could not be bothered and barely ate and my third was up to 48 ounces/day at DC and reverse cycling by 6 months. They are all totally normal now and every baby is different.

[mellym]

I don't think you need to worry because it sounds like she's getting enough oz per day but I personally would prefer the feedings to be throughout the day if possible and not clustered at night(because after work is chaos at our house). Our daycare has a policy that they claim is state mandated that they must offer a bottle every three hours. I would ask for every three hours.

[xctsclrx]

2chatter, That makes me feel better.

She is happy and healthy doesn't have another appt until the end of October, but plenty of wet and dirty diapers.

mellym, It is chaos at our house too.

I think I am going to ask daycare to offer and see if that helps. If it doesn't we can go back to on demand.