I was dreaming about having a miscarriage when I woke up I was spotting blood I went to the ER I was freaking out I even told the nurse everything from my dream every detail even the nurse was the same from my dream it was a male nurse he looked at me like I was crazy I told him everything they were going to do I even described the doctor that was gana see me the nurse was in shock cause everything I told him happen down to the doctor name I never even met the doctor before
3:19AM
Re: Formula feeding ??
5.5.16 | 8.14.17 | 1.30.19
were trying a generic now so you gve me hope! this child reeks!!
Despite this, I am continuing to breast-feed, and trying to increase my supply, because of all the benefits they say that breast-feeding has. I've doubled my supply--from half and ounce across both breasts to one full ounce across both-- but it's not enough (baby is eating about 4 oz per feeding).
My question is-- when should I stop? I like breast-feeding, and LO seems to enjoy it as a soothing mechanism, even when there's no milk. But it takes a long time to feed and pump, and my boobs pretty much always hurt. LO's latch is getting worse, too, because he's not really there to eat.
I was thinking of trying to make it to three months, but that seems pretty daunting at this point.
Is anyone else making this decision? How are you making it? I am off work for a full 3 months, and we've got a good general rhythm down, so I don't need to stop for my sanity or health or anything. I'm kind of just wondering when I should call a spade a spade and just switch to all formula.
Mostly, I feel like I can't find any information about the benefits or effects of breast-feeding so little. All the stuff I read seems to be either about exclusively breast-feeding, or exclusively formula feeding. What are the long-term implications of giving a baby very small amounts of breastmilk?
Or is this a question for a different thread?
I was pumping to feed and breast feeding and formula feeding so seemed I had worst of all cleaning all the stuff etc and pumping after a no count feed had happened.
so that's not an answer (sorry) you can only do what you need to but do try and not feel guilty about doing the best for you both - I still feel I have to explain to people but on the other hand I got some of my life back!!
Hopefully no flames this is just my opinion i think it must be slightly better as its no crap in it but I do also think it's overstated (the benefits)
wrote more but deleted as I think flames would be coming and I have no time for it!
Good luck with what you decide
I had work colleagues asking? Why? Too strange!
That was an answer! If they tell you the amount doesn't count, how discouraging is that?
I think I am there: the amount the pedi told me to "supplement" is the whole recommended feeding amount! When he doesn't finish that bottle of formula, I can tell myself he got something substantial from me, but now he seems to be finishing most of what we give him... Then again, this baby is a very good eater, so maybe he's just gone up a weight class.
Any breastmilk you are able to give is good for immunity. I am also supplementing with formula due to a low supply. I had talked with our Ped and she said to "quit wasting time" and do 10-15 minutes max on each breast and then feed formula. I was so relieved because I was doing marathon 5-6 hour feedings before we decided to supplement and baby was Hangry and had not gained enough to return to her birth weight by 2 weeks.
Since we started following the Ped's recommendation and incorporated pumping, we are all more relaxed, baby's weight is good, and my milk is slowly increasing.
So my only recommendation I guess is feed/pump for 10-15 per breast and chill. Your body might catch up when you're not looking
My hospital did not have a lactation consultant available so I was asking the nurses for help. Each nurse used a different tactic, one used sugar water on my boobs, one used formula on my boobs, and one would just push his head onto my boobs and hold it there while he screamed and cried.
I was in a ton of pain and super emotional so seeing my LO struggle with this was really taking a toll on me. The few times he did latch on, it was for a good 45 minutes or so, but he clearly wasn't getting anything because he was still starving afterwards. I made the choice to start supplementing with formula- I needed to do what was right for my LO, not what was right for the BF natzis in the hospital.
Ultimately my milk came in about 2 days after being released from the hospital, so I began pumping. I now get about 16oz per day, so I give LO 4 feedings of BM and 4 feedings of formula. He is 2 and a half weeks old, has grew 1.5 inches and gained 1 pound over his birth weight. My pediatrician raves about how nice his skin coloring is and how alert he is- I know we are doing the right thing.
I do feel that everyone is allowed to have their own opinion, but when it comes to BF I feel like some people can really get out of line and tend to make those who don't BF feel like they are less of a human being. I think it's really awful. We all have our own reasons for why we BF or why we don't. As long as your LO is happy and healthy, that's all that matters
I planned in breastfeeding but changed my mind a few days in, my LO has a shallow latch - resulting in some pretty sore and scabby nipples for this mama. So I've moved to pumping and supplementing with formula... Or if I'm being honest vise versa.... Reading PP I'm kinda glad to read there are others who have done the same - I felt super upset about it at first / like I was letting LO and myself down but quickly realized as long as she is healthy - then I'm happy!!
right now we are using similac, but we are going to start switching her over to the target brand infant formula which is very comparable to both similac and enfomal. What are the rest of your using? I choose target brand because the stuff inside seemed the same yet you get almost double the amount for $2 less!
Also my little lady is 7 days old and is feeding every 2.5-3 hours and can take down nearly 3oz. Is this normal? Latley she's been feeding even more at night and pushed 4.5oz in a single feeding tonight. I feel like she's going to explode!
5.5.16 | 8.14.17 | 1.30.19
There is also a FB support group for people struggling with low supply that you can apply to join. I don't check in there very much because it sometimes makes me feel like I'm not doing enough to increase my supply BUT they have some great resources/files with information. And it's always nice to know you're not the only one. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1532236147091940/?fref=ts
Anyone please feel free to PM me about this if you like.
Picture of the SNS in the spoiler box (because the picture also contains boobs).
Not everyone can breastfeed - Mammary Hypoplasia/Insufficient Glandular Tissue Awareness
Thanks so much! I am sorry you are going through this--I was really upset about not being able to EBF for a few days/weeks, and went to heroic efforts to increase my supply until I just couldn't anymore, and for a while felt guilty for not doing it all anymore. It helped me to learn that this was something I was biologically destined for: i just don't have the tissue necessary, and had my doctor been as attentive as she should have been, she would have told me that irregular periods my whole life and the anatomy of my breasts were good indicators that I might have trouble producing enough milk. I'm mostly ok with it now, though I occasionally panic about losing my milk entirely.
Does the Medela system feel like breastfeeding? I mean, does your baby have to suck as hard? Can you feel it on your nipples?
The nursing system comes with three different size tubes. We use the largest and it takes DD about 20-25 minutes to empty it. Basically the baby latches onto your nipple like he/she would for a normal nursing session and you kind of trick them into thinking they're getting all the milk from you. The sensation isn't really any different than regular nursing, though you do need to get the hang of taping the tubes to your breasts in such a way that they stick out just enough (not enough and it won't end up in the baby's mouth, too far and it becomes difficult to get them to latch because it pokes them in the palet), but once they're on it feels very natural and you don't feel that it's there. Plus your baby is stimulating your supply and completely emptying your breasts at the same time.
It also lets you open/close the flow of the formula, which is great because otherwise your baby might end up just drinking from the straw. You wait until they're properly latched and then 'turn on' the milk.
Not everyone can breastfeed - Mammary Hypoplasia/Insufficient Glandular Tissue Awareness
leaking? I'll be 5 weeks pp tomorrow and will still get the occasional niagra falls from my tatas.
keep this up long term. Lately my little one is going through a growth spurt and I have had to supplement even more. It's been discouraging and exhausting.
I joined that FB group and it is really helpful! As @mcb2016 said, it helps to hear others who are in the same boat.
Especially because IGT and supply issues are supposed to be rare: every lactation site I went to said only 3% of women had insufficient supply but some ridiculous percent *think* they do-- a sentence designed to get the majority of folks to stop panicking but which just made me feel as if my supply issues were in my head. And the LCs kept saying how much of a mental thing BF is. It wasn't until 3 weeks PP that I even heard of the possibility of not having enough tissue and it wasn't until a week after that that an LC asked about my periods and told me I probably had IGT.
Anyway, I did get another good piece of advice from a woman in my lactation support group. She had low supply with her first after an extended NICU stay, and she gave up pumping at about 8 weeks, when she realized that she was losing important playtime with her daughter in order to pump. So it was her daughter's development that governed when she quit pumping. I like that a lot, because when I think about quitting the pumping routine I feel really selfish.
It's actually pretty shocking how little information you can find on the internet about IGT. There has just hardly been any research into it and people/LCs/Drs have only recently realised it's actually a thing, it seems, and some old school Drs and LCs still think/pretend it isn't. And it doesn't help that so many people are so super opposed to formula. I've read some really heart-breaking stories on that FB groups where babies failed to thrive because their mothers were adviced not to supplement and to just eat another lactation cookie, which obviously won't be enough if you've got IGT. I'd totally planned on DD being EBF but it became apparent really quickly that that wasn't going to happen (still so glad my LC's knowledge is up-to-date and she knew about IGT). Formula literally saved my baby's life, so go formula!
I stopped pumping when DD was maybe 10 days old? It was mostly a mental sanity thing for me as well. And I just figured, since babies are much better at getting the milk out than pumps, I'd rather DD just drink from me a little more often so I wouldn't feel so much like a - broken - milk factory. I've ordered a hand pump (the electric one I was using was hired) in case I'm away from her for longer than a few hours but I don't think I'll be using it very often.
Not everyone can breastfeed - Mammary Hypoplasia/Insufficient Glandular Tissue Awareness