How Should I Bring My Breast Milk to the Sitters?

For me, as a daycare provider, I prefer to supply whatever kind of bottles the child uses (I usually buy a 3/4 pk kit..seems a common way for them for a decent price). I don't like things going back and forth, etc. If it gets forgotten, or is a faulty piece (a nipple is cracked and its not realized..whatever), then it makes mine and the childs day rough. This way I maintain whats at my house. I buy upgraded nipple sizes as the parent and I decide are needed.

For breast fed babies, I always require parents to give me a few frozen ones, at least, for back ups. A bottle can spill, leak out, etc. Many in the past just pump away and bring me tons of frozen. I thaw as the day goes on. I just ask that they freeze them flat. Easier for me to store.

If fresh is brought, mine still bring in the bags, usually in a little insulated lunch bag for transporting. I stick then in the refrig. I have had parents bring fresh in actual bottles, with the flat transport lids (no nipples) cuz they know I have the actual bottles at my house.

Just what works for me. I hate all that stuff going back and forth. No diaper bags and what not here. Just a baby...and expressed milk if they are nursing.

1 mom found this helpful

Avent has caps available, they come with the little 4oz bottles. GL

M

Advent makes "sealing discs"

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-AVENT-BPA-Free-Sealing-Disc...

I got mine at buy buy baby.

I would pump directly into two bottles. Cheap bottles - with capacity of holding 9 ounces each. I put the flat top on the bottle and then give them to the sitter. It was easier for her - she would put what she needed in the bottle she used to feed him (I used Nuk bottles for feeding and just a cheapo bottle to pump into). I had an extra set so she would have a set of bottles with milk in it and I would have the other set to pump directly into. To me it was less mess - at the end of the day I would take her empty bottles home and wash them - along with my breast pump so it wasn't extra work. Plus I felt like there was a less chance of spillage considering I myself had disasters trying to dump milk from a bag into a bottle. It worked well for us!!

I am a daycare provider and have worked with many mom who bring breast milk. You always need to have some frozen bags at your daycare provider's house. Also, I tend to prefer the bottles already being made with bmilk in them. I had one mom who brought me a big water bottle with the milk that she had pumped the previous night and pumped that morning. I really liked this because I could just pour the milk from the water bottle into the bottles that I already had at my house. Having just one waterbottle in the fridge was especially helpful.

I am a childcare provider and my mothers bring their milk in the breast milk bags. When they're empty, I just throw them away. That seems to be the best, although bottles wouldn't be too much of a hassle for me. Maybe you could ask her what she thinks would be easier.

I work 24 hour shifts, our boys were home with their dad when I was working, but I always took my frozen milk out before I left in the morning at about 630, leaving it on the counter to thaw. Whenever it thawed, my husband would set up the bottles and keep all but the next one in the fridge. That way there was always a bottle a room temp for quick prep. No airtight caps or anything like that. Breastmilk has antibodies in it (one of the reasons its so healthy for the babies) so it is stable at room temp for up to 12 hours, even after freezing. It doesn't sound like you freeze, so you should be great to bring your milk in whatever containers are most convenient for you and your provider and not worry about it spoiling.

I LOVE when moms bring the breastmilk freshly pumped from that morning in a bottle ready to go - this milk if NOT frozen or refrigerated can be kept at room temperature for 10 hours and I can just use it as needed all day long. It's so great and easy. If you split it between two bottles, but again leave it at room temp, then you have two feedings right there. It does not need to be air tight, a bottle really gets very little air into it.

I always just made up bottles each day for my son to go to his daycare provider. Stuck them in an insulated bag and she put it right in her fridge to then use throughout during the day.

I now watch my 5-mo old niece and my sister does the same thing. So all I, as the daycare provider, has to do is pull the bottle out of the fridge and warm it up. The bottles are fine in the fridge all day. No need for air-tight stuff. I do have a stock of a couple of bags of my sis's milk in my freezer just in case her daughter has an unforeseen growth spurt or something. However, she always packs an extra bottle everyday and whichever one is left at the end of the day, she'll bring back the next day and mark with a "1" to let me know I should use that one first.

No worries!

Yes, you can. There's no reason it has to be the "no air" top, but having those types of tops does help prevent leaking should the bottle topple over in the car.

I do think using the bags would be easier. As one mom mentioned, the sitter will just throw them away after they're emptied. The less bottles to bring back and forth, the better usually.

One of my moms brings it to me in a type of zip lock bag that I think may be for breast milk as it has the ounces on it. They are frozen when she brings them to me and I thaw and warm them in warm water. It's no big deal. She insists that the milk can be out for much longer than I thought it can before it's drank. So I usually start the milk thawing quite while before I know she will eat so that I have time to pour off the cold water and put more warm water over it.

Sorry, didn't see what you said about the bags.

I always bought those Lansinoh breast milk storage bags. If I produced enough, I would pump and then freeze the milk (breast milk can freeze up to 6 months). If I knew the newborn was going to the sitters, I would pump the night before and give her what I thought was enough for the day. It did very well with my 1st child. My 2nd I didn't produce enough so I didn't have to bring the breast milk to the sitters (just formula).

You can try the Lansinoh breast milk storage bags. They are available at Walmart, but be careful when you do freeze them. Sometimes they freeze too long and the bags end up cutting and then you have leaks. If you don't feel comfortable with the bags, go to Walmart and see if there is a safe plasic bottle that can be froze with your breast milk.

Hope this helps.