How Long Do You Allow

[LysesKids]

The question is, if you allow it just from 12-2 and then at pickup and the baby doesn't take a bottle at all, what happens if the baby just needs what I call a "top off" at any certain time of day. I only had 1 dcm that asked to breast feed at pickup. It got to the point that she was there 20 minutes after I closed and I put a stop to that right then. She only lived 5 min away too and the little girl was over a year. I think it's absolutely wonderful if you can accommodate a breast feeding mom and it works honestly. All the other moms that breastfed have just brought me frozen breastmilk that I kept on hand here. For a mom to be coming and going 2 or more times a day though I would think would be highly disruptive. I just sent my neighbor a message to see what ever happened with her friend.

First, I said I don't allow between Noon-2pm (nap), before hand at lunch, yes... at pick up yes, but only for 5-10 minutes to soothe a child for ride home, other times, NO... I work a 6:30-6:30 daily and nobody ever stays past that
None of my kids ever went past a year old nursing here either. Because I do nothing but infants up to about 19 months it's not a big deal... I don't take older kids and my own are grown & gone (I'm a 16 yr widow). All my moms nurse just before dropping their baby off too and I do keep back up milk in freezer.

I also require that babies be able to take a bottle for at least 2 weeks before starting here, and not just from mom, but a friend or relative(not dad) & myself. If a baby won't let me feed them a bottle before day one, I tell mom & dad they can start a week later after they prove baby can be bottle fed, otherwise it's a no go with no refunds.

[Meeko]

I am simply not set up to allow nursing mothers.

All my downstairs rooms are designated for childcare. I do not allow parents around children not their own, and I refuse to make children all move to another room so that a mom can nurse.

Upstairs is my private home area. I tried allowing a mom to nurse there once, but it didn't work out. She was nice enough, but I still wasn't about to let someone hang out upstairs and me be downstairs. So I ended up having to hang out in the kitchen while she nursed in my living room. One day, she picked up the baby after nursing, and as she burped her...the baby threw up all over my beautiful couch. And she took f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to nurse. The mom had made it sound like ten minutes and she was done. She was often here for over an hour.

I finally told her how disruptive it was and she was wonderful about it, which was good.

I won't be doing it again. If it becomes a reg that I HAVE to provide room for a nursing mom...I just won't take nursing moms at all. If they say at interview that they want to nurse here(I will ask), then I will make a mental note not to choose them to fill the spot.

I am all for nursing. I have a baby here now who's mom pumps and brings me the milk. No problem at all. She works too far away to come and nurse anyway. But moms cannot expect home daycare providers to change their whole routines to allow nursing.

[renodeb]

I have had maybe 3 breast feeding moms that asked (in advance) to come and nurse around lunch time and luckily they did not abuse it. The way my house is designed is that I have a small den area as you enter the front door so moms can nurse out there while I go on with things in the dc area. I would think that 30 minutes max is long enough.
Deb