Help regdg breastfeeding

shrutimanjunath · May 28, 2014

Hi ladies

I have a scenario. My son is 2.5 months old. He's got good appetite.

I was breastfeeding him and only the night times we fed him formula. His weight gain was ok.
As he has comfort sucking always. I thought I would pump milk for him so that would help him get rid of comfort sucking. But I faced other things like
1. I'm noticing getting very less milk supply thru pump. 4 oz in the morning and later even after 3 hours I just get 2 oz. my pump is medela.
2. His appetite has increased. He drinks 6 oz in few mins. I have spoke to my doctor and as he dint get any issues with it. She's fine.
3.he was getting sufficient diapers when he comfort sucked. But now if I bf him and don't top him with formula.he gets lesser diapers. This makes me think I'm having less bm.

4. I always used nipple shield. And when he comfort sucked almost whole the time. Some milk would be there in the shield. And it made me think that I had sufficient milk. Now when I bf him. Not much milk comes as I don't notice it in shield and he cries ( he cries as there is no milk flow).

I believed that bm is always a demand and supply method. Now my case is not the same.

Please guide me back to get more bm. Have u faced less milk supply in feeding your lo? How did you manage ? Is it good to give 50-50 formula and bm for the day.

pantu · May 28, 2014

Hi, at least you have something to offer to your baby. Some mothers don't get any bm or supply is very short. Give him bm and formula. As long as his wet diapers are plenty it is fine.

rose8282 · May 28, 2014

I know we tend to gauge milk supply after we pump, but pumps don't remove milk efficiently. I always had supply issues so was and am doing formula and bm. What I noticed recently was less and less milk was being pumped. So after pumping some, I am manually expressing and it gives me 2-3oz more.
One thing I learnt the hard way, for successful breastfeeding, you need to always breastfeed for first 6 weeks. Only breastfeeding. By that I mean, no pump, no formula. That essentially establishes the supply and then you can maintain it.

Do the best you can...there is only this much we can do. I feel guilty too about giving formula but my mother and mother in law both gave their children formula and we turned out fine. So don't beat yourself up.

shrutimanjunath · May 28, 2014

Rose

I agree your thoughts. Are you giving 50-50. ?

rose8282 said: ↑

I know we tend to gauge milk supply after we pump, but pumps don't remove milk efficiently. I always had supply issues so was and am doing formula and bm. What I noticed recently was less and less milk was being pumped. So after pumping some, I am manually expressing and it gives me 2-3oz more.
One thing I learnt the hard way, for successful breastfeeding, you need to always breastfeed for first 6 weeks. Only breastfeeding. By that I mean, no pump, no formula. That essentially establishes the supply and then you can maintain it.

Do the best you can...there is only this much we can do. I feel guilty too about giving formula but my mother and mother in law both gave their children formula and we turned out fine. So don't beat yourself up.
Click to expand...

rose8282 · May 28, 2014

I try to give 1 bottle of expressed bm during the day and after 7 till next morning 5, I breastfeed on demand (nowadays she gets up more frequently so I am tending to think milk is depleting). I try to do 50-50 but I think she has more formula because at night, even though she wakes up to drink, she drinks in her sleep so pretty much very less quantity each time.

Sparks · May 28, 2014

As rose has mentioned pumps dont remove milk efficiently. If pumping is not absolutely
required then I would suggest you to continue feeding directly. We always feel that bm might not be sufficient...but if baby is having sufficient wet diapers and gaining weight then no need to worry. Also now that the wether is getting warmer....he may have less wet diaper

Rakhii · May 28, 2014

Shruthi, here for the first 3 months we get access to lactation consultants and they are covered by insurance. Please see if you can get a lactation consultant to check you out. She may have additional tips.
FYI, I always did 50-50 since day one as mine was a low-birth weight baby.

Laks09 · May 28, 2014

The only way to increase supply is to keep letting the baby latch. I wouldn't go by the pump. I was exclusively pumping the first two months or so and even after the pump was done I could hand express 3-4oz of milk. I'm sure the baby is getting more than the pump can produce.

I have read that not leaking, feeling full etc are not signs of supply issues. It indicates your body becoming more efficient and not leaking the milk. The only way you can guahe supply is by weighing the baby periodically and ensuring he is gaining enough.

I would suggest you nurse on demand and ditch the formula if the baby is staying full. If he is still showing signs of hunger only then top up. Do continue monitoring wet diapers to ensure it doesn't go too low. If you want to exclusively nurse then supplement only when necessary. It will be great if you can see an LC and talk about all this.

Btw, are you getting enough calories. Any diet less than 2000 cals messed with my supply. Are you drinking enough water? Are you also sleeping well? These were the things that made my supply dip. an impending period also made mine dip.

shrutimanjunath · May 29, 2014

Ladies thanks for your response.

I m facing this from 2 days:
he's taking breast only if it's full or engorged( with shield)
from what I observed. He's sucking only when the milk letdown is fast. Once it's getting slow he refuses and starts pushing. Once I give him bottle he drinks happily from it.
I am continuing to offer him breast and now he keeps the shield in his mouth abd doesn't suck.

This was very much unexpected. Yet I'm trying bf thru patience.
Experienced mommies. Pls give me tips to improve this situation.

Im im thinking atleast we will do 50% formula and 50% bm. With this condition going forward, il have to move to pumping. It will be difficult for me to manage him with pumping.

cutemonster · May 29, 2014

hi shruthi
I struggled with supply issues in the beginning but my doctor was very firm about not giving formula, since i was staying at home i tried to breast feed directly , but still i thought my supply is low , let me give formula , and then i learnt my lesson that once you start giving them milk in bottle , they wont suck on breast, as flow from bottle is faster, learnt it hard way when ds refused to latch and would cry for bottle .
i had also brought a pump and felt that pumping would not yield much milk. but doc told me just to relax and take a nursing holiday, lol, he said just eat , drink and nurse your baby on demand , i did that for four days and felt much better as i was not stressing about how much i am pumping, trust me , stress also reduces the supply and yes it did improve my supply.
just see that the baby should have more than six wet diapers , if it is less then he is not getting enough.
i would suggest if you are staying at home try to feed more often , it will surely help and also take care of your diet , eat lots of natural galacatgouges and drink plenty of water.
I exclusively breast fed till 5.5 months and then also i did not introduce bottle , breastfed till 12th month and then started cows milk in sipper which my baby slowly adapted.i was giving him water in sippy so he made little fuss on getting milk in sippy.
but yes if you have to supplement with formula due to any reason,9 job , no supply at all etc ) don't feel bad. as a mother you would best for the baby , try to give what ever breast milk you can to build up his immunity.