Nanny feeding baby a lot of milk

[Anonymous]

We have a new nanny for our almost 6 month old. I am pumping milk and she is going through it so fast! Of course she should feed the baby when she's hungry but I am trying to figure out how many ounces to leave, and if I can pump enough and it seems like a lot more milk than when I'm with the baby.

That said, when I'm with the baby I breastfeed so not sure how many ounces she's getting at each feed, but I think my supply is fine because she never acts hungry or seems unsatisfied at the breast. When she's with the nanny she is supposed to get 3-4 bottles between 9am and 5pm at about 4oz each but based on the nanny's tracking she's feeding her more like 4-5 bottles at 4-5oz each. The baby is eating it happily, she's not forcing her to finish bottles and she's not overweight.

I can't pump 18-20oz to leave everyday...I am getting about 8-12oz to her reliably and using up my stash and will add formula and solids soon.

But do you think that sounds right. Baby is eating 18-20oz between 9am-5pm and getting the rest at the breast early morning and before bed.

[Anonymous]

Ask nanny to leave unfinished bottles so you can keep track of what's being consumed vs waste

[Anonymous]

Does baby nurse overnight at all? Divide 30 by total number of feedings to determine how many ounces per bottle.

[Anonymous]

Even if you're nursing at night and first in the morning, it's hard to tell how much supply she's getting. At first those were my biggest feeds, and then I started losing my supply first at those times. They became the smallest. So I don't think the divide evenly between all feeds method is very reliable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a new nanny for our almost 6 month old. I am pumping milk and she is going through it so fast! Of course she should feed the baby when she's hungry but I am trying to figure out how many ounces to leave, and if I can pump enough and it seems like a lot more milk than when I'm with the baby.

That said, when I'm with the baby I breastfeed so not sure how many ounces she's getting at each feed, but I think my supply is fine because she never acts hungry or seems unsatisfied at the breast. When she's with the nanny she is supposed to get 3-4 bottles between 9am and 5pm at about 4oz each but based on the nanny's tracking she's feeding her more like 4-5 bottles at 4-5oz each. The baby is eating it happily, she's not forcing her to finish bottles and she's not overweight.

I can't pump 18-20oz to leave everyday...I am getting about 8-12oz to her reliably and using up my stash and will add formula and solids soon.

But do you think that sounds right. Baby is eating 18-20oz between 9am-5pm and getting the rest at the breast early morning and before bed.

Has the nanny worked with an EBG baby before? Babies eat more formula than breasmilk. Make the bottles. Make them 3.5-4 oz. Ask the nanny tondo horizontalnfeeding where the baby is sitting more ip and the bottle is more horizontal. Mimicking the breast.

[Anonymous]

Not unusual that the baby can get more milk out of the breast than the pump can.

[Anonymous]

My baby eats at least 32 oz a day. This seems about right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My baby eats at least 32 oz a day. This seems about right.

+1. And babies are very efficient at nursing and can extract more milk from the breast than you can pump.

[Anonymous]

This happened to me (almost identical oz counts tbh) when my baby started daycare at six months. I just don’t do well with pumping unfortunately. For me it was also right in the midst of the formula shortage so I was really hesitant to introduce formula without being sure I would be able to find more. What I did:
1. Increased solids — he went from one solid meal a day to four in about three weeks, which he was fortunately a really big fan of
2. Power pumping 3-4 times a day every day (since I WFH I could just pump almost constantly while working)
3. Pumping after my kids were in bed (like 11PM)
4. Doing a mini 10 minute pump some time in the morning

To be clear: this is very much crazy land I do but recommend replicating it. Combo feed with formula of that’s an option. But if it’s not for whatever reason, feel free to try some of these out and see how it goes.

[Anonymous]

The amount your nanny is feeding the baby doesn't seem crazy if the baby is just nursing twice per day. Babies will typically eat 24-32 ounces per day, and it should eventually reduce a bit as the baby eats more solids. As someone else mentioned, the baby often can extract more milk than the pump, so the amount you pump may not be representative of how much the baby typically eats during the day. How many times are you pumping during your work day and for how long? If you want to exclusively feed breast milk, you may need to add a pumping session or pump for longer. For example, if you are pumping for 15 minutes, increasing to 20-25 minutes will likely lead to another let down and more milk per session. You could also try replacing your pump tubes, valves, membranes, etc., which could lead to more effective pumping. And it's totally fine to supplement with formula - pumping while working is hard!

With that said, some anecdata from my own experiences - one baby drank 14-16 ounces of milk from 9-5 and nursed once in the morning, immediately after work, and again before bed. That baby never really took in more than 24-26 ounces per day. My next baby drank about 18 ounces from 9-5, nursed once in the morning, once before bed, and often once more overnight, and took in more like 28-32 ounces per day. For both, I was only able to pump enough milk if I pumped 3 times during the work day and once more before I went to bed. I was able to make it work because I had a work set up that made it easy (private office with mini fridge), but it was still really hard.

[Anonymous]

It does not seem crazy. The good news is, you did it! Baby is starting solids and adding some formula will change little and take the pressure off you.

[Anonymous]

Former nanny here.

8-12 ounces isn’t enough for a 6 month old. I’ve worked with many 3-4 month olds who took in 12-16 ounces per 8-10 hour day. Most 6 months I worked with took in 4-6 ounces per feed. Usually 16-20 ounces depending on how long of a day.

I do think 5 feedings is excessive at this age for only 8 hours, but 4 is at if she is eating every 2-2.5 hours. Most 6 months of only took 3 feedings during the day at 5-6 ounces per feed.
Are you sure the nanny isn’t using milk to pacify her?

Your baby is more efficient than a pump. She may be getting more from you than you realize. I would add in formula and not stress over it. Solids are good, but breast milk/formula should be the main food source in the first year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former nanny here.

8-12 ounces isn’t enough for a 6 month old. I’ve worked with many 3-4 month olds who took in 12-16 ounces per 8-10 hour day. Most 6 months I worked with took in 4-6 ounces per feed. Usually 16-20 ounces depending on how long of a day.

I do think 5 feedings is excessive at this age for only 8 hours, but 4 is at if she is eating every 2-2.5 hours. Most 6 months of only took 3 feedings during the day at 5-6 ounces per feed.
Are you sure the nanny isn’t using milk to pacify her?

Your baby is more efficient than a pump. She may be getting more from you than you realize. I would add in formula and not stress over it. Solids are good, but breast milk/formula should be the main food source in the first year.

Another thing is bottles are faster and less work. Are you using a slow flow nipple? We used slow flow nipples or size 2 even though most formula fed babies at with size 3 at that age.

I think 3 feedings of 5-6 ounces.

[Anonymous]

This is normal. My baby took 16 ounces with the nanny. I was not able to keep up with that pumping, and I wasn't about to let my baby go hungry. I started out leaving just 12 ounces. On the nanny's first or second day, I came home and she said "I fed him an extra bottle" while holding my extremely content baby. All of a sudden - lightbulb. I had thought I had a "fussy" baby but in reality, he was hungry. From then on I just supplemented with formula as needed. The end.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a new nanny for our almost 6 month old. I am pumping milk and she is going through it so fast! Of course she should feed the baby when she's hungry but I am trying to figure out how many ounces to leave, and if I can pump enough and it seems like a lot more milk than when I'm with the baby.

That said, when I'm with the baby I breastfeed so not sure how many ounces she's getting at each feed, but I think my supply is fine because she never acts hungry or seems unsatisfied at the breast. When she's with the nanny she is supposed to get 3-4 bottles between 9am and 5pm at about 4oz each but based on the nanny's tracking she's feeding her more like 4-5 bottles at 4-5oz each. The baby is eating it happily, she's not forcing her to finish bottles and she's not overweight.

I can't pump 18-20oz to leave everyday...I am getting about 8-12oz to her reliably and using up my stash and will add formula and solids soon.

But do you think that sounds right. Baby is eating 18-20oz between 9am-5pm and getting the rest at the breast early morning and before bed.

Has the nanny worked with an EBG baby before? Babies eat more formula than breasmilk. Make the bottles. Make them 3.5-4 oz. Ask the nanny tondo horizontalnfeeding where the baby is sitting more ip and the bottle is more horizontal. Mimicking the breast.

Don’t do this. Baby will consume to much excess air and lead to gas.