No breastmilk allowed after infant room?

[Anonymous]

Our child is still nursing and I send breastmilk to daycare. He's currently 15 months and he'll move to the toddler room soon (which is a bit earlier than expected). I was just informed that they do not allow breastmilk to be served in the toddler room. Any others have experience with this? Is this typical?

[Anonymous]

Our school encouraged sippy cup use in toddler, and therefore served the children the same drinks - either milk or water. They did not allow breastmilk because it was must be handled individually. Also, not sure why you would be serving breastmilk in a cup? I BF at home until 16 mos, but it was not an issue for DD to take regular milk at daycare after 12 mos. Our school did of course allow soy or alternative milk for kids with allergies or just if parents desired. But again, that doesnt require the special handling that breastmilk does...

[Anonymous]

Toddler room probably doesn't have capacity to deal w BM. They typically don't have their own fridge and then the teachers have to be hyper vigilant about not letting other kids drink it, saving left overs etc. I think this is reasonable. Are you not switching to cow's milk and can do BM in am and pm?

[Anonymous]

OP here. We've been using sippys for a while now, so we send BM in sippys currently. PP is there a reason you think serving BM in sippys is different than serving any other beverage in a sippy?

I guess you're right that they likely don't have their own fridge. That makes sense. I just never gave it any thought and expected to be able to keep doing what we're doing. We were planning to continue nursing and sending BM until 18 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We've been using sippys for a while now, so we send BM in sippys currently. PP is there a reason you think serving BM in sippys is different than serving any other beverage in a sippy?

I guess you're right that they likely don't have their own fridge. That makes sense. I just never gave it any thought and expected to be able to keep doing what we're doing. We were planning to continue nursing and sending BM until 18 months.

Until 18 months? The child is 15 months... I don't think 3 months will make much of a difference. Toddlers typically grab other children's cups, toys and food. Imagine your child grabbing another child's sippy cup of breast milk and drinking it? You would probably be upset. Teachers just can't supervise every child. Talk with the director and see what you all could come up with though.

[Anonymous]

It's not like milk time is a total free for all - imagine the germ & allergy issues if kids were just freely swapping cups everyday! At least one kid in that room is probably allergic or intolerant of cow's milk and probably shouldn't be drinking from other kids' cups either. Ask the director if there's a way you can make it manageable - your kid's sippy cup could be a bright color that easily's distinguishable. You could pack the cups in a cooler bag with ice packs so they don't have to store it in the fridge in a different room, etc.

There's probably a way you could be accommodated. I would ask how you can work with them on this and keep asking until I got an answer. I don't think center policies should dictate weaning decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We've been using sippys for a while now, so we send BM in sippys currently. PP is there a reason you think serving BM in sippys is different than serving any other beverage in a sippy?

I guess you're right that they likely don't have their own fridge. That makes sense. I just never gave it any thought and expected to be able to keep doing what we're doing. We were planning to continue nursing and sending BM until 18 months.

Until 18 months? The child is 15 months... I don't think 3 months will make much of a difference. Toddlers typically grab other children's cups, toys and food. Imagine your child grabbing another child's sippy cup of breast milk and drinking it? You would probably be upset. Teachers just can't supervise every child. Talk with the director and see what you all could come up with though.

Sorry, but it doesn't really matter what you think. That is OP's wish.

OP, I think you should bring it up to them to see if they can accommodate you. It sounds like a ridiculous policy, especially with the recent shift in thinking regarding extended breastfeeding and giving children other milk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. We've been using sippys for a while now, so we send BM in sippys currently. PP is there a reason you think serving BM in sippys is different than serving any other beverage in a sippy?

I guess you're right that they likely don't have their own fridge. That makes sense. I just never gave it any thought and expected to be able to keep doing what we're doing. We were planning to continue nursing and sending BM until 18 months.

Until 18 months? The child is 15 months... I don't think 3 months will make much of a difference. Toddlers typically grab other children's cups, toys and food. Imagine your child grabbing another child's sippy cup of breast milk and drinking it? You would probably be upset. Teachers just can't supervise every child. Talk with the director and see what you all could come up with though.

Sorry, but it doesn't really matter what you think. That is OP's wish.

OP, I think you should bring it up to them to see if they can accommodate you. It sounds like a ridiculous policy, especially with the recent shift in thinking regarding extended breastfeeding and giving children other milk.

Side note: I wish they would stop calling it "extended" breastfeeding. It's just breastfeeding. Don't make mothers feel like they're doing it "too long" or for an abnormal amount of time. Good for you, OP. Lucky for your baby.

[Anonymous]

14:11 again. Would you Dr consider writing a note? That seems to be the easiest way to get an exemption regarding center bans food substitutes.

Alternatively - our DD always had rash problems and we totally milked that as a polite way to decline people pressuring us to make different feeding decisions. "Oh, those cookies look great but she sometimes gets an awful rash when she eats gluten so we're just avoiding it til we can confirm with blood work what the issue is." Same deal for cow's milk - seemed to cause a rash, but we weren't 100% sure that was the cause. Didn't stop us from using it when needed.

[Anonymous]

That seems somewhat unfair you can't send breastmilk if that is your choice as a mom to continue providing milk. Hopefully you can do as PP mentioned, discuss with them how it can be allowed. Seems very odd that they can dictate what milk your child can drink. I would try and respectfully discuss with them and let them know its important to you and that you really would like them to accommodate you.

I am still bfing my 19 month old and send breastmilk to daycare in a sippy sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Do they provide the milk? Could you just say you haven't introduced cow milk yet and provide your own alternative milk? Are they going to ask what's in the cups?

I went to an in-home which offers more flexibility in this regard, but after the first birthday, one bottle was BM, the others were goat milk and my provider didn't really inquire which was which. When I ran out of goat milk and sent coconut instead, she didn't ask or seem to notice and I can't imagine center-workers would have reason to care either - so long as they know which cups are your son's, then would they even ask what's in the cup? I wouldn't lie but I wouldn't go out of my way to tell them either.

[Anonymous]

Are you only giving him breastmilk to drink? Is that the only drink he gets? My child drank milk at 15 months, but only one or two cups a day. Why don't you give your kid the BM before school and after - that way you won't have to worry about this and make it a whole HE MUST GET HIS TWO CUPS OF BREAST MILK FROM A CUP AT SCHOOL!!!!!!

Unless he must get milk at a certain time of day, just give it before school and after school. You're really making a big deal out of nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:14:11 again. Would you Dr consider writing a note? That seems to be the easiest way to get an exemption regarding center bans food substitutes.

Alternatively - our DD always had rash problems and we totally milked that as a polite way to decline people pressuring us to make different feeding decisions. "Oh, those cookies look great but she sometimes gets an awful rash when she eats gluten so we're just avoiding it til we can confirm with blood work what the issue is." Same deal for cow's milk - seemed to cause a rash, but we weren't 100% sure that was the cause. Didn't stop us from using it when needed.

Yes, the fake allergy excuse is always a good one. You know, the more people who use a fake allergy make those people with the life threating allergies feel so good about themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you only giving him breastmilk to drink? Is that the only drink he gets? My child drank milk at 15 months, but only one or two cups a day. Why don't you give your kid the BM before school and after - that way you won't have to worry about this and make it a whole HE MUST GET HIS TWO CUPS OF BREAST MILK FROM A CUP AT SCHOOL!!!!!!

Unless he must get milk at a certain time of day, just give it before school and after school. You're really making a big deal out of nothing.

It might be a big deal. My DC never took to cow's milk. I stopped pumping at 12mos but continued to send BM to daycare until we ran through my stash. He was a pretty skinny kid and needed the extra calories from the BM during the day instead of just drinking water at daycare.

OP, I agree, talk with the director about options.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:14:11 again. Would you Dr consider writing a note? That seems to be the easiest way to get an exemption regarding center bans food substitutes.

Alternatively - our DD always had rash problems and we totally milked that as a polite way to decline people pressuring us to make different feeding decisions. "Oh, those cookies look great but she sometimes gets an awful rash when she eats gluten so we're just avoiding it til we can confirm with blood work what the issue is." Same deal for cow's milk - seemed to cause a rash, but we weren't 100% sure that was the cause. Didn't stop us from using it when needed.

Yes, the fake allergy excuse is always a good one. You know, the more people who use a fake allergy make those people with the life threating allergies feel so good about themselves.

I never lied or said she was allergic. I just said that wheat and cow's milk seemed to aggravate her rash - which was definitely true. It was also convenient, but doesn't make it less true.