how much expressed milk for nursery

[sleepycat13]

ds is currently 7.5 months. we started weaning just before 6 months and it's going well but he isn't yet having much in the way of solids. some days he will have a good 2 meals other days he refuses most of what is offered.
I have also just night weaned so he is taking more milk during the day which may be slowing the uptake in solids.

he is starting nursery in 2 months so we still have a bit of time and I hope by then he is on 3 meals a day. I would like to continue breast feeding for all milk feeds and therefore an starting to plan ahead to build up a freezer supply.

Will give morning and evening feed at home from breast.

he will be on 2 naps a day when he starts nursery so I was thinking of probably about 2 milk feeds by bottle following these naps.

what does everyone else do in terms of nursery milk for babies of a similar age?
how much milk would your babies take? and how often?

it would be useful if I can portion my milk correctly now ahead of freezing it so that I'm not wasting too much when defrosted.

any other tips?

thank you

My 7.5 month old just has one 5oz bottle in the afternoon while I'm at work.

How many days and for how long will DS be at nursery.

Is your DS used to have EBM?

I found that my DS was not interested at all in EBM and so I nursed him at drop off and on collection (and all other times) and he just had water in the day.

At that age my supply was established enough to not need to express to keep my supply up, although I did have the odd nursing w/e when I would offer, offer, offer just to get things back on track, and there was the odd day when I needed to hand express just to relieve mild engorgement.

He did start waking more during the night, in order to get his milk needs I guess, so I was tired, but it was easier than faffing with expressing.

By 1 he could have cows milk, but TBH he never really took to it, preferring mine.

My advice would be to make things as easy as possible and to keep in mind that your DS won't let himself go hungry.

Both mine went to nursery and both self-weaned at 3 and 4 respectively.

thanks for all the replies so far.

yes he is happy having expressed breast milk other than a few problems early on he has had expressed on a fairly regular basis since about 3 weeks old.

he will he in nursery 3 days per week from about 8am - 5pm (although dh will pick him up so i wint see him again til about 6pm)

he will also have 1 day with the grandparents which will actually include a night stop over the night before due to the commute.

glad to hear your experience
@TheOrigRightsofwomen
I am a bit concerned about the supply issues especially as i would like to continue feeding until he is about 13 months or so as he is likely to need surgery around this time.

My 8mo takes 2x 6oz bottles while at nursery 8:30-6ish. I last bf her about 6:30am and then again in the evening and a couple of times overnight

Oh, and I intend to feed till around 2yo like with my first DC.

At that age, ds had 2 feeds a day, but what I did to begin with was to provide them with 4 small bottles so that they could give him as much milk as he wanted without wasting half a bottle of EBM. I also pumped at work, so if they had 3 fresh and one frozen I would mark the bottle to use that first and the fresh ones could roll on to the next day

@CMOTDibbler that's a great idea.

@n0ne did you find your little one always seemed to take 6oz ish feeds before nursery too? I don't think my ds has ever had more than about 4oz maybe just more in one go. he certainly prefers little and often from the breast

No, she never took that much before nursery. I initially sent 3x 4oz but they kept telling me she was hungry after a bottle (which I was at because it was fine at home) and I was so worried as I couldn't pump any more than that while at work. But then they suggested the 2x 6oz bottles and they feed her solids once or twice too, and that seems to work perfecty

@n0ne that's interesting! perhaps if I freeze on different volume amounts for now then il have options!
do you mind of I ask how you fit in expressing at work?

Not at all! If my worry and trial and error can help someone else, fantastic! I work 8:30-5pm and I pump at 9:30, 1pm and 4pm for about 15-20 mins each time. I usually get most at the morning pump and least in the afternoon but it all adds up to approx 12oz. I just decant it into a big bottle and stick this and the pump parts in the office fridge after each session rather than wasting time washing parts or portioning the milk. I can then do that at home at my leisure. I tried pumping only twice for longer but I got less milk.

Really hope that helps! Pumping at work sucks (pardon the pun) but this system works best for me with least impact on my workday. Good luck!

thank you for sharing that. I think I had thought it might work best doing one longer pumping session but might be worth giving a few shorter ones a go then.

I have just bought a double pump so hoping that will help speed things up a bit as it currently take a me about 45 mins to empty both sides using a single pump

My little one is 9 months and usually has somewhere between 5 and 7ozs twice a day at nursery. I wanted to express but it just took so long to get so little, so he has formula at nursery and I breastfeed at home.

Now I'm back at work I really would have struggled to find the time in the day to express.