Hellobee Boards Topic: If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?

Hellobee Boards Topic: If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now? https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 26 Oct 2026 17:46:07 +0000 daniellemybelle on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1198521 Tue, 05 Nov 2013 23:42:23 +0000 daniellemybelle 1198521@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Thanks everyone - interesting that most of you pump! Right now I am pumping after nursing but it's mainly to increase my supply. I only get about 3/4 oz each time & her supplement bottles are usually 2 oz so she still needs formula. The whole charade of nursing for a long time, ineffectively, then supplementing, then pumping, doesn't seem sustainable. I'd like to get to where I could just nurse but that doesn't seem super likely. I am sad at the prospect of dropping nursing though to EP. I wonder if I just nursed in the morning & before bed, if she would get even worse at nursing, or totally prefer the bottle? Charm54 on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1193344 Sun, 03 Nov 2013 09:11:51 +0000 Charm54 1193344@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We combo - I EP so either she gets 4oz of BM or 4oz of formula. Id say she gets one formula bottle a day depending on my supply. For me this system is much easier and sustainable long term than when I used to nurse and then offer a bottle after each feeding. loveisstrange on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1193305 Sun, 03 Nov 2013 08:42:02 +0000 loveisstrange 1193305@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We supplemented for about 2 weeks, I pumped and tried everything to raise my supply for a while, she was fully FF by 3 months old. It wasn't worth the stress of the aggravation. I was a much happier person after I stopped torturing myself over BFing and had a coming to jesus meeting with myself. Formula is not poison, babies grow just as healthy and smart and strong on it as they do BM. Espion on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1193055 Sat, 02 Nov 2013 21:06:23 +0000 Espion 1193055@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @junebugmama: I haven't tried it, but I assume it may be a lipase issue. All I know is that E is one angry man if we ever try to feed it to him. I worry that I can't donate it, though. I can't quite bring myself to just throw it away yet, lol! It's not much, but I worked hard for that stuff! Jumpingjacks on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1193048 Sat, 02 Nov 2013 21:01:53 +0000 Jumpingjacks 1193048@https://boards.hellobee.com/ Everyone's situation is different, but here is what we did: We had to supplement starting at 4 days because LO had lost too much weight (more than the normal 10%). Then when I pumped, I realized that my supply was incredibly low and that was the reason for her weight loss. I tried and tried and tried and tried to increase my supply but was never able to give her more than about half of what she needed. Doing the combo thing was ok for a while, but very time consuming. It was hard to go out, it took over an hour to do both every feeding. On top of this, I also had a tremendous amount of nipple pain for all but about 3 weeks over the 6 months that I breastfed. In the end, I weened her off the boob for all feedings but first thing in the morning at 6 months. By 7 months, my milk was entirely gone (even in the morning). I weaned her at six months for two reasons: first the pain was just too much to keep going. second, I could not imagine breastfeeding, supplementing with a bottle AND feeding her solids. There would literally have been no down time from feeding all day long. It was a hard decision to stop breastfeeding, but once I did, I felt like a huge weight had been lifted (not because I didn't like/want to breastfeed my baby, but because of all the pain). Now LO is 9 months and she still takes about 5 bottles a day and eats three solid meals and one snack. She is a very happy baby. Hope this is helpful swedishfish on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1193038 Sat, 02 Nov 2013 20:58:37 +0000 swedishfish 1193038@https://boards.hellobee.com/ R had formula at the hospital the day she was born due to low blood sugar. She had maybe a handful of bottles of formula after leaving the hospital until I went back to work when she was 10 weeks old. We started supplementing regularly about 3 weeks after going back to work. Here's the deal for weekdays: I pump while I eat breakfast and R gets a bottle of formula after I go to work. I pump during my lunch period. R gets another bottle of formula and a bottle of frozen breast milk. I nurse R twice after work before she goes to sleep. Weekends are different. I usually pump once in the mornings but the past two weekends I haven't felt like it. So I nurse her first, DH gives her a bottle of formula second, then I nurse for the rest of the day. junebugmama on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1192996 Sat, 02 Nov 2013 20:29:54 +0000 junebugmama 1192996@https://boards.hellobee.com/ @Espion: does your milk have a soapy smell or taste? or is it just that it's frozen. Espion on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1192922 Sat, 02 Nov 2013 19:08:01 +0000 Espion 1192922@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We've reluctantly accepted that we'd be combo feeding since 6 weeks. We recently found out that E refuses frozen milk, so all the milk I worked hard to pump is unusable (for us). I mostly nurse at night and for comfort during the day, when I'm not at work. It was hard to accept that my supply was never going to increase. (The only way I have any now is because of Domperidone.) But, in the end, I was never going to realistically pump at work. So even if I had a supply, it would have tanked as soon as I started back. So now I get to enjoy nursing without being chained to a pump. It's kind of nice. MrsLilybugg on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1192906 Sat, 02 Nov 2013 18:58:00 +0000 MrsLilybugg 1192906@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We decided to supplement at hospital because LO was shrieking and was having a hard time latching. It made me happy that her belly felt good after drinking it. She's three months and mostly nurses. Sometimes at night she gets lazy and panics that milk doesn't come out fast enough so I'll give her formula. She also haaaaaates nursing covers now, so if she doesn't nurse enough when we are out I'll give her a formula bottle so she doesn't starve. But formula is not every day. I know I could supplement with pumped milk and sometimes i do, but am really bad at pumping. Bookish on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1192773 Sat, 02 Nov 2013 17:43:49 +0000 Bookish 1192773@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I started supplementing around six weeks, I think? She's 4 mos now, and I'm on about 50/50. Formula in the morning, a mix at daycare, and she nurses before bed. My supply stinks, and honestly I don't know if supplementing made my supply dip more quickly, but I'm at a point where I'm good with how we are feeding her. I don't think we will be able to BF past 6 months due to my supply issues. kodybear on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1192766 Sat, 02 Nov 2013 17:35:44 +0000 kodybear 1192766@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I EP but was never able to make enough. The first month she was 100% on BM but after that she had a bottle of formula before bed and the other bottles all BM. As I dropped sessions we ended up at 2 bottles of BM and 2 bottles of formula a day for awhile. Now she's drinking from cups mostly but it's still 50/50. kjpugs on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1192756 Sat, 02 Nov 2013 17:22:54 +0000 kjpugs 1192756@https://boards.hellobee.com/ I'm interested to see responses to this too. My supply is so low that DD gets all my milk - (4-5 oz a day) and then we supplement the rest with formula, about 15-17 oz depending on how she's eating and how much breastmilk I have for her. I am really hoping to increase my supply so I can supply more. I know my twinner is doing the same, she makes 19 oz breastmilk a day, freezes 4 oz, and then feeds the 15 oz and supplements the rest. Ra on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1192732 Sat, 02 Nov 2013 16:57:08 +0000 Ra 1192732@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We combo feed. When I was working my supply wasn't enough to cover his bottles during the day. So, he got a 50/50 mix of pumped milk and formula. Then, I'd nurse when we got home and formula before bed (he's a lazy nurser, I like him to have a full feeding at night!) I just stopped working on Thursday and need to work on getting my supply back up. I'm taking supplements and domperidone and nursing more. Although my goal is to primarily nurse, I honestly don't think I'll fight to go EBF at this point. He's had formula for 4.5 months and I like the flexibility combo feeding provides. daniellemybelle on "If you supplemented & never stopped, what does feeding look like now?" https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/if-you-supplemented-amp-never-stopped-what-does-feeding-look-like-now#post-1192579 Sat, 02 Nov 2013 14:25:08 +0000 daniellemybelle 1192579@https://boards.hellobee.com/ We have been supplementing with formula off & on since LO was 4 days old - she's 11 days today. I am committed to getting my supply up so we can EBF but I am also wondering what "combination feeding" would look like long-term. Right now we offer a 2 oz bottle after every other nursing session. She usually eats 1 oz, maybe a little more.