Will 11 month old need EBM at daycare?

My DD is BF on demand - usually every 4-5 hours now, including overnight...

She will be going to daycare 2 long days a week from August, when she will be 11 months old. Will I need to give her EBM for these 2 days, or by 11 months will it be OK for her to have other milk (formula? cow? goat???) Ideally I would like for her to have BM, but I have had heaps of trouble expressing in the past, and I just don't know if I'll be able to express enough for her.

If its only 2 days a week, and she is BF'ing before I leave her at care, and as soon as I pick her up, what drinks should she have for the mid-morning /lunch/afternoon snack?

I would like to get her acquainted with a milk "sippy cup" or something well in advance, as she has never had a bottle, and to this point only drinks water from a sippy cup (which she loves!).

What have others done when sending their 1 yr olds to day care if they are still breastfeeding alot?

TIA

hmmm.. I was thinking the same thing. I'm going to try and express as much as is needed, but don't know how the centres deal with that?

I am a child care worker and work with this age group. We are very open to the needs of the family. In my experience, the little ones that are feed on demand & close to the 12 month mark tend to 'wait till mummy comes to have a drink and not drink from a sippy ebm. Some may drink ebm from a sippy but often it is more stress trying to express and trying to get the pre toddler to drink it. By this age cows/goats/formula will be fine. They will still drink from you on the non daycare days.

Especially if you have struggled to express in the past. Give it a few weeks of settling in and then if it does not work, just go with the other milk.

Does she drink from a bottle/sippy now. It might also help to get her used to it before starting d/c.

All the best, hope I have not rambled too much.

My boys started day care a bit younger than that, but both drank only EBM and water until 12 months, when I introduced some cows' milk as well (and stopped expressing as I was no longer getting enough). I would express whenever you can now, so you have a little stock pile. That and water should be fine until 12 months when you can introduce cows' milk. TBH by 11 months-ish, my boys got by during the day at kindy without much milk, they were happy to wait for me.

Just a note - many people worry that their toddlers aren't getting enough milk, so introduce juice - it is not a good idea, juice is too high in sugar and offers no real benefit. Water and whatever milk they drink will be fine.

Thanks Rose and MantaRay!
My DD happily drinks water from a sippy cup, she loves it, but I'm not sure if it will confuse her if I put EBM in the same cup? A lot of the water she drinks ends up all over the floor, and I cant bear to think that my BM would suffer the same fate!!

I have never given her juice, so definitely won't be starting that as a daily drink for her.

I think I will try to express little bits every day for a while so she at least can have EBM for her first week of daycare. Should I buy a second sippy cup, a different type, or a different colour or something? She's never had a bottle, and refused one totally about a month ago, and I am happy for her to skip the bottle phase altogether.

Thanks again.

For my children, when I placed them on milk, they had a specific cup(colour) that their milk was in. They got to know quickly which one was milk and which one was water. My children still only get water and milk to drink. Ds at school now has a fruit box once a week as a treat.

The ebm is very precious and don't want them to waist it. I am a good milker but still hate seeing milk go down the drain.

I would get her used to the two types of drinks by offering it to her now. The ebm I would just place a small amount in cup and offer before feed so that she is thirsty and more likely to drink it.

My boys mostly drank water from a straw cup/bottle thing and milk from a sippy cup. In fact Tom still does, and Jack drinks milk from a normal cup. At day care the kids all have water bottles or straw cups for water, and they are encouraged to have them everywhere - inside and out - to drink plenty of water.

I used to express at work to have a bottle for the next day IYKWIM. She started at day care at 9 months old when she still had 4 milk feeds a day, two of which were during my work hours, so I expressed those two feeds for her...