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I'm sending bottles of pumped milk to daycare for my 5-month old. When we start her on solids, do I send extra milk to mix into her cereal, or do I keep sending the same amount of milk, some of which will be fed in bottles and some in the cereal?
eg... do I have to pump more milk once she starts cereal??
You won't know for sure until it happens, unfortunately. It's probably worth pumping a bit more to start with. However, most likely the total amount won't change very much. The baby is still eating the same amount of milk, right? The presence of cereal doesn't change that (until it becomes enough to offset the milk needs, anyway).
Normally, babies on cereal start with a very liquid cereal mixture - 1/4 or so the amount of cereal per milk as normal. For the first bit, they may not really eat all that much or may spit it up, so it's not uncommon that some wastage occurs; however, the daycare should know that and not make too much to start with, only an ounce or two at a time at most (probably less).
Once it's been a few weeks and the baby tolerates the cereal well, typically the cereal will help her feel full for a longer time, and thus the baby will not need to eat quite so much milk separate from the cereal; my kids needed less milk overall at this point, but we also added vegetables nearly right away (in fact on the second, we started vegetable before cereal, as our pediatrician suggested). You'll also start adding more cereal per milk, so the total amount of milk used in cereal may not add too much.
Overall, though, it's hard to say, because other factors will matter more - your baby's growth cycle and what happens to her tummy/intestines as a result of eating solids for the first time. She may be more hungry, or less. That will likely matter more than the amount added to the cereal.
Well once you start on solids you won't be producing as much milk. So don't think you will have a lot extra to send with her for cereal unless you are overproducing. In my experience, it was simple to have the food meals at home. We did pumped milk in the morning mixed with cereal for breakfast. This was milk that I had hand-expressed after the early morning nursing session.
Also, many nursing mothers prefer to hold off on the foods until almost a year old or older. This way they have a good milk supply for as long as baby is nursing.
