Breastfeeding

[Fro]

I breastfed my daughter also while doing daycare. I second (or third?) that it is much more difficult to pump than to nurse. I recomend getting the My Breastfriend, It is a nursing pillow that straps to you so the baby can lay on it while nursing and you can walk around. they have nursing covers that are handy, several kinds, they all work fine, but will probably only work until the baby is about 4 months old. They get really curious about that age and wont want their head covered so they cant look around. My daughter started just pulling it off so she can look around. Slings are also helpful once you get used to it.
I told all my parents that I would be breastfeeding. No one had a problem with it, but I figured that if they did, I was going to do what was best for my baby, and they could go elsewhere if they had a problem with it.
The simple answer is, dont worry about it. Dont plan on doing a lot of involved projects for a while, until you get the hang of walking around with the baby. Just let the kids play, color, snack ect. or plan projects that you can walk away from at any time and the kids will be fine.
It is hard the first couple of weeks, but if you push through and do it the first month, you will probably start to wonder why people think bottles are easier . I couldnt imagine having to get up in the middle of the night to go fix a bottle.
Sorry this is lenthy, but I hope it helps someone.

[JJPlaycare]

I nursed both of my girls for a year each while doing daycare! They are now 6 and 4! I have a 2 month old that I am nursing and it is working out just fine! Yes curiosity the kids have shown, but it is completely innocent! I told the parents that I would be breastfeeding and they were all fine with it and knew that there might be some questions comming! If I ran into someone who wasn't okay with it then I guess they would of had to find new childcare arrangements! Both my daughters have breastfed their baby dolls from time to time! I think it is completely healthy and nothing wrong with nursing in front of children! I think by doing so I am educating the children about nutrition and the best meals for a baby are made by a mommy! I just answer their questions simply! They still try to sit on my lap while I am nursing, they are all just fine with it and think nothing of it! Actually it took a good week for any of the kids to even notice what I was doing! I had a 4 year old telling me and his mother that I never feed the baby! LOL Then I told him yes I do and he asked some questions and that was that.... You will be just fine! It is much more convienent and works out great and is a great thing for your baby! : )

[Unregistered]

I nursed with my first. I started doing daycare with he was 3 months old- with just one older kid and then at 5 months had 4 kids full time. I never had an issue with it. It takes just as long or longer to get a bottle ready and feed that to the baby. I always woke baby up 40 min before my first client and did a good feed then so that when drop off happened we didnt have issues. Same with pick up. I just wrote out a sched. and then started getting baby on it right away. Sometimes I would nurse 2x in 2 hrs just to make sure he wasn't hungry at lunch or snack or something but it never seemed to be an issue.

I thought it was my obligation to tell my daycare parents about it but I will not this time. I guess if they ask I will tell them but they don't need to know every detail of my daycare day-including this.

I did have a pump and did occassionally pump and feed bottles when I needed to but I think pumping takes longer (for me anyway) than breastfeeding did.

One little girl (2 yrs old ) after nursing a few days with her around told me she still nurses to sleep and her mom mentioned it that night at pick up too. In this business I think people are pretty comfortable with it. And if not- find other clients.

[PeanutsGalore]

I just want to be clear to the OP...I was most certainly not advocating exclusive pumping, unless that's what she chooses to do. I'm advocating spending 15 to 30 minutes per day from as early on as possible and building up a freezer supply of milk to help ease her nerves (even an ounce or two per day would help) and more importantly, to allow someone other than her to feed her baby when she needs her hands to be free, or just needs a moment of alone time to take a bath, take a nap, or just take off for a few! That's all. I think it could help when she's working too. I wish somebody had suggested this to me before I gave birth. It would have helped me with a lot of the little bumps in the road I hit.

The pump is just a tool that helped me a great deal and might help her too, in whatever way she chooses or doesn't choose to use it.

[blueclouds29]

My dd did not latch on quite well when i got home the hospital with her. So i did pumping. However i was not pumping a lot at all. She would be waiting for me while i was pumping a bottle for her! Very hard and stressful. I would not mind at all doing both cause i sorta did it with my first DD. Hopefully this one will either latch on or i can give milk enough to make a supply with!!

[SilverSabre25]

My dd did not latch on quite well when i got home the hospital with her. So i did pumping. However i was not pumping a lot at all. She would be waiting for me while i was pumping a bottle for her! Very hard and stressful. I would not mind at all doing both cause i sorta did it with my first DD. Hopefully this one will either latch on or i can give milk enough to make a supply with!!

The best way to increase/maintain your supply is going to be to nurse, nurse, nurse! Nurse on demand, let baby linger at the breast for as long as she wants, nurse at night (co-sleep if you can and nurse all night long).

You can also do things like eat oatmeal, take Fenugreek, drink something called "Mother's Milk Tea" (available at many natural foods stores), and make sure to drink lots and lots of water.

[broncomom1973]

I started my daycare when my son was roughly 7 mos. old. I nursed him until he was 1 yr old. I had no problems sitting in a rocking chair with a blanket over my shoulder nursing him. As a matter of fact, I think I ended up nursing during an interview with a parent (maybe it was both parents). I think as long as your discreet about it, it shouldnt be a problem. I never had any problems with children "wondering" what I was doing. For me, I pumped when I went back to work after my 1st two children and I hated it. I loved being home with ds and not having to set up a pump and clean all of the supplies. So much easier to just nurse him and that's it.... no clean up or storage concerns. Much easier.