Hellobee Boards

We tried donor milk for a week when DD was 5 weeks or so. She was already used to the taste of formula, and wanted nothing to do with breast milk so we gave up fairly quickly. She never had an issue switching between ready feed and powder, but we recently tried using a gentle tummy version as it was all that was available and she wouldn't take it.

Not sure if that's helpful or makes sense- mostly i just know at least our baby can tell the difference between different kinds of food and she is selective about it. Also crazy selective about temperature- she only drinks it if it's cold.

@Pumpkin Pie: Maybe she needs a slower transition to powder? Try mixing 3 oz ready-to-feed with 1 oz powder for a couple of days, then half and half, then 3 oz powder and 1 oz ready-to-feed, etc?

We went from bf supplemented by powder (good start gentle) to alimentum ready to feed. He didn't have problems with the powder but sucked the ready to feed alimentum down! However the alimentum ready to feed is extremely expensive and if it wasn't covered by insurance for us we would have been fine with powder. I found powder formula to be thinner than the ready to feed. When he was on the gerber powder, I gave him its ready to feed counterpart every once in a while and I did notice he ate that faster. Maybe babies just prefer the consistency of ready to feed more sometimes??

For a different experience--Lo hasn't had any problems switching back and forth between breastmilk, powder, and ready to feed . We use all 3 pretty regularly

Try slowly mixing it into your breast milk or ready to feed. Do a 75% BM/RTF to 25% powdered for a couple of days, then 50-50, then 25-75. It helps them slowly get used to the new taste.

@Pumpkin Pie: How long has it been since she last took a bottle or feeding?

For the immediate issue: do you have any access to supplies to make a homemade SNS system? You can put baby to your breast to nurse, and you slip a little tube next to your nipple. Baby will be sucking, and draw the milk from the bottle. I used one at the beginning of supplementing.

A quick Google search brought this up: https://fruitfultree.wordpress.com/homemade-supplemental-nursing-system/

As far as supply, do you have chronic low supply (a medical condition keeping you from making more milk)? If it's just low supply due to environmental factors (like your cycle, being sick, etc.), could you try some herbs or lactation teas? Pump, pump, pump?

I usually mixed breastmilk & formula. I had an extremely low supply due to genetic factors (so herbs, etc. don't work for me), but I had some donor milk to use every now and then, and we'd mix.

What brand of formula are you using? We use Baby's Only Organic, and it's sweetened with brown rice syrup ... My babe has never turned it down, but did turn down an Enfamil bottle we made her on the road one day. So maybe the different brands can make a difference.

I'd look out for signs of lethargy. Count pee diapers. If it's way lower than normal, I think babe would need to see a doc. If she's normal, I'd try what other's have recommended, and hopefully she'll get a taste for it.

Have you tried mixing a small amount of formula in your EBM bottles? Then slowly increase the proportion of formula in each bottle.

My son went through a bottle strike for the better part of a month. So I'm not sure if switching to powder is the issue or if it's coincidence. We basically force fed him or started him on the breast, which he would take for comfort and then PPP the bottle in after a few minutes. I have no idea why - it just resolved after a few weeks even though we didn't change a thing. Dreamfeeding may be your best bet until you get through this phase. Also DS likes his formula pretty warm while the BM bottles he'll take at any temp other than ice cold.

@Pumpkin Pie: I've heard that the powder can be kind of gritty so it might be a texture thing. Maybe mix it with the RTF to ease the transition?