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supplementing...wwyd?
my supply is realllllly not what it should be & im barely pumping enough for her 3 DC bottles. Then i have to feed her in the evening and at bedtime. So come bedtime, theres hardly anything left in me. So I just started to supplement a bottle of half formula and half bm before bed. Its working great, DD does fine with it. So that got me thinking....
If im struggling to get the 3 bottles, forget about it when she needs MORE in those bottles soon.
so would it be better to....
a) half and half it, so at least shes getting SOME bm
b)fill as many bm bottles as i can, then the other feedings do bottles of formula
c)get over it and go straight to formula
d) it really doesnt matter
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Re: supplementing...wwyd?
Get her as much breast milk as possible. Supplementing isn't the end of the world and doesn't make you a bad momma. You're doing the best you can
I wasn't allowed to nurse my son for the first 5 days, so it was hard to bring in and maintain my milk. I also have PCOS which diminishes my supply. So I've had to learn some tricks to get the supply going.
First--EAT! Make sure you're eating a great lunch and at least 1800-2000+ calories a day. Drink at least half a gallon of water a day, preferably more (that's 64 oz-100 oz a day)
If you pump AFTER a feeding to completely empty your breast, it will stimulate your supply to make more milk during that time of day. If you can, pump with a hospital grade electrical pump (can be rented from hospitals very cheap). They're the only pumps proven to stimulate production. I have the medela home pump for making a couple bottles. But I've used the hospital pump and it's much better at simulating a baby's nursing.
I also took a natural supplement called More Milk Plus and noticed a definite improvement. It has an assortment of the herbals known to increase production, like fenugreek and fennel seed.
Nothing stimulates production better than baby herself. Even if you're nursing often, it's ok. Most momma's don't have the volume later in the evening due to stress, the toll of the day, skipping meals, not drinking enough water etc. But it is also the most creamy of your milk, so baby won't drink as much. If you're getting cracked nipples, don't wipe off the excess milk as the baby releases--the milk heals and moisturizes your skin. Try using cloth nursing pads or folded up flannel squares (I've found the disposables will always irritate my skin).
Hope this helps!