Steps to take to transition baby to Daycare

tuliplady · Aug 24, 2012

Dear Ladies,

I am almost posting everyday on one issue or the other. But I have always got some good responses here so thought someone might help me with this.

My 3 month old son is now under the sole supervision of me and DH. Just 2 days back we got back from Mumbai and now we are in Bangalore. DS seems to be missing my MIL a lot and it is getting hectic to manage him. My 3 month maternity leave has ended in AUgust, and I can extend it upto 3 more months (October end).

My company provides a daycare facility, but it is full already so my son cannot be accomodated there. That would have been best since I could have gone twice to nurse him instead of expressing. Meanwhile, they will be transitioning to a bigger daycare which may open by September end. However, they have another center (around 4 Kms from my work place) where I could send my son temporarily. But in that case I will have to pump milk.

I have few questions however, which are really making me nervous:

1. How many bottles do you need to send on a given day (approximately)?
2. How many months ahead do you need to start pumping and storing to establish a stock?
3. What is the optimum time when the baby needs to be sent to daycare? Meaning, if I decide to send him in October, he would be in his 5th month, so separation anxiety will creep in, which may make the transition harder. Should I start sending him sooner so that he will get accustomed?
4. As of now, I tried doing errands in the house when he was on his playmat. However, since he was alone in the room even though he could see me, he started howling. He has got used to people sitting beside him and chatting and playing with him, that he cannot self play. How should I slowly start him to self play?
5. Finally, my baby is rocked to sleep. Do they rock the baby to sleep in daycares?

Sorry for bombaring so many questions, but today after his howling sessions, I was so scared that I was doing something wrong and extremely worried whether he would adjust to daycare. Any suggestion will be highly useful

Rakhii · Aug 28, 2012

1. TL, coming straight to the point...depends on the number of hours he is at the day care. If he is feeding once every 3 hours, send accordingly and the add 2 more. The reason is, even though people at day care wash, you would want to make extra sure that they are giving a clean bottle. Only way to make sure of that is sending clean bottles.

2. No idea

3. My dd is going to be in full time daycare from Jan. last week I started with 1 hour a day, twice a week. This week she will be going 1 hour alternate days. So, it largely depends on your comfort level but it is highly recommended that you send him for a few hours a month before so that he will get used to it.

4. Interesting toys is the key. Give him toys and place him in the same room you are working. If he howls, let him. Wait for 2 mins and see if he settles. Mostly he will. If not, comfort him but consistently place him back. Eventually he will get it that he has to play alone. Takes a few tries; but he will get there.

5. Depends on the daycare. My dd needs to be rocked to sleep too and i chose a provider who rocks babies to sleep.

mriduna · Aug 29, 2012

Hi TL,

I started work after 12 weeks of maternity and I totally understand what you are going through, I exclusive breastfed my baby till about 4.5 months then when the pead gave the go-ahead I introduced solids. Here is what I did with respect your questions

1. Start introducing breastmilk in bottles slowly to your little one now. 2 months before is a good time to slowly get him used to bottle. I had to pre-make the bottles (meaning fill it the amount I think my DD will need for that time), so I had to first determine how much my baby could take at a time. My pead told me that generally 3 month old will be able to take 3 oz. So I tried 2.5 oz for a week and when she cried, just fed her directly, then increased it to 3 oz and repeated the same. So by the end of 2 weeks I knew that she would take 3.5-4 oz in the morning, around 3.5 oz after 2.5 hours and 3.5-4oz oz after another 2.5 hrs. So I made bottles accordingly and still left an extra 2oz in a separate bottle, in case she needed a little extra. So long story short, it depends on the baby and you will find out only by trial and error.

2. Atleast 2 months before would be good. As you need to get used to the pump and building a supply while feeding is lot of hard work. For a week I used to pump as soon as I finished feeding my DD - the result would be very less (I used to get a max of 1oz on good days) so don't panic or get frustrated. I stored that and as soon as I had about 6~7 oz, I started trying out with my DD to determine her intake limit. So everytime I knew I would be using the stored milk for a feed, I would pump first and store it, feed DD with the previously stored milk and then feed her directly if needed. Like I said, it is lot of work especially in the beginning then you kind of get the hang of it or get used to it.

3. Daycare option is more painful for the parents than the babies. Yes, they get upset and cry but only for few minutes, you will be crying the whole day and guilt-tripping yourself. If you can, then try sending your little one for a few hours every alternate day for a couple of weeks to ease everyone into a routine (I did it for a week) or you can just rip the bandage off like some of my friends.

4. I totally agree with Rakhii and her method on this one

5. It depends on the day care. If you want try using a swing, I did that, started training my DD to sleep using a swing. It is not fool proof but worked about 70% of the time. The dancing lights and rocking movements definitely make us sleepy

Hope this was helpful

vjbunny · Aug 30, 2012

Dear Ladies
I have made this sticky thread so that other moms looking to go back to work leaving their babies at daycare can make use of the discussions you are carrying on...
Dear Rakhi and Mriduna
Great tips girls ...:thumbsup

tuliplady · Sep 17, 2012

Rakhii said: ↑

1. TL, coming straight to the point...depends on the number of hours he is at the day care. If he is feeding once every 3 hours, send accordingly and the add 2 more. The reason is, even though people at day care wash, you would want to make extra sure that they are giving a clean bottle. Only way to make sure of that is sending clean bottles.

2. No idea

3. My dd is going to be in full time daycare from Jan. last week I started with 1 hour a day, twice a week. This week she will be going 1 hour alternate days. So, it largely depends on your comfort level but it is highly recommended that you send him for a few hours a month before so that he will get used to it.

4. Interesting toys is the key. Give him toys and place him in the same room you are working. If he howls, let him. Wait for 2 mins and see if he settles. Mostly he will. If not, comfort him but consistently place him back. Eventually he will get it that he has to play alone. Takes a few tries; but he will get there.

5. Depends on the daycare. My dd needs to be rocked to sleep too and i chose a provider who rocks babies to sleep.
Click to expand...

My son isn't taking formula. Period. Tried two-three different brands, cup, bottle, mixing formula to BM but nothing has worked. So I will have to start on maintaining inventory of BM. I am not sure if this will help since he is now 4 months old and feeding every 1.5-2 hours...!!

DS has gotten better with self playing. He has now started practising to ncrawl so keeps himself busy

Planning to work only for 5 hours instead of 9.5 hours until he is a year old. My employer may not have any issues ( I think) but will need to discuss the possibility. So I may need to send 2-3 bottles of BM in that case...

tuliplady · Sep 17, 2012

mriduna said: ↑

Hi TL,

I started work after 12 weeks of maternity and I totally understand what you are going through, I exclusive breastfed my baby till about 4.5 months then when the pead gave the go-ahead I introduced solids. Here is what I did with respect your questions

1. Start introducing breastmilk in bottles slowly to your little one now. 2 months before is a good time to slowly get him used to bottle. I had to pre-make the bottles (meaning fill it the amount I think my DD will need for that time), so I had to first determine how much my baby could take at a time. My pead told me that generally 3 month old will be able to take 3 oz. So I tried 2.5 oz for a week and when she cried, just fed her directly, then increased it to 3 oz and repeated the same. So by the end of 2 weeks I knew that she would take 3.5-4 oz in the morning, around 3.5 oz after 2.5 hours and 3.5-4oz oz after another 2.5 hrs. So I made bottles accordingly and still left an extra 2oz in a separate bottle, in case she needed a little extra. So long story short, it depends on the baby and you will find out only by trial and error.

2. Atleast 2 months before would be good. As you need to get used to the pump and building a supply while feeding is lot of hard work. For a week I used to pump as soon as I finished feeding my DD - the result would be very less (I used to get a max of 1oz on good days) so don't panic or get frustrated. I stored that and as soon as I had about 6~7 oz, I started trying out with my DD to determine her intake limit. So everytime I knew I would be using the stored milk for a feed, I would pump first and store it, feed DD with the previously stored milk and then feed her directly if needed. Like I said, it is lot of work especially in the beginning then you kind of get the hang of it or get used to it.

3. Daycare option is more painful for the parents than the babies. Yes, they get upset and cry but only for few minutes, you will be crying the whole day and guilt-tripping yourself. If you can, then try sending your little one for a few hours every alternate day for a couple of weeks to ease everyone into a routine (I did it for a week) or you can just rip the bandage off like some of my friends.

4. I totally agree with Rakhii and her method on this one

5. It depends on the day care. If you want try using a swing, I did that, started training my DD to sleep using a swing. It is not fool proof but worked about 70% of the time. The dancing lights and rocking movements definitely make us sleepy

Hope this was helpful
Click to expand...

Hi Mriduna,

My Paed has also asked me to start semi solids (rice based) from 5th month. But I am skeptical to do so until 6 months. But since DS is not taking formula I am seriously considering the option to supplement BM. What did you start DS with?

DS is taking 4 oz at 4 months every 2.5 hous. By the time he might go to daycare he will be 5.5 months, so may be on one solid meal at the time.

Will write back more..DS is throwing a tantrum....

mriduna · Sep 20, 2012

My view - "6" is just a number and each baby is different. Research has provided 6 months as a target as roughly around that age baby becomes more alert and interested in other foods. Your child maybe ready for solids earlier. I used to eat in front of my DD, while playing with her or while feeding her. Around 4.5 months, she started observing me eating very keenly, sometimes she would try to dip her hand in my bowl or grab it. This according to peds is an indication that baby wants to try something new. So started her off with home made rice cereal (idli rice roasted dry, powdered and cooked with water)

To answer your question on the other post -

If your supply is good and weight is good (as it is seen) then formula is NOT absolutely necessary. You will get pressure and varying advices, but trust your instinct, you are doing good. Try basic rice cereal or banana puree close to 5 months as you are planning. It is a lot of fun to watch them try new food, plan their meals and it will be a good backup option for daycare too.