Does anyone here have experience with pumping and feeding baby bottle when they also get to see and feed the baby in the middle of the day? This is my 4th week back, second full week, and I'm still trying to figure out when I should be pumping and how much my baby "should" be eating while away from me. LO is almost 5 months.
Here is our schedule:
1st Feed: Sometime between 6 and 7am depending on when she wakes. Sometimes this is more of a dream feed and I don't think she gets a lot, but she nurses 2-4 times during the night too.
2nd Feed: Usually takes a bottle around 9:30. She has been taking only about 1.5-2 oz, but this is slowly getting to be more. One day she took 4 oz but some days she won't take any. I pump between 9 and 9:30am depending on when she ate in the morning.
3rd Feed: Baby comes to my work between 11:30 and 12. I have an hour lunch break, so I feed her when she arrives, than I eat my lunch and feed her again for about 10 minutes just before she leaves. Which means she has her second feed at either 12:20 or 12:50.
She almost never takes a bottle in the afternoon but if she does, it's a very small amount, usually less than 1oz. I arrive home between 4 and 5 depending on the day. And then we just demand feed all evening. I'm not keeping track of how much in the evening.
I'm having a hard time getting a second pump in during the day. I'm a teacher-librarian and most of my classes are at the end of the day, so my class times conflict with the time I "should" be pumping. If I don't pump, it's usually between 3-4 hours between when I last fed her and when I get home.
I'm still pumping way more than she is eating and unfortunately I'm having to throw a lot awayas I don't have a proper freezer yet. Since she is eating in the middle of the day, is it OK that she is taking so little from the bottle? Should I try and get our nanny to feed her more? Especially in the afternoon. She really loves any bottles or cups that DH and I are drinking out of, so I think she would take more from a little cup if we tried, I'm just not sure if it is necessary. Also should I worry about not getting in that second pumping session in the afternoon?
Sorry for the long message! I'm trying to get all the info in I can think of as I don't have much time at home to get on the computer.