Childcare routine vs home for 15mo

[Vsta]

Hi ladies,

please, share your ideas how to set up a routine for childcare and home for my 15mo son.
What they currently have in the childcare:

(breakfast around 7.30am at home but later will be given to him to childcare)
9am - morning tea
11.30am - lunch
3pm - afternoon tea
(late pick up around 6pm)

times may vary a bit.

Where to put bottle with formula? Before I asked them to give it to him 1h after meal twice a day. Then I asked to give a bottle as a top-up after morning tea but seems to me they keep forgetting it and give it later. So of course he won't eat much at lunch in the case.

At home he usually has such a big morning snack that not really hungry for the lunch time and very often he lunches after nap (2pm to 3pm). Yesterday he was basically snacking from 3pm to 6pm and had 200ml at 7pm then woke up around 10pm and had 200ml again (I know this is not right).

He goes to childcare 2 days but very soon it will be 4 days so I want his routine be same.
At home he always has a BT bottle and sometimes asks for NF as well. He likes greek yogurt and I give it to him as a morning tea instead of bottle. I skipped a midday bottle completely.

He doesn't like cow milk and I really doubt it will be given to him in childcare. I have concerns about cow milk from supermarkets, I used to drink "real" milk from my grands' cow and I'm sure modern one is far away by quality.

Thank you!

[becj86]

I think I'd just offer milk as the drink with meals & snacks rather than trying to get daycare to feed milk in between meals then they're that close together already. Maximum time between feeds then is 3.5hr which is reasonable at 4 months and more than reasonable at 15 months given he'll be asleep for a large portion of that time. I'd probably bring a snack to feed him at pickup too.

If you were really concerned re: milk intake, maybe you could do formula at home - a wake up bottle and a BT bottle to meet his milk intake requirement but really, at this age, its recommended to start moving away from bottles and for milk to be supplementary.

I agree its going to be easiest to keep home and daycare routines as similar as possible.

[Katet]

I think I'd just offer milk as the drink with meals & snacks rather than trying to get daycare to feed milk in between meals then they're that close together already. Maximum time between feeds then is 3.5hr which is reasonable at 4 months and more than reasonable at 15 months given he'll be asleep for a large portion of that time. I'd probably bring a snack to feed him at pickup too.

If you were really concerned re: milk intake, maybe you could do formula at home - a wake up bottle and a BT bottle to meet his milk intake requirement but really, at this age, its recommended to start moving away from bottles and for milk to be supplementary.

this ^^^ totally

I think it is recommended 2cups (around 500ml ) of dairy a day from 1yo, that includes cheese, yoghurt etc. I honestly think that if he has 200ml at bedtime & he has other dairy in the day he really doesn't need the bottles in the day. With the night feed I'd work on increasing food intake with filling foods in the day - good fats like avocado are filling, rather than trying to get the day bottles in. From a dental point of view it's recommended that toddlers move from bottles to cups from 12mo, which is why it's also recommended to move from milk/formula to calcium rich foods.

[Lindsay27]

If you were really concerned re: milk intake, maybe you could do formula at home - a wake up bottle and a BT bottle to meet his milk intake requirement but really, at this age, its recommended to start moving away from bottles and for milk to be supplementary.

This is what I do.  My DD is still pretty attached to her bottles (though happily drinks milk from a cup w/ meals also) so we do a WU bottle and BT bottle.  I think it's more of a routine/comfort thing with her.  I send her to daycare with a cup of milk each day that she has with her meals and snacks.

[creations]

(breakfast around 7.30am at home but later will be given to him to childcare)
9am - morning tea
11.30am - lunch
3am - afternoon tea
(late pick up around 6pm)

I consider the "morning tea" and "afternoon tea" to be snack times, and would consider them as being times when they are having a small snack and water (or milk in a cup) rather than a full meal or bottle.  From the routine there are 2 main meals and two snacks...unless you missed a meal out?
You don't mention "dinner" (or whatever you call your main evening meal) which toddlers often like to have around 4.30 or 5pm. As you don't pick up until 6pm this is the earliest time he can eat again, is it a long journey home? If so you might give a packed dinner in the car before you set off (I wouldn't expect a LO this age to eat whilst a parent drives, bit of a risk), or if it is a short journey you could feed an evening meal as soon as you get home although you are going to be really pushed for time so I'd still suggest a packed lunch type meal which you can prepare the night before and just leave in the fridge ready to serve cold on arrival home.
At this age mine had dinner earlier (4.30pm ish) and then a "supper" around 6pm which replaced his BT milk, so he was getting WU milk (full amount taken by straw rather than bottle), breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, supper with small amount of milk (no BT bottle).

I'd give the bottle/straw/cup of milk at WU and then breakfast, and if needed one at BT too.
He shouldn't need a night feed at all at this age. But small tummies mean they need lots of food opportunities in the day.

[Vsta]

I think I'd just offer milk as the drink with meals & snacks rather than trying to get daycare to feed milk in between meals then they're that close together already.

Thank you for your reply! yes, I totally agree with the point that his meals are getting too close together, it means he snacks for the whole day and doesn't take much in in one time as a result. I don't like that as well

The thing is he has had porridge for breakfast for 6-7 months already so I wouldn't like to change that.

[Vsta]

I think it is recommended 2cups (around 500ml ) of dairy a day from 1yo, that includes cheese, yoghurt etc. I honestly think that if he has 200ml at bedtime & he has other dairy in the day he really doesn't need the bottles in the day. With the night feed I'd work on increasing food intake with filling foods in the day - good fats like avocado are filling, rather than trying to get the day bottles in. From a dental point of view it's recommended that toddlers move from bottles to cups from 12mo, which is why it's also recommended to move from milk/formula to calcium rich foods.

Thank you!
Well when he is at home he has only BT bottle and NF (I didn't feed for 2 months already but then viral virus just broke everything and I still can't return to that). It's because I have concerns that food in childcare is enough for him I didn't ask them to skip his bottle. But probably it's a good reason to feed him more fully at home.
Yeah, I know all the recommendations but it's too difficult to follow them when your baby just crying out of hell in the middle of the night to get his bottle.

(btw, I live on Central Coast but work in Sydney )

[Vsta]

I send her to daycare with a cup of milk each day that she has with her meals and snacks.

Hi Lindsay27! do you give just a normal sippy cup with milk and another one with water?

[Vsta]

I consider the "morning tea" and "afternoon tea" to be snack times, and would consider them as being times when they are having a small snack and water (or milk in a cup) rather than a full meal or bottle.  From the routine there are 2 main meals and two snacks...unless you missed a meal out?

breakfast at home - snack at childcare - lunch - snack - dinner at home - BT bottle

You don't mention "dinner" (or whatever you call your main evening meal) which toddlers often like to have around 4.30 or 5pm. As you don't pick up until 6pm this is the earliest time he can eat again, is it a long journey home? If so you might give a packed dinner in the car before you set off (I wouldn't expect a LO this age to eat whilst a parent drives, bit of a risk), or if it is a short journey you could feed an evening meal as soon as you get home although you are going to be really pushed for time so I'd still suggest a packed lunch type meal which you can prepare the night before and just leave in the fridge ready to serve cold on arrival home.
At this age mine had dinner earlier (4.30pm ish) and then a "supper" around 6pm which replaced his BT milk, so he was getting WU milk (full amount taken by straw rather than bottle), breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, supper with small amount of milk (no BT bottle).

I'd give the bottle/straw/cup of milk at WU and then breakfast, and if needed one at BT too.
He shouldn't need a night feed at all at this age. But small tummies mean they need lots of food opportunities in the day.

his routine is so unstable. Yesterday they put him on nap after 1.20pm and he was sleeping till 4pm (never-never happened before). And of course he went to bed around 9pm which is very late.
I was able to pick him up one day and it was like 5.30pm but they were sitting and snacking raisins and cheese (2.5h after afternoon tea?). When he was at home with me it was much more predictable.

He eats oatmeal for breakfast with cow butter or cashew butter, if I give him a bottle I really doubt he eats his breakfast after that.
I read your routine and moving a bottle from BT is a really great idea but probably I'll just gradually decrease a BT bottle and replace it with solids. Though when he eats a lot of solids close to BT he still take almost 200ml of formula. Maybe I have to be consistent with that

[Vsta]

Thank you ladies for all your replies! I'll send a message to childcare today to skip his morning bottle in hope he'll better eat his lunch.
Will see how it goes

[becj86]

Gosh, you've a bit of a commute there! Nice place to live though

Let us know how you go.

[Vsta]

Gosh, you've a bit of a commute there! Nice place to live though 

Let us know how you go.

Yeah, very true - 1.45h door to door
sent a message but they didn't see it and gave him bottle anyway. Will try next week