Hellobee Boards

You don't have to do one or the other, lots of women supplement with formula while still breastfeeding. Also is your LO eating any purees or solids? 6 months is a good time to start increasing their solids intake, avacados are a great source of healthy calories. My LO dropped a little bit but she is ahead physically so by 6 months she was crawling around and losing her baby fat.

Also I was concerned about the fat percent of my milk (it changes)--babies do well on fattier and less fatty milk--their weight gain is only correlated toVOLUME of milk and not to fat percent. Yay!
http://kellymom.com/nutrition/milk/change-milkfat/

I know its hard but formula is food and if he needs more food, then give it to him!

I was so big on EBFing but once LO has started solids, I have realized forumla isn't so bad.

that doctors comments really irked me. "we shouldn't have put him on a schedule, and I shouldn't have returned to work by 3 months, and I should have exclusively breastfed him instead of pumping and feeding bottles during daytime " That is not his business. Some babies need a schedule. He didnt know whether or not you HAD to return to work. And giving bottles alleviates stress on the mom at times. I just think they were unrealistic and insensitive.

anwyays, I would keep nursing and introduce solids if you havent yet. And like pps said, there is no reason to go one route versus the other. You can still nurse and just supplement with formula. Is your pedi concerned with his weight gain? If hes not, keep at what you are doing.

Is he moving around yet? Either crawling or scooting or rolling? If he is doing any of those he is burning calories faster and won't gain as much. I remember reading that breastfed babies gain weight at a slower rate once they hit a certain age. And its okay!

You need to do what is best for you. As long as mama is happy then baby is happy. When I went back to work I couldn't pump what my son would eat at daycare. So he gets two bottles of breast milk and two bottles of formula. He still nurses whenever he is with me. You can do both!

Like all the other ladies I'm very skeptical of his "expert" opinion. Not even the fact that he's a male but how can he make all these assumptions without seeing you or your baby or seeing you nurse?? All this via email?

And I agree with everything everyone said above about starting purees, and the percentile charts, going back to work, etc.

I've been back at work since 6 weeks and M has been bottlefed during the day and I nurse exclusively when I'm with her in the mornings, evenings, overnight and weekends. Is your LO being fed every 2 hours by bottle? When I'm with M on the weekends we nurse probably almost every 1 - 1 1/2hr just because she tends to fall asleep or gets distracted too.

And I DEFINITELY agree that it does NOT have to be all or nothing!! M has been supplemented with formula from day one because I simply do not produce enough for her! Now she probably gets 2-3oz of formula 4-5 days out of the week.

If you think your supply is an issue have you tried increasing it? Drinking more water, taking supplements, pumping more often etc. I recently added a pump session (along with supplements) after she goes to bed and with that session I am able to provide close to what she intakes during daycare!

Also, if you browse the boards you will see many many posts with your similar concern with EBF babies. Moms concerned that their LOs weight gain percentage has dropped along with percentiles, etc.

Also, there are plenty of ladies on here who pump exclusively and their babies are thriving!

I would not make any drastic changes until you've seen an LC in person and talked to your ped.

HUGS I hope you find a solution that works for you & Baby.

@irene: I know it's heartbreaking to even think about adding formula when you're nursing. You don't need to do only one or the other - I think a combination of it would be perfect. I work outside of the home, so I don't have the option of nursing during the day. But I pump as much as I can while I'm away, and then supplement the rest w/ formula (if I can't pump enough). On the weekends, I nurse her so I don't usually have to supplement.

Oh, and I went back to work at 2.5 months so don't feel guilty for going back at 3 months.

Ughl! I feel for you, I really do! I had to switch to formula at 7 months due to no supply, and we had a few issues before then, so I can relate to what you are going through.

First, what growth chart is your Dr. using? Like pps said, it makes a difference. On the CDC chart (standard for formula) DS was 98% until 3 months then dropped to under 60%. But on the WHO chart (World Health Organization for breastfed babies) DS was still above 95%. The growth of breastfed babies will slow a bit compared with formula fed babies, but this is not bad and doesn't mean they aren't getting enough or are failing to thrive.

Second, no doctor can tell you what is right for your family, regarding when to return to work or pumping versus nursing.

When I was pumping, there would be times I had to wait 10-15 minutes for a letdown, but then the milk poured out. Sometimes it takes a while. Usually there is an excess of milk in the morning, so that might be a good time to get an extra pumping session in. I would pump before feeding DS, then again after DS nursed until he was full. Also, have you tried playing a video of LO (with sound) while you start pumping? Or looking at pictures? It can stimulate a letdown faster than pumping alone.

Formula is not bad, but if you prefer breastmilk, then you should be able to continue. Even if you do end up supplementing, though I don't see anything in your post that indicates you need to right away.

If you are working from home, the best thing for right now might be to have your nanny bring LO to you to nurse during the work day if you don't feel like you are pumping enough. Also you could see if there is a place you can borrow or rent a baby weight scale so you can measure before/after nursing sessions to compare how much he eats nursing with how much he's getting via bottle.

I have had amazing luck with International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs) in my area. They have been the most knowledgeable and helpful over those who have just had some training, but aren't board certified.

@MsMini: thank you!!! I was just going to chime in and stand up for Dr. Newman. He is brilliant as are his books and videos. I'm sure the book said things like, nurse as often as you can, spend time skin to skin, allow the baby to eat whenever s/he wants to keep your supply up, etc.

To the OP, if you love nursing, just stick with it. Your body will make milk, the more you pump and nurse the more it makes.

I think, you have a lot of GREAT advice from the other posters.

I just wanted to add some of my personal story. My son is Failure To Thrive. He dropped from the 50th percentile to 0.5 percentile on the CDC chart (so a formula fed chart). He also dropped drastically on the WHO chart at the time (he was still on that chart though). I wouldn't have worried EXCEPT that he had green stools and seemed to me to be in pain. I went back to work when he was 8 weeks old and pumped and nursed him. I made a point to nurse every day at lunch. I feel we had a supply problem at about 6 months BUT I have increased my supply since then (like at 12 months). I didn't feel like he was actually getting nutrients from my milk. Now he has the little buddha belly and is very healthy.

For us, we did formula for about 4 weeks to supplement the breastmilk. The formula reformulated his gut and he has been digesting better. But, he ultimately started refusing formula and eventually all bottles. So, we went back to 100% breastmilk (and solids). He has gained 1 pound every month from 11 months - 15 months old. That is on solids and breastmilk only. He also reverse cycles, this means we co-sleep and nurse throughout the night. I am not sure I personally could work full time and feed him enough without that. We started that at 6 months old.

Moral of my story: you can choose formula, breastmilk or a combination for what works best for your family. A breastfed baby that was low weight can rebound back. There are options for you in whatever area you want to go through.