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My milk is drying up. How do I combo feed?!
Ok, so I've made it to my next goal of 9 months of bf'ing. I want to make it to 1 year.
I know I can do this with just nursing, it's pumping that has become the issue. I pump twice a day at work. That's the max I can do, mostly b/c I despise it. L takes 12-16 oz at dc. My supply is not keeping up, however, and I'm lucky if I get 8-10. I have blown through my once plentiful freezer stash and sadly I have less then a week's worth of milk left.
I will continue to pump but I'm going to have to start sending formula in to dc with her. I'm fine with this but I am not sure where to start. What kind do I get? Do I start her on it before my stash runs out? How much do I even give in a bottle?
And yes, I've tried decreasing the amount of bm I send or decreasing bottle size. She flips out. She also already gets 2 solid meals at dc plus a small snack of cheerios or cheese. This kid is a bottomless pit. She's 29+ inches tall (92% for height) and 19 lb 7 oz (64%) so she's just a big growing girl.
Any help is appreciated.
Re: My milk is drying up. How do I combo feed?!
If i was you, and god i hate pumping. i would send formula mid day and then breastfeed morning and nights and weekends.
Whatever you do, just start the formula slow. Maybe start 1 bottle a day for the first 2 days or so then increase to 2 and so on. BM is so easy for them to digest and is so great for their digestive system so you'll want to transition to formula slowly. I would maybe even start with something like... say if she is on 8 oz of BM... give her 4 oz of BM and then 4 oz of formula. I think even if you got to the point where she is on formula during the day at dc and if you can BP in the morning and at night, you are still doing a great thing for her.
Has she ever had formula before? Be prepared for her to not like it if she's never been on it before. I BF DS for a little over 10.5 months and by month 11 I was at the point where you are. He would barely take a bottle at 11 months and he rebelled like crazy with the formula. He was strictly a boob boy.
There was just an article in this month's Parents mag about formula and what the best kind to get is. Long story short, if she will tolerate it, it says that Gerber Good Start Gentle is the best as far as nutrition goes and digesting. Do you get Parents?
ETA: If you don't get Parents, I don't mind scanning it and sending it to you. I can't seem to find the article on their website or via the google.
ETA, again:
Add meats and finger foods to the daily lineup. Your baby should continue to receive three to five nursings or 24 to 32 ounces of formula each day.
I just found this:
http://www.parents.com/baby/breastfeeding/breast-milk/combining-breastfeeding-with-formula/?page=1
And now I'll stop because I feel like I'm going overboard with this for you lol.
Dude, we hung out with my cousin's 16 month old this weekend and they were practically the same height. She's so long it's not even funny.
All this info is so helpful! Thanks! I do get parent's. In fact I have a new one sitting unopened.
So should I mix in one bottle or send a separate bottle for each?
I plan on still nursing morning and night. I am determine to do this til 1. On weekend she nurses throughout the day with no problems.
I am concerned about her not liking formula. She only had it in the hospital after birth b/c she lost a full pound but not since.
I am giving her finger foods including meats but am admittedly not the best about this still.
She nurses 4 times a day still during the work week along with her daycare bottles/meals. Good to know the amount of formula/bm they need.
Awesome on making it to 9 months!!
I exclusively bf'd for the first 6 months and then started doing both bm and formula for the next 6-7 months. I continued to nurse her whenever I was with her--before and after work, bedtime, weekends etc. When I was at work she got three bottles so one or two of those were bm (depending on how much I could pump) and the other one or two were formula.
At first I actually mixed the formula in with the bm (you can do that as long as you realize that if she doesnt finish the bottle, you have to toss it, so you just lost precious bm). After a couple half/half bottles I gave her full formula bottles. I used both similac and enfamil (whatever I had a coupon on or was on sale) and she never seemed to care or have digestion problems, but maybe shes just not picky.I have a couple exclusive formula feeding friends and they all like good start, fwiw.
At 9 months I think DD was taking 8oz of formula but I cant fully remember (seriously? it was only a year ago!). Just as a general rule, she will likely take more formula than bm so add an ounce or two to whatever bm she takes now and start from there with trial and error on what her target amount of formula is.
Good luck. I know for me losing that pristine track record of ebf for a year was really hard emotionally, but I was so much happier when I gave myself a break and lessened the pumping and ounce counting madness. I was a basketcase trying to keep up with pumping 4 times a day and arranging my personal outings around feedings because I never had much of a freezer stash to rely on. I was a better mom when I took a break and let the stress of all that go.
I've heard that mixing formula with BM in the same bottle is perfectly fine but it won't hurt at all to call and ask her Ped or even call a LC. If they do say that it is fine, you may want to try to mix the 2 so you can introduce the taste kind of slowly. I just remember trying to go cold turkey from BM to formula and it was a mess. Not a good idea at all. Formula really tastes like @ss so def start slow. Maybe you could even do something like 3oz of BM and 1 oz formula in the same bottle and then slowly change the ratio to more formula. I highly recommend not doing it cold turkey though.
The article about the formula is in the newest Parents that they just sent so you have it then. I wish I could remember more about the article but it was talking about how the Good Start Gentle is made and broken down during creation and how it's much more beneficial for the baby how they break down the ingredients the way they do. I know some babies who can't have it due to reflux issues and such but at least it's a good starting point bc there are so many brands and types out there. You can easily have a nervous breakdown in the formula aisle trying to decide which kind to get. It's very overwhelming, imo.
This is what I did and it worked seamlessly (for me).
While its technically allowed to mix them, a lot of LCs will say not to because you have to toss any unused formula within an hour, therefore, you will also have to toss any of your bm along with it if you mix them in the same bottle. If youre not comfortable with mixing you can always send two bottles or even just send formula powder/leave a can there and have dc feed her the bm bottle first and then immediately mix additional formula in that same bottle if you dont want to deal with extra bottle washing.
One tip for combining in the same bottle-- mix the formula first, in the bottle, and then add your bm to it. If you mix powdered formula with bm it will change the make up of the bm...no good (apparently). Soooo formula first, toss whats left, the end.
Oooh oooh, hi! Thanks!
I admit I didn't read all responses. But here's my experience.
My job ramped up so I couldn't keep up with pumping demands. Same deal - freezer stash was used up.
I EBF until 10.5 months.
Then I started mixing in formula slowly (Earth's Best Milk Based. I started to research ingredients and went cross-eyed. I trust EB and Max likes their foods so done. decided).
If he took 6 oz bottles, for 3-4 days I did 5 milk, 1 formula. Then 4-2, 3-3, 2-4, then all formula.
He never had formula until then and took it just fine. He's a stellar eater in general and will try anything.
I nursed morning/nights for a few weeks until I decided to switch it all over to formula, introducing a cup of whole milk in the morning as we approach the big ONE.
GL. Go slow. I definitely had a hormonal response with decreasing my pumpings to quickly (3-4x daily).
Multitude of factors but not driven by a lack of supply from me - he took to formula with ease (digestive-ly), to prevent confusion, lack of need to comfort nurse anymore, convenience with work travel, baby fever on my part.
My body adapted instantly to morning/night/weekend nursings. I've even had to nurse him twice since weaning and my supply was still there. I read somewhere that you can have a supply up to a year after nursing.
All good to know. Thanks.
Learning by doing JRM. I read 1/2 of a nursing book before having Max. Read as I went along and called a lactation consultant through the hospital for the early days issues. Ignore this post until you need it.
It can def seem overwhelming. It will all make sense. If you intend to bf, try to take a class taught by a LC. I took one at our hospital and the teacher ended up being one of the LC's I worked with after her birth. The class really helped me learn the basic concepts. I'd highly recommend taking a class.
If you do intend to bf there are a lot of women here who do/did it and they were very helpful to me. Use us for a support!
We took a class. Unfortunately it's offered at 6:30-9:30 pm which I feel is cruel and unusual punishment for women in the 3rd tri. I was pacing the back of the room to stay awake and still think I managed to fall asleep standing up. At least MrJRM was paying attention and we got the power point.
But I will be back with questions, thanks LD and Katieg.
No problem. It's not easy at first and support is absolutely necessary. Big Lar didn't come to the class with me but he was and remains a fantastic source of encouragement.
The hospital gave us a booklet and I swear I read it about 100 times after the baby was born. It takes a while for things to sink in - my brain was overwhelmed in late pregnancy and esp after birth.
Kellymom.com is also a great informative website for bf'ers.
you can totally mix bm and formula-our pediatrician suggested we do that. Max will eat or drink anything and didn't give a shiit that he was drinking formula.
for what it's worth, we use the target version of enfamil.