Tossing Supplemental BM? WWYD (long)

h2ojock13

Background :

Baby had BF jaundice and I wasn't producing enough milk to satisfy him or help pass the jaundice. In order to help the jaundice and also satisfy him during feedings I started to supplement his feedings with a 50/50 split of Gentlease enfamil and breast milk in addition to letting him nurse for 20-30 minutes to try to get my milk supply up. If he didn't seem fussy, I wouldn't use the supplement bottle. I did this for 2 days "successfully" until...

Last night, I made the bottles for the evening but instead of a 50/50 split I did 5 oz of formula 3 oz of breastmilk and divided it up equally into bottles so that during the night, if I needed the supplement bottles I had them available, so I didn't have to do the math sleepy. 

When I fed him his first supplement bottle for the evening I had already BF'd him for 30 minutes but he was still showing cues that he was hungry. When I would burp him he would try to suck on my fingers, when I would hold him close he would frantically move his head from side to side and motorboat anything he could looking for boob. I gave him the supplement bottle and within 10-15 minutes he was spitting/throwing up everything in his poor tummy. I freaked out and was literally holding him crying while he spit out everything all over me.  I was terrified.He didn't cry, wasn't extremely fussy after and once I handed him over to my husband to clean up and compose myself he went right to sleep (and slept for 4 hrs)

Now I have 3 bottles in the fridge of the mixture I made last night and I'm so scared to use them. I need to toss them by 9PM tonight if I don't use them but it breaks my heart and scares the sh*t out of me to think that if I feed it to him again we'll have a playback of last night. DH thinks that I overfed him, and that the supplement bottles are okay. I am thinking that even though we'd fed him other supplement bottles and even one straight formula bottle (out in public, he freaked, I freaked) and it was fine that he's somehow irritated by the formula now and I need to toss it.

I was up all night trying to pump enough to fill him up at one feeding, and have enough in the fridge to get him through one BM feeding tonight if he isn't full after BF'ing but I don't know if I should toss the bottles (they have liquid BM gold in them!) or if I should try again and see what happens.

If you made it this far, thank you so much. I am a FTM and BF'ing has been hard, i've been trying to do everything to at least be able to give him BM. Any suggestions/advice you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

lindseynicole203

Well im a FTM too and im not breastfeeding my lil guy but he did the same projectile vomiting thing too and it turned out to be really bad acid reflux. He was hospitalized for 3 days with it cause it got sooo out of control and they told me that breastfed babies that have it dont spit as much cause breastmilk is a natural acid reducer. So your LO could have acid reflux and you just havent noticed it b/c you breastfeed but thats just a guess. I dont think there is anything wrong with ur bottles tho so if it were me I would try again and if he does the same thing I would lay off the formula until u talk to you ped. Hope this helps a lil and good luck girl!!

heysupnatalie

Did you try giving him a pacifier to suck on after the first bottle? Sometimes my baby does the whole motorboat thing but really only wants something to suck on.

Cassondra09

Silas only BFs on one side each feeding. Sometimes after that side he continues to show feeding cues, so I put him to the other breast. He takes it, drinks up and then not 5 minutes later it ALL (or so it seems) comes back up! He isn't fussy and doesn't cry but it makes me cry sometimes to see him spit up so much. I have come to the conclusion that he is full after the one side, so I give him his paci and 99% of the time that fixes him. If it doesn't then I give him the other breast, those few times he has still wanted more (and the paci didn't work), I went ahead and fed him and it all stayed down!

h2ojock13

Ladies,

 Thank You. I just got done feeding him and we cycled through each breast twice for about 45 minutes total. He still was giving me hunger cues so I gave him his paci and walked around the living room for a bit. I now have a happy baby in our RNP and he's been sleeping for over an hour. 

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.

ETA : 

BTW, I tossed the BM because somehow between feedings and what not today I managed to bank 5oz of BM. Tonight, if he needs to be "supplemented" we'll be drinking mommy's milk. Again everyone, Thank You.

kacelle

heysupnatalie:

Did you try giving him a pacifier to suck on after the first bottle? Sometimes my baby does the whole motorboat thing but really only wants something to suck on.

This is what I'd suggest.  Spitting up everything like that can be a sign that your LO over ate.  Babies have a strong need to suck, so he could be comforted with a pacifier!  It doesn't sound like a formula sensitivity.  

amahrey

dd was doing this a few times last week (after she had acted like she was starving and ate a ton) i have been trying to make sure she burps before feeding her the second amount the last few days and she hasn't spit up- maybe more burping in the middle of feeding could help too?

Lisa Frank

heysupnatalie:

Did you try giving him a pacifier to suck on after the first bottle? Sometimes my baby does the whole motorboat thing but really only wants something to suck on.

This precisely.

Also, when baby sucks on their hands or yours, after eating, it usually means they need to suckle.  If they do it before eating, it means they are hungry.

The Secrets of the Baby Whisperer has a handy dandy little chart that talks about baby's body language.   I highly recommend it!

h2ojock13

Thank you everyone.

I tried the paci 'trick' all through last night and it worked great. I also burp him between each breast. 

This morning after a fresh feeding he spit up a bit after the first breast, I didn't think anything of it, burped him and went on to the next. Then after he finished that breast he threw up everything all over me. I put the paci in his mouth and stayed calm (this time) and walked around for about 10 minutes with him. He continued to spit out the paci and was angry with me showing more hunger cues. I gave him another breast for 5 minutes and when I burped him again he threw up all over again, way more than he could've gotten from that 5 minutes.

I called the doctor and she is not in the office today. She will see him tomorrow but told me that if it's reflux feeding him in an upright position and keeping him sitting up for 20 minutes after a feeding SHOULD help. Otherwise, if he pukes up his entire next feeding, to the ER we will go.