Were you ever able to wean baby off the formula? At this point my supply just isn't there to take over for the 16 oz of formula she is drinking a day.
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We started supplementing around 6 months. At first, it was only a few ounces per week, but by one year, it was more than half of every bottle. My supply never recovered after I started work.
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Nope, but LO got breastmilk until she was 1
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Yes. We supplemented the first month up to 20 oz on one day. I gradually worked on maintaining and increasing my supply, continuing to nurse on demand and supplement after, and working with an LC. By one month he was EBF and was until I went back tower at 6 months and we now supplement between 4-10 oz a day. Happy to talk more if you have any questions!
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I personally didn't supplement at all but I had a few friends who had to use formula at the beginning for certain situations (jaundice, milk took a long time to come in, etc) and they were all able to wean off the formula and go to 100% breastmilk. But I think the sooner the better. The longer you rely on formula, the harder it will be to get your supply up to meet baby's needs.
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For the first 4-5 weeks we BFed and supplemented. LO is 14 weeks on Wednesday and been EBF ever since! It took a lot of work, lots of nursing, pumping, 5 LC visits, fenugreek, Dom, tea, cookies, oatmeal, water...but something in that mess is working! LO is nursing and gaining well.
I think I searched this sane question a million times when I was about where you are! Good luck, but it isn't the end if the world if you need to supplement!
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With my twins I had to supplement in the beginning. My milk didn't come in for two weeks. So as I started producing more milk they needed less formula. I always ran out of milk at 1 in the afternoon so they got a bottle of formula and then they napped. At around 5-6 months they started some solids and I never had to give them formula again because their food intake was enough for me to catch up and feed them enough.
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@maybebaby: i would love to hear more! How did you increase your supply? We are working with an LC who has me using a hospital grade pump and pumping after every feeding. We feed on demand (which is about every 2 during the day and 3 at night) I'm taking fenugreek and yea and more milk pills.
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@MrsH: both of my kids got mostly formula the first 1-2 weeks of their lives because they had jaundice! I was able to cut formula out completely and nursed DD until she was 28 months old and DS until he turned 1! (homey self weaned
) I would nurse and pump as much as you can, drink lots of water, take supplements if you have to, and eat well!
Good luck!
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We supplemented from day 1 and I was hardly able to pump enough to supply her intake. I think I was able to match her intake maybe a handful of times? I nurse exclusively on the weekends but during the week we kept a tub of powdered formula at daycare. They knew if we didn't send enough bm to supplement with formula.
I took many supplements, drank a ton of water, tried pumping between the golden hours. Nothing helped my supply. I'm really hoping it's better with #2. If not I'm willing to try domperidone. I didn't hear about that until I was almost done pumping with M. -
We had issues with jaundice and supplemented for the first 3 weeks. I nursed 15 minutes on each side, then pumped for 15 minutes after each feeding. It was a lot of work, but was lucky to end up with a great supply and was able to stop formula and just continued with a bottle or two of pumped milk a day so I could take a nursing break. I'm planning to do the same thing again with #2.
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I EP'ed and had to supplement with formula for over a month. Eventually my supply was able to catch up and he was given exclusively breast milk until his first birthday.
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No, we still supplement, but less than we did at first. I am at peace with it now & glad I kept nursing anyway.
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