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lots of questions for working moms
I'm going back to work after Thanksgiving. DD will be in daycare from 7:30-3:30ish - she will be 13 weeks old when she starts. I am BFing and plan to continue and also pump during the school day. A few logistical questions-
What is your routine in the morning if you do the drop-off? Please include what time you leave the house.
What items do you send your baby with to daycare? My center is telling me bottles, diapers, wipes, creams, and any meds. Spare clothes? Tylenol for teething (or do you just keep it in the bag at all times)?
What kind of vessel do you use for your child's things? I am considering a canvas tote from Lands End, but not sure on the size I would need.
Roughly how much milk do you get per pumping session using a double pump? How long is a pumping session typically?
My left side is far superior in terms of pumping output (approx 4oz vs 2oz on the right after 10 min session). Any tips to help my right side catch up?
Do you send in your BM in the storage bags or do you pour into bottles? I assume one bottle per feeding?
When did you LO become more consistent with wake-up time?
I plan on trying out my stash of OS cloth diapers after the new year (when DD will hopefully be big enough) - what should I know about sending CDs to daycare (they will allow this - I checked).
Any extra tips to make the morning go smoothly? I already plan on showering at night.
Re: lots of questions for working moms
I'm not going to be too much help here because DS was 7.5 months when we started him in daycare, I started back working at home; despite all this, I had problems pumping (and daycare was overfeeding what I did pump) and we pulled him out of daycare and got a sitter at home.
So I just wanted to say good luck, it may be tough but the girls here will have a lot of tips for you.
#1 12.11.11
#2 10.23.13 EDD
What is your routine in the morning if you do the drop-off? Please include what time you leave the house.
In a perfect world....
6:15/6:30 -- I wake up and get myself ready. Actually time that I get up depends on whether I need to shower.
7:00 -- Wake up baby, get him changed and dressed.
7:15 -- Breastfeed
7:30 -- Out the door
7:45 -- Drop at daycare
What items do you send your baby with to daycare? My center is telling me bottles, diapers, wipes, creams, and any meds. Spare clothes? Tylenol for teething (or do you just keep it in the bag at all times)?
Diapers (we bring a big sleeve at a time), wipes, diaper cream, eczema cream, spare clothes, pacifiers, light blanket, jacket/sweatshirt for when they walk outside. Some of those things stay in his bin at daycare, some go back and forth with us in his bag. Bottles are brought on a daily basis.
What kind of vessel do you use for your child's things? I am considering a canvas tote from Lands End, but not sure on the size I would need.
I've got a medium sized tote bag. You shouldn't need anything huge.
Roughly how much milk do you get per pumping session using a double pump? How long is a pumping session typically?
This is hard because it varies SO much from person to person. Until very recently, I was getting 5-6 oz in a pumping session, and DS was eating 4.5 oz in a bottle, so it was easy for me to keep up.
My left side is far superior in terms of pumping output (approx 4oz vs 2oz on the right after 10 min session). Any tips to help my right side catch up?
I think everyone has a superboob, as I like to call it. Nothing you can do to change that, as far as I know.
Do you send in your BM in the storage bags or do you pour into bottles? I assume one bottle per feeding?
In bottles. He eats 3 times at daycare, so I send 3 bottles all ready to go.
When did you LO become more consistent with wake-up time?
He's still not, entirely. There are a good number of days that I have to wake him up. But I'd say he got more consistent around 4 months.
I plan on trying out my stash of OS cloth diapers after the new year (when DD will hopefully be big enough) - what should I know about sending CDs to daycare (they will allow this - I checked).
Can't help with this.
Any extra tips to make the morning go smoothly? I already plan on showering at night.
Lay out as many things the night before as you can -- your clothes, her clothes, your pump, etc. I also get his bottles ready the night before and have them in their little cooler bag in the fridge so I can just grab them and go in the morning.
Good luck!
What is your routine in the morning if you do the drop-off? Please include what time you leave the house.
5:50 - DH wakes up and gets ready. Does last nights dishes
6:15am- I get up and get ready. Prep bottles and lunches.
6:30-7am - LO gets up.
7:00-7:15 - DH loads the bags into my car and leaves for work. I nurse LO and feed breakfast.
7:15-7:45 - Playtime
7:50- Get LO dressed
8:00- I load LO in the car and head to daycare
What items do you send your baby with to daycare? My center is telling me bottles, diapers, wipes, creams, and any meds. Spare clothes? Tylenol for teething (or do you just keep it in the bag at all times)?
We have diapers, wipes and diaper cream there. In his cubby, I keep 1/2 extra outfits and socks. A stack of bibs, pacifiers (Now he has crackers and puffs and extra spoons too). They keep a teething ring in the freezer for him. My daycare will not give medications unless prescribed.
What kind of vessel do you use for your child's things? I am considering a canvas tote from Lands End, but not sure on the size I would need.
I was using a generic canvas tote for a few months. I would put his bottles in the cooler that came with the pump then through that and any extra stuff that was requested into to bag also. Now we are using a lunch box for bottles/food/bibs and not the bag.
Roughly how much milk do you get per pumping session using a double pump? How long is a pumping session typically?
When I started back I was getting about 13/14oz between 2/3 pumping sessions and LO was eating 15oz at daycare. Now he is eating 12oz and I am getting 10oz over 2 pumping sessions. I pump for 10/15 minutes each time.
My left side is far superior in terms of pumping output (approx 4oz vs 2oz on the right after 10 min session). Any tips to help my right side catch up?
Try to nurse on the right more. My left's output is about double the rights. LO likes the left more too.
Do you send in your BM in the storage bags or do you pour into bottles? I assume one bottle per feeding?
We have a bag of frozen milk in the freezer at daycare as a backup. Everything else gets sent in bottles. One bottle per feeding. Up until 8.5 months I was sending an extra bottle a day also. Somedays he would go for the extra bottle also.
If LO does not finish a bottle, our daycare will offer the same bottle a couple more times that hour (or so). Then they discard the remainder.
When did you LO become more consistent with wake-up time?
After about a month of me going back to work (so 6 months old).
I plan on trying out my stash of OS cloth diapers after the new year (when DD will hopefully be big enough) - what should I know about sending CDs to daycare (they will allow this - I checked).
Any extra tips to make the morning go smoothly? I already plan on showering at night.
I unthaw frozen milk on the counter the night before for 2/3 hours then place the slushy milk bags into the fridge until the morning. Sometimes if I am on top of it, I will make bottles the night before.
A lifesaver for me was two sets of pump parts and enough pump/daycare bottles for 2-3 days... The dishes only need to be done every other day.
I do not wash my pump parts between pumps at work. I use a tall soft sided cooler and an icepack to hold the milk and parts all day.
What is your routine in the morning if you do the drop-off? Please include what time you leave the house. DH does the drop off. He leaves around 8:30.
What items do you send your baby with to daycare? My center is telling me bottles, diapers, wipes, creams, and any meds. Spare clothes? Tylenol for teething (or do you just keep it in the bag at all times)? We send everything in the diaper bag. We used to leave a canister of formula and a gallon of distilled water. In his cubby, we'd leave bottles and bibs. We always sent a sleeve of diapers and a tube of Desitin. The daycare provides wipes. We would always send our regular diaper bag packed with clothes, bibs, etc. We've never kept medicine there.
What kind of vessel do you use for your child's things? Our regular diaper bag. I liked doing this in case we had to go somewhere after daycare. Then we had everything with us already. We actually still send it out of habit.
When did you LO become more consistent with wake-up time? I think by about 4-5 months we established a better routine because he was sleeping SO much better.
Any extra tips to make the morning go smoothly? I already plan on showering at night. Get everything for yourself ready the night before. Pack your lunch, lay out your clothes, shoot even have your make up on the counter ready to go. I'm always more effective when I can grab and go.
Sh!t.
Working mom's just don't get enough credit. While I work FT, we are very lucky to not have to do the morning routine/day care drop off routine. I give you gals all so much credit. Between getting everything ready for the baby, nursing and getting yourself out the door - wow. I am not a morning person so your 5:30 wake-ups make me cringe. Great work, ladies!
It's been a while since I did this with a baby, so bear with me... I have no idea how I'm going to do it in Feb/March with TWO children! Help me!
What is your routine in the morning if you do the drop-off? Please include what time you leave the house. My morning routine takes longer now that DS is 2.5 --- he eats breakfast at home and tends to run away from me when I need to get him dressed/out the door. Here's what it used to look like:
5:45/6 wake up, shower, hair/makeup (*sometimes DS would wake up while I'm getting ready; in that case I stop what I'm doing to get him ready...then put him in a chair or something while I finish up)
6:30 wake up DS, give bottle, change diaper, get dressed
7:00 finish up getting ready, out the door at 7:15/7:30
What items do you send your baby with to daycare? My center is telling me bottles, diapers, wipes, creams, and any meds. Spare clothes? Tylenol for teething (or do you just keep it in the bag at all times)? We'd take all of those things...plus a crib sheet, some burp cloths, bibs, spare clothes (snap-up footie PJs usually b/c they're easy). See if you can drop stuff off the week before, so you don't have so much to carry and deal with that first day. We kept most things in his cubbie all the time, then just carried the bottles/dirty bibs daily in a tote bag.
What kind of vessel do you use for your child's things? I am considering a canvas tote from Lands End, but not sure on the size I would need. We had a tote bag w/ his name on it (one of those LLBean ones). I think it was a medium one. Those "baggu" totes are also good b/c they're light and washable.
Roughly how much milk do you get per pumping session using a double pump? How long is a pumping session typically? I only BF for 3 months.
My left side is far superior in terms of pumping output (approx 4oz vs 2oz on the right after 10 min session). Any tips to help my right side catch up? I think this is normal but you could try power pumping on your right side (pump for an hour, 10 mins on, 10 mins off...I did a lot of this when I was struggling with my supply).
Do you send in your BM in the storage bags or do you pour into bottles? I assume one bottle per feeding?
When did you LO become more consistent with wake-up time? Around 3-4 mo. old; daycare was great in helping get him on a schedule even though it was tough adjusting in the beginning.
I plan on trying out my stash of OS cloth diapers after the new year (when DD will hopefully be big enough) - what should I know about sending CDs to daycare (they will allow this - I checked).
Any extra tips to make the morning go smoothly? I already plan on showering at night. set out everything the night before...your clothes, LO's clothes, the daycare bag (minus the bottles which will be in the fridge)...your shoes/coat/handbag/keys even!
Thanks, ladies!
What bottles do you use? So far I have only opened a 2-pack of Dr Browns and DD likes them but they have so many parts. Do any of you use the bottles that come with the pump? If so, do they make your LO more gassy?
What is your routine in the morning if you do the drop-off? Please include what time you leave the house.
JEGs does the morning drop off ('ve already been at work for an hour and half by then
but he wakes Hunter up, changes his diaper brings him down stairs and plays with him for a little bit. Hunter gets dropped off at 6:30 am, so breakfast is fed at daycare, and JEGs leaves around 6:20 or so. I usually have Hunter's bag all packed up the night before so all he has to do is grab and go.
What items do you send your baby with to daycare? My center is telling me bottles, diapers, wipes, creams, and any meds. Spare clothes? Tylenol for teething (or do you just keep it in the bag at all times)?
All of the above and send spare clothes because they will poop thorough that ish in a second. I usually kept his teething tablets in his bag.
What kind of vessel do you use for your child's things? I am considering a canvas tote from Lands End, but not sure on the size I would need.
I had one of those reusable gift bags that I used to take him to and from our first daycare (where I could cloth diaper him) but I think a canvas tote would work just as well. I think mine was maybe the size of a medium purse. I am not at home so I can't give you exact measurements.
Roughly how much milk do you get per pumping session using a double pump? How long is a pumping session typically?
Oh geeze. Hm. When Hunter was 13 weeks, I think I was getting about 2 or 3 oz per boob?? As he got older, it increased to as much as 7 ounces. My pumping sessions usually lasted about a half hour or so.
Do you send in your BM in the storage bags or do you pour into bottles? I assume one bottle per feeding?
I always sent mine in bottles, mostly because I never had a stash.
I plan on trying out my stash of OS cloth diapers after the new year (when DD will hopefully be big enough) - what should I know about sending CDs to daycare (they will allow this - I checked).
WHAAAA????? Where are you sending your child? I am having an epic showdown with my new daycare because they keep telling me it's against the law. And I keep telling them it's not.
As far as things to know: make sure they have disposables, just in case.
Any extra tips to make the morning go smoothly? I already plan on showering at night.
Again, I don't do the morning drop off, but I am well versed on trying to get out that door ASAP. The best tip I can give you is have everything prepped the night before- lunches, diaper bags, clothes laid out. You'll eventually find your groove and it will become second nature.
What is your routine in the morning if you do the drop-off? Please include what time you leave the house.
My husband does the drop off, but here's our routine: Kid wakes up around 6ish, I get up and give him milk, get him ready and generally play with him while husband gets ready for work. I put any last minute things in his bag, and husband and kiddo leave around 7.
What items do you send your baby with to daycare? My center is telling me bottles, diapers, wipes, creams, and any meds. Spare clothes? Tylenol for teething (or do you just keep it in the bag at all times)?
Crib sheet goes in on Monday and comes home on Friday. A large supply of diapers, wipes and Aquaphor stays there until they tell us they're running out. Enough changes of clothes for 1 week, but I check on it regularly. We never sent Tylenol as a regular thing. New bottles go daily. I also kept a few bags of frozen milk there just in case the kid had a mega eating day.
What kind of vessel do you use for your child's things? I am considering a canvas tote from Lands End, but not sure on the size I would need.
I am the worst mother in the world because I do not have a dedicated bag for him. I just send a canvas shopping tote and wash it at the end of the week. I,did, for a while use my Planned Parenthood one which cracked my sh*t up.
Do you send in your BM in the storage bags or do you pour into bottles? I assume one bottle per feeding?
I sent it all in the bottles, in 4 ounces per bottle.
When did you LO become more consistent with wake-up time?
We were super lucky-basically, within the first week of daycare. He was so pooped that he would go to sleep by 7 and wake up around 6.
Any extra tips to make the morning go smoothly? I already plan on showering at night.
Cut yourself some slack and be prepared to change your plan as you go. And do whatever you can the night before. Also, pat yourself on the back a million times for being awesome.