Hellobee Boards

I always thought it was a big no-no to mix formula with anything but the amount of water required. So you could supplement and give 3oz BM and 3 oz formula. But you wouldn't do 3 oz BM with a scoop of powder. But I dont really know.

We had to fortify my breast milk since my little guy was a preemie. It wasn't a lot of formula, I think 1/2-1 teaspoon per three ounces or something like that. He gained weight very steadily on it and had no digestive issues.

I would suggest working with a pediatric dietician to get the right amount of BM to formula. Fortifying was something we had talked about but never did (kept giving my LO more time). There was a point when we tried to add higher calorie formula in addition to BM but my LO would not drink the formula and then eventually stopped drinking expressed BM and would only nurse.

Same as @SwanSong. LO was growth-restricted in the womb, so he came out at 4 lb. 12 oz. and was in the NICU for a week. Doctor wanted to make sure he kept gaining weight, so they told me to fortify breastmilk in bottles. I did this for about two weeks, and once he got the hang of breastfeeding, the lactation consultant I was seeing 2x/week told me to try breastfeeding only without the fortification. They were checking his weight often, and he was doing great, so I stopped fortifying!

I hope it works out well for you!

We fortified supplemented formula to 24 calories for the first 6 months. We started at a couple weeks old because my twins were small (4 lb 15 and 5 lb 15 at birth), they lost a lot right off the bat, and they were slow to pick up any weight. Oh and they had reflux! We were supplementing after nursing anyway so our ped recommended fortifying the formula to get as many calories into them as possible. It made an incredibly difference to my LOs and by 6 months they were doing well and above 20% on the charts!

@Mrs. Coral: No problem! I know my situation was different because it was formula, but I really appreciated my ped's aggressive approach to getting my kids to gain some weight. At a year my son was 50% and my daughter was 30 something I think. I never thought we'd get there! I hope you see success with your LO!

We used 24 cal supplements when E was in the hospital. Hope it works well for you!

My NICU twins were on breastmilk with HMF (human milk fortifiers) to bump my breast milk to 24 calories. After 15 days in the nicu they were released to go home. Baby girl was to be on EBM (expressed breast milk) with HMF and baby boy on EBM with neosure. After a week home (3 weeks after birth), our pediatrician was happy with their weight gain so pumped us down to 22 calories for both babies. I do have to say that they are on neosure formula alone if I don't have enough breast milk.

Here was my recipe given to us by the hospital:
For 24 cal-
50ml EBM + 2 packets of HMF powder
Or
45ml EBM + 1/2 teaspoon Neosure

For 22 cal-
50ml EBM + 1 packet of HMF powder
Or
45ml EBM + 1/4 teaspoon Neosure

@Mrs. Coral: I think your plan sounds awesome! Are you considering just nursing for the other feedings?