How much milk?!! Little help please...

[Elf1981]

I go back to work on Tuesday. Absolutely hating the idea, but am slightly reassured that my daughter is going to be spending the day with a lovely childminder.
My question is - how much milk do I send? My DD is breastfed so I have no idea how many oz she takes at each feed, and when I have tried feeding her out of a bottle she seems to faff a bit because she knows that I have the magic boobs and that is what she ultimately wants.
She had two settling in periods with the childminder last week, I sent 10oz for a three hour period (just in case as it was over lunch time and she tends to have a large feed then) and she drank 3 1/2oz maximum. I left her for five hours with my mum the other day, she probably had 5oz.
At the moment, our day goes like this:
7:00 - breastfeed
9:00 - small breastfeed, quick sleep while I have a bath :)
11:00 / 12:00 - longer breastfeed, possibly a two hour sleep
2:00 - food
3:00 - breastfeed, possibly half hour sleep
6:00 - quick feed, quick nap
7:30 - breastfeed & bed.
When I go back to work, I will be giving her the morning feed a little earlier (6:30 say) and she'll be at the CM from 7:30 - 4:00. I was going to send a pot of food that I have made each day but really dont know about how much milk. I had planned to send 20oz, but does that seem too much/too little?
I dont mind sending too much, as there will be milk that has been expressed the night before and the same morning, so if I ask the CM to feed the defrosted milk first, I can freeze any leftover "fresh" milk. I just dont want to send too little, but have no clue how much to send! Any suggestions?
(Sorry that it's really long, thanks for sticking with me!)

[NotQuiteCockney]

How old is she?

She may choose to not have as much milk from the bottle, and make up for it with more boob when she's with you.

[Elf1981]

She's 23 weeks.

[Elf1981]

NQC - I had a feeling that she may just gorge when I get her home, will this make her sick? Should I be sending water as well, just in case she doesnt want milk but will take fluids? And should I also send some breakfast so she's having two meals a day so at least she is getting some sort of calories?

[hunkermunker]

Can I just ask when the defrosted milk will be expressed? It lasts up to eight days in a refrigerator (at the back, not in the door) so you might not need to freeze? Some babies won't drink defrosted milk (not sure if you've tried her on it) because it changes somehow (hey, that's a technical explanation, isn't it?!).

It won't hurt to send some breakfast for her - just say to the CM that she's to have a bottle of EBM first (perhaps no more than 3oz or 4oz per bottle initially to save wasting it).

When I went back to work, I'd leave 20oz for a full day (12 hours away from 6mo DS1) - plus I'd feed him in the morning and evening. But he wasn't eating much and he loved bmilk, wherever it was from!

From the plan of your day, you'll be missing three feeds - I'd say that 15oz is probably enough, especially as she gets older and starts to eat more.

As for water - she's old enough for it from the tap now, but you could ask your CM to keep a bottle of boiled water in the fridge for her. We used to use an old plastic milk bottle for that with DS1.

I do remember the first night I went to work (used to do an evening shift too, got back about midnight) and DS1 had taken 5oz just before bed some three or four hours previously. He woke up when I came in, fed and fed and fed and fed, then threw up all over his cot and bookcase as I went to put him back to bed - but he was a v sicky baby anyway and he'd obviously missed me!

Good luck with going back to work - make sure you remember to enjoy being able to read the paper in peace

[hunkermunker]

Ah, not quite old enough for it from the tap - thought you'd said 27 weeks. Def do the boiled water in plastic milk bottle then - gets her used to a cup if nothing else.

[Kathy1972]

Elf, when I was in this position and having to work it out I weighed her nappies for a day or two to get some sense of how much she was drinking over the day! Sounds loopy I know, and it's obviously not precise, but it gave me a rough idea.
Good luck with going back to work!

[Elf1981]

DH and I have been talking about it, decided to send breakfast and lunch, and 20oz milk on the first day and see how she goes with that. Will probably reduce to 15 oz over the next few days as I think 20oz will be too much.

Hunker - didn't know it lasted eight days in the fridge! I thought it was only three! It's so contradictary, I read in a boots magazine today that it should only be stored for 24 hours in the fridge! Nice to know it can last 8 days! I've only got about 40oz milk in the freezer. She has drunk defrosted milk before but seems to like it 'fresh' better. My plan is to express 5oz in the morning from the breast she does not feed on, 5 oz from each breast at lunch while I'm at work, and 5 oz at nighttime to make the 20oz, which I can adjust to what dd takes in the day. The frozen milk is for Monday's when I'm far too lazy to express on a Sunday when I will be feeding dd instead if that makes sense (so it would be 10oz defrosted for a Monday, and I'll be maintaining the stock by freezing the 10oz lunch time milk from Fridays iyswim)

Kathy - that's not such a crazy idea. DD tends to have a lot of heavy nappies in the evening & first thing in the morning, I may see how heavy they are in the evenings when I pick her up and estimate if she is drinking enough that way.

Thanks for the advice both of you! I'm not looking forward to going back to work (who does) and I am trying to tell myself that obsessing is normal!