Supplementing BFing with formula?

Jen748

Samantha wasn't getting enough colsterum (sp!) and lost more than the 10% in weight and her billy #'s went up a bit over normal so they have us supplementing with formula until my milk comes in...They told us to use 10 ML a feeding if possible, using this fancy syringe or this tubed contraption thing.

Did anyone else have to supplement in this manor? We are overly worried about her getting enough to eat now and were just curious about the 10ML number...she is pretty much done with the feeding when we hit 10ML so I think she is getting enough to fill her up but I am still a bit paranoid!

shakespearenluv

Hi Jennie, the same thing happened to us. ?He went too far down in birth weight and his billy #s skyrocketed. ?My milk didn't come in until the night we went home but he appeared to be latching on and they told me he was getting enough colostrum. ?They still made me supplement (yes, I felt pretty forced to do it) in the hospital. ?But they used a bottle. ?I didn't even know that there were different supplementing options at that point.

Honestly, the more I think about it the more I think that supplementing with a bottle so early on was the beginning of our BFing problems. ?There were many more issues that caused problems but I won't go into detail. ?Just keep BF before you supplement and hopefully when your milk comes in it will be easy to replace BF sessions with the formula.

I hope you're enjoying your gorgeous little bundle of joy!?

rach1015

We had to do the same type of supplementing with the syringe and tube. ?The point of it (for those who don't know what Jennie and I are talking about) is so the baby is still on the breast, but they're getting formula fed to them from this tiny tube that's coming off of the syringe that the mother is administering. ?Having the baby latched on will help your milk come in as well as get the baby used to being on the breast. ?

As for the 10ML, I don't remember how much Addy was taking, but I do remember that it didn't seem like enough to fill her up. ?I'd say as long as she's not acting like she's disappointed when you run out after 10ML, it should be enough.

I know I wasn't much help, but just wanted to reassure you that we had to do this as well and felt the same about it as you do! ?I promise she'll let you know if she's still hungry after the 10ML is gone. ?(c:?

Williams_Babies

We also had to do this at the hospital but used a bottle. I was told to breast feed and then formula feed her 20ML. I personally think she got too much food because she wouldn't eat that much and the nurses pretty much were forcing it down her. They were worried about her getting dehydrated from being under the lamp (she was jaundice). When we left the hospital she only weighed an ounce less than when she was born.

Jen748

Thanks for all the support guys...It has been a rough go with the nursing! The syringe stopped working for us because she would just wait until the formula was pushed in, instead of sucking...serious latching issues. The home health nurse came today and we still couldn't get her to latch. It looks like BFing is just not in our cards with Samantha.

Good news...her weight is increasing and is getting closer to her delivery weight and her latest billy numbers (taken sun) are good! I think that she just wasn't getting enough from me b/c of our latching issues. 

E&D07

Sorry it's been such a rocky start! I'm so glad to hear that her weight and billy #s are getting better, though.