Food and Formula

Have someone else introduce the formula. When he's hungry enough, he'll take it. My daughter won't take it from me, but she will from other people after a little coaxing.
I wouldn't take any contraceptives other than the mini pill while breastfeeding.
Good luck!

Formulas all taste different (I've tasted most of them), and baby tummies react differently to different kinds of formula (similac "gentle proteins" for example, made my son *violently* ill... the formula is already partially digested, so it also goes bad VERY quickly... inside of 30 minutes... powdered formula gave him terrible gas and constipation... through trial and error, we found the only formula that worked for my son was enfamil lipil premixed - it has a silky consistency that is impossible to achieve with powder. For other babies, other formulas work). There is a LOT of trial and error with formula. We didn't have a choice, because at 9mo I lost my milk, so we just had to keep spending and trying to find something that worked.

Your son doesn't need solids yet, and in fact, many babies can't digest them until around 1 year old, in any event. Solids for most babies are like eating metamucil or cardboard for us. No nutritional value. When he starts going after your food (because it will start to smell good to them when their system *Starts* to be able to digest it), go ahead and start giving him some of what you're eating. Don't stress about it prior, or even then.

He may only be drinking teensy amounts of milk while you're working, but he may well be drinking gallons when he's nursing. When my schedule would change it would take my son about a week to adjust so that he was only taking 1 bottle while I was gone, tops, and would just nurse like crazy when I got home. If he's hungry, he won't starve himself, but babies are very quick to catch onto how things work. I also couldn't pump. Tried. A lot. Didn't work. But my son was nursing over 20oz of milk each time he nursed. Sigh. So if he's eating fine, but pumping is a nightmare, quit.

I got my period about 3 weeks after I quit bleeding from the birth. I had no problem whatsoever nursing until I got sick at 9mo (massive systemic infection). Just because your cycle has returned doesn't mean it's going to impact your supply / ability to nurse.

So just keep nursing as long as you're able and try out different kinds of formula, and BREATHE. Relax. You two will be fine.

At 7 months he doesnt have to have foods just formula or breast milk. Sounds like you probably need to stop fighting the nursing battle as it is causing you too much stress which could in fact be what is diminishing the richness of your milk. Trust me, if the baby is hungry enough he will take a bottle of formula eventually, you wont have to battle it for too long. I really feel for the moms that had to go back to work and pump all the time, I had the luxury of never having to pump at all ever... and I've heard my fair share of pumping stories in this forum.
I would totally NOT be comfortable with taking birth control pills and nurse, it just seems too risky to me..... sometimes you dont see the end result until years later when it comes out as some drastic thing your child has to go through because of it.
And practice makes perfect on getting him to sip some rice cereal, he will do it tho.. might get a bit fussy and frustrated, but he will do it, just hang in there.

My son had absolutely no interest in foods until he was almost a year. I know you need a break, but it doesn't sound like that will be it.

As for formula... my older daughter ended up having it because if she had 10 ounces of breastmilk while I was at work, for sure I would not pump more than six ounces. It was so frustrating, saddening and just stressful overall. I felt like I had personally failed my daughter. Then (and pretty quickly!), I saw her begin to thrive with the added formula. The thing is, *I* couldn't give her the formula at first. In fact, I had to be out of the room. Once she was used to it, I could give her formula bottles. For us, Similac's organic powdered formula worked very well, and it didn't have the obnoxious aroma soy has. I would assume milk-based must have a milder flavor, too. Plus, with soy, the primary ingredient was sugar, which we didn't like. I hope some of this helps. Best wishes!

Since he'll take BM from a bottle, try mixing in a teeny bit of formula, like maybe a half ounce and see if he'll take it. Wait to see if he has any adverse reactions. Then maybe try a teeny bit more the next day and the next. Keep in mind of course the less you nurse, the less you can nurse. He doesn't really NEED solid food at this point. I admire you for keeping up the endless pumping as long as you have. Oh, if he's taking bottles from someone else, have THEM try it too. Good luck, you're doing just fine!

I have a very similar situation, except that I am lucky enough to be a stay-at-home momma. I have endo (I've had three laps and was on all active birth control so I'd skip my period for a long time). I exclusively breastfed both my kids until they started solids. I was also a pumping machine. I'm sad to say I've actually had to throw out a lot of milk because it was in the freezer too long.

So, for your first question, I encourage you to keep pumping, if you can. You breastmilk is best for your baby and try to remember that it is TEMPORARY. I know pumping is a pain but it's free and the best healthwise. Try to pump until he's one, if you can.

I took the "mini pill" while breastfeeding both of my kids. It wasn't ideal. I didn't start it right away because my kids were so little. We just used the "pull out method" until they were each close to a year months and I felt comfortable using the pill (I don't know why it happened then, but it did). I know it wasn't ideal for my endo condition (plus I had some really painful periods during that time, but I felt better about not having extra hormones. It is supposed to be safe though. I just prefer not to test things if I don't need to. Once drugs are approved for certain situations, the FDA doesn't pull them until something bad happens several times. I'd rather my babies not be one of those things that causes a drug to get pulled.

Also, the pill can reduce your milk production. Somewhat recently there has been a little bit of controversy as to whether fenugreek is good for breastfeeding. I don't know much about it, but you might want to research it.

7 months is still a little early for solids. If he's refusing it's because he's not ready. So, maybe you should sideline that effort for a few more months.

Good luck with the rest!

I can't really help on advice on giving formula because I never did that:) However, if you want to increase your supply try non-alcoholic beer. It always seemed to help me. I know pumping is a pain, too, but I just chalked that up as a necessary evil. I work 45 minutes away from home so I'm away from my daughter a long time every day, so I pumped all the time: in the morning before work, on my 2 15 minute breaks, on lunch, right after I got home from work, and right before I went to sleep. It helps if you use it as "me" time and read a book.
Also, at seven months, my daughter didn't want to eat anything, even reheated breastmilk, at daycare. She ended up eating just enough to stave off hunger pangs and reverse cycling. To get my daughter to eat solids I made the food a bit chunkier and she started eating it. Yes, I know making baby food sounds like a pain, too, but it really only took me about a half hour a week. Also experiment with the foods. At 6-9 months, my daughter was still on veggies, a new veggie every week. I noticed even now she doesn't like to eat anything that lacks color: oatmeal, cookies, chocolate, meat. Try introducing more colors into his diet like sweet potatoes, acorn squash, red pepper cut into tiny pieces, etc. But she didn't eat a whole lot outside of breast milk either way until about a year and a half. My pedi said that it was okay. She said food before 12 months is just for practicing eating, not for nutrition.
I did take the mini-pill for a while at the beginning and had no problems with the pill itself, just my lack of ability to remember to take it at the same time every day.
Hope this helps!

They make a special pill for breast feeding moms, I took it while feeding my sons with no ill effect. It is not as effective as the regular pill, but with the little bit of protection breast feeding can provide it is fairly effective. Ask your doctor about it.

1. While most books/doctors say that 6 months is the age to introduce solids, some children don't start showing interest until later. At this point, eating (not nursing) is more of a social/modeling thing. Physically, can your child sit up with limited assistance for an extended period of time? Does he still reject things that you put in his mouth by pushing his tongue out? What solids have you tried? Is he interested in what YOU are eating? Try sitting down at the table together (use high chair for him) and have a plate of your food. If he stares at you, your plate, and starts opening his mouth, then he's curious. If he doesn't care, then he's just not ready. The cereals are not particularly yummy, so maybe some avocado or sweet potato that you can mash up would be a good start.

2. I was on the mini-pill after 8 weeks postpartum and I breastfed for 14 months. Ask your OB about that.