https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 06 Apr 2026 19:10:46 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-your-formula-supplementation#post-1868783 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 16:34:48 +0000 twodoghouse 1868783@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Charm54: Thanks for letting me know your story. If I were EP I would probably would have stopped by now because there's no way it'd be worth it! As it is it's nice to start out the day and end the day with nursing. Whatever they manage to get in between is probably just for comfort as I think their calories are basically all formula now.</p> <p>@daniellemybelle: my goal is really weight gain! They were born small and gained slowly. At 4 months Blake was finally 1% and Alice was 18%. So my priority is to try to get them moving up the growth charts. However, I also really enjoy breastfeeding and don't want to give it up! I'd especially like them to get breastmilk through cold and flu season this winter, but I'm not sure if that's a realistic goal anymore. It's sort of chicken or the egg situation - are they taking more formula because my supply is worse or is my supply worse because they are getting more formula? Either way, I know I'll keep giving them a lot of formula for the weight gain stuff. I am just stressed by the logistics these days because feeding has gotten so complicated with nursing and bottles and guessing how much to feed, etc. I guess I could just assume they get nothing from me and treat them like 100% FF babies. Then anything they get from nursing is just extra. But I know that will be the end of my supply eventually. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-your-formula-supplementation#post-1868741 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 16:07:44 +0000 daniellemybelle 1868741@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We started supplementing pretty much right away. We would offer 1.5-2 oz of formula after nursing. When she was 3-4 months she would fuss nursing but I would try to get her to stay on before just going to the bottle. Or I would give her a little formula, but not enough to fill her up, and try again. It was not easy but I didn't want to lose our nursing relationship. At about 6 months we settled in &amp; we would nurse throughout the day &amp; I consolidated her supplement bottles into 2 4 oz bottles before naps &amp; 4 oz after nursing before bed. </p> <p>Now at nearly 11 months (sob) she is over bottles &amp; a boob monster! I am trying to get her to drink formula from a straw cup but we will probably start WCM soon. </p> <p>All that to say, what is your goal? I would say you are probably over-supplementing if you want to increase/maintain your supply, but if you are cool with it, and your babies are growing &amp; happy, then keep doing what you are doing! You never know - even if you don't produce much, one or both may decide they love to nurse &amp; keep it up :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-your-formula-supplementation#post-1868737 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 16:05:52 +0000 Charm54 1868737@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I started supplementing almost immediately...I would BF, supplement, pump. That crazy cycle got old real quick so by a month I was EPing and supplementing. I would just give her a bottle of whatever we had on hand, formula or BM.</p> <p>Around 5 months I started pumping less and supplementing more. By 7 months I was done pumping all together and used formula exclusively. Now at 12 months we are starting to transition to cows milk.</p> <p>ETA: I would agree, if they are drinking 22-29+ oz of formula they are probably getting most of their calories from that.</p> <p>I had a "rule" for myself - when I started pumping less than 50% of their daily intake I would stop pumping and just switch fri formula since for me it wasn't worth the effort to go through all that for only small amounts of BM </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/tell-me-about-your-formula-supplementation#post-1868726 Thu, 18 Sep 2014 15:56:32 +0000 twodoghouse 1868726@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>If you supplement with formula, how do you do it? Do you offer a bottle after every nursing session? Or do you nurse for some feedings and give a bottle for others? How do you determine how much formula to offer? </p> <p>I've supplemented my twins since very early on. We started out offering 1 oz after nursing. That grew to 1.5 oz after each nursing session which we stayed at for a couple months. The last 3 weeks or so we've been offering much larger bottles (2.5 oz at minimum; sometimes up to 4-5 oz). My supply seems better in the morning so I do smaller bottles then and give more and more as the day goes on based on how I satisfied my kids seem after nursing. </p> <p>Lately I think they are getting very little from me, though, as they nurse for 3-5 minutes then pull away. Alice is sort of refusing bottles too, so she'll only take bottles a few times a day. I track their feedings in an app and yesterday Blake took 29 oz of formula in addition to 9 (short) BF sessions. Alice only took 22 oz over the course of the day. However, these # make me think they are getting almost all of their food from formula. </p> <p>Anyway I'm curious how other people work supplementation and how it evolved as your kids needed more / your supply dropped. Thanks! </p>