BFAR - supplementing?

bandwife

I posted this on the BF-ing board too but I think there are some BFAR mamas here that might have some advice for me.

I am hoping there are some mamas out there that have BFAR'd and can give me some advice. My sister had a breast reduction and is due with her first child soon. I have offered to create a freezer stash of breast milk for her so she can supplement at the beginning as she needs.

Can anyone recommend an amount and package sizes I should be aiming for? I have heard that breast milk banks require a donor to have 100 ozs - is that a standard supply to have on hand? So far I have about 20 ozs in 1, 2 and 3 ozs sizes. Should I be making larger 5 or 6 oz sizes?

I know everyone has different experiences with BFAR but hoping for a recommendation. I am not a very experienced pumper so a goal would be nice.

cindy453

Hi! I'm BFAR and I have a full supply. I did supplement at first, I think we would have been fine without it but it made me feel better. I generally only supplemented with 1-2 oz per feeding. If you can store in smaller amounts that is great, but if not a larger amount is fine too. She can just thaw a days worth of milk at a time and fill the SNS (or bottle- but I highly suggest a SNS) with a tiny bit as needed.

We supplemented for the first month only. I think in that whole time we used 1 can of formula... I don't know if that helps you or not. It's so nice of you to pump for your sister! 

 It is so hard at first, but it's so worth it. Does she have a pump? Looking back I would have rented a hospital grade pump to help bring my milk in faster, then switched to the PISA once my milk was in. I have a full supply, but my milk was REALLY slow to come in. If that was because of supplementing or because of the reduction, I will never know.

bandwife

Cindy: thanks for this info. She has a good double pump but I will suggest she rent a hospital grade for the first bit (anything to make life easier in the first few weeks is good).

What is an SNS? My sister has told me about a tube thing she can use to have baby near the breast while feeding from a supplement - is that it?

cindy453

yup, the tube thing is the SNS. Medela makes one- our hospital LC gave us a starter kit. If it turns out she needs to supplement long term, I have heard great things about the lact-aid. It's more discreet, and you can BF laying down with it. Hopefully her hospital will hook her up with the SNS. I had to have help using it at first, but by the time she was 2-3 weeks old and knew how to nurse it was easy. I could even BF with the SNS and be on my computer at the same time