Nursing?

[lflick]

It's me again

I have a mom ask about care for a 4 month old. It more or less sounds like it will be one day per week (as I don't believe they are interested in paying for 3 1/2 days at full day rate).... Anyways, she asked me if I would be okay with her coming to nurse baby on her lunch break.... As a mom that has breastfed I get this; however, I really feel it would be a disruption to our day as a whole. What are your policies on this? How do you address this?

[kathiemarie]

Do NOT do this. I had a client do this once and I hated it.

[Angelsj]

I have no problem with this...with the caveat that one day a week is not likely to work. It isn't easy for a baby to be cared for by so many different providers. One day a week...no
Nursing at lunch with 3-4 days per week in care...no problem.

[Familycare71]

I have no problem with this...with the caveat that one day a week is not likely to work. It isn't easy for a baby to be cared for by so many different providers. One day a week...no
Nursing at lunch with 3-4 days per week in care...no problem.

My thoughts exactly!!! I will never do a part time baby again!

[blandino]

The one day a week will be very very difficult with a baby that young.

Also, as wonderful as the nursing seems (and I think it is), I always worry that the baby is going to be hungry before the mom gets there and you are going to be waiting for the DCM to arrive with a screaming baby, and if you aren't tending to the baby you think it will look bad. And we all know how chaotic a screaming baby can make a daycare feel. Plus, right around most parents lunch breaks is when I have to lay the kids down for nap - so I worried that if I was having a particularly difficult napping day that i would feel bad letting the other babies/toddlers fuss while she was there.

I have a 5 month old whose mom lives right down the street, and at first we talked about her coming and nursing, but she never actually took me up on it.

If you are going to do it, I would tell her that she needs to time the babies first morning feeding, so that the baby will be due for a bottle at the time she is arriving to the daycare to nurse. That way you won't have to worry about holding off a hungry baby.

OR (this is the plan I had with my DCM) is that around 11 ish, she would shoot me a text asking when the last bottle was, and if the baby was going to need to be fed while mom was on lunch - then she would come over and nurse.

[Cradle2crayons]

If it were a full time baby I wouldn't see the problem with it. But with one day a week I see it as a huge disruption. Not to mention if she's wanting him in daycare, pumping and bottle feeding is usually the best plan.

I haven't had a breast feeding mom in a while because I live so rural it would be impossible for a mom to drive an hour one way to nurse for lunch. All of my breastfeed babies get breast milk in a bottle.

[AcornMama]

Does your state have any regulations regarding this? It may sound silly, but my state actually does. We are required to have an open door policy so that parents may visit whenever they want, and we are required to offer a private place for nursing.

I'm so not doing infants.

[jenn]

No.

No to the one day a week infant. Unless this is an extremely wonderful baby, one day a week will be close to impossible to get this child into a routine, used to the noise, used to not being held all the time, used to the bottle feeding....

No to the coming in to breastfeed. I'm NOT against breastfeeding, at all. However, mom coming in the middle of the day is a disruption to me, a disruption to the other kids, and a huge disruption to her child.

[itlw8]

I would allow it... I would not let dcm enter my private family space to do so though. I do have some ifs

If she is flexible and can come when baby is hungry and not make the baby wait more than 15 minutes

If the baby will eat with all the noise of the other children

If she came more than 1x a week.. I can have only 2 under 2 so they MUSt PAY F/T rate.

[Leanna]

I've had several moms do this and I didn't mind in the slightest. Their lunch breaks fell during nap time so they would just come in and quietly nurse while the other kids slept. I actually found that I liked having a moment of adult conversation in my day too .

However, I do agree that one day a week will be hard on such a little one.

[Unregistered]

I would be really annoyed if a dcm came To nurse on her break.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

I would be really annoyed if a dcm came To nurse on her break.

I would be as well and I am extremely pro-breastfeeding. I can see the benefit of doing so and why Mom would want to, but business-wise I just couldn't do it.

The people that interview here that I ADORE parent exactly like me, but I can never take them on as clients. It just doesn't work with group care, for me at least, and I can't provide what they'd like.

[Lyss]

I would allow it... I would not let dcm enter my private family space to do so though. I do have some ifs

If she is flexible and can come when baby is hungry and not make the baby wait more than 15 minutes

If the baby will eat with all the noise of the other children

If she came more than 1x a week.. I can have only 2 under 2 so they MUSt PAY F/T rate.

I have a FT DCBaby (I don't do pt infants anymore) that is 2.5months and DCM comes to nurse on her breaks or lunch 2-3 days a week BUT these times are very inconsistent and it's becoming more of a headache than I thought. I wish I had used itlw8 above requirements! The thing that we struggle with is DCM never knows when her break/lunch will be (she's a big wig for a union) so I feel like I'm having to hold DCG off longer than she should (read starving screaming baby ). If DCM wasn't having such hard time pumping enough I may have put a stop to it already, I may have to if she can't get on a more regular schedule especially when DCG gets a bit older. I did put my foot down and told her that she could not stop by during lunch, its to hectic and she doesn't want to nurse in private (she feels that's "shaming" ) so it just gets the other kids to worked up to eat

[cheerfuldom]

I have a FT DCBaby (I don't do pt infants anymore) that is 2.5months and DCM comes to nurse on her breaks or lunch 2-3 days a week BUT these times are very inconsistent and it's becoming more of a headache than I thought. I wish I had used itlw8 above requirements! The thing that we struggle with is DCM never knows when her break/lunch will be (she's a big wig for a union) so I feel like I'm having to hold DCG off longer than she should (read starving screaming baby ). If DCM wasn't having such hard time pumping enough I may have put a stop to it already, I may have to if she can't get on a more regular schedule especially when DCG gets a bit older. I did put my foot down and told her that she could not stop by during lunch, its to hectic and she doesn't want to nurse in private (she feels that's "shaming" ) so it just gets the other kids to worked up to eat

this is ridiculous and I hope you put an end to it asap. She wants all this special treatment as if you have no other kids to care for. She wants things on her timeline in her way.....sounds like she needs a nanny. There is no way I would put up with this.

I wouldnt take a part time infant or a baby that had to be held off for mom to come nurse. It would be a miracle of those two scenarios didnt become a problem at some point.

[Lyss]

this is ridiculous and I hope you put an end to it asap. She wants all this special treatment as if you have no other kids to care for. She wants things on her timeline in her way.....sounds like she needs a nanny. There is no way I would put up with this.
I wouldnt take a part time infant or a baby that had to be held off for mom to come nurse. It would be a miracle of those two scenarios didnt become a problem at some point.

I agree! I actually reread this after I posted it and about slapped myself. It sounds way worse when see it in print. I should add she's not always late and I generally have a ballpark of when she'll be coming like 1130ish or 1ish but trying to manipulate the feedings to work with that doesn't always work. Not the point thought I guess! Anyway it annoyed me seeing it all spelled out like that so much so in fact that when DCG woke up after nap (1045, DCM said she'd bee here @ 1130ish) I text her that if she couldn't get here by 11 I'd have to give DCG a bottle. She made it but got a call from a news outlet as she was stepping onto the porch, and sat down out front to take the call I just opened the door and handed DCG to her like she wasn't even on the phone ::