Questions About Formula Supplementing

I use Parent's Choice (Walmart brand) and I have never had a problem with it. It has the same ingredients as Emfamel and Simulac and it is almost 1/2 the price. I have used it on all three of my kids. They are all very healthy..

T.,

I say introduce a bottle of breast milk around 4 weeks. I'd hold off on adding formula until you absolutely have to so your little one gets the most out of nursing over the summer. Plus, formula is SO expensive, the less you have to purchase, the better.

I waited until 6 weeks to try to introduce a bottle of breast milk and neither of my boys really ever went for it, especially my second. If you wait too long, it might be harder. All babies are different in what they like for nipples, like I said, I never really had any luck with a bottle.

Good luck to you and great for you to be heading back to school!

J.

first of all, CONGRATULATIONS on breastfeeding exclusivly on THREE children!! thats AMAZING!!! you are certainly doing the best you can for your children!! thats great, and fantastic.

second, i HIGHLY recommend you find the local le leche league. they will be able to better help you personally with any questions and they give you a HUGE amount of support to continue to breastfeed. these days when its pretty much all about money no matter the cost to us health wise, you have to go in with all the support you can.

i am still breastfeeding my 18 month old son and i wouldnt trade it for the world! to do it with 2 more children? wow. im in awe!

anyway, to your question. first of all, what determines that you dont produce enough milk? our bodies produce just enough milk for our children, no questions. i really have a hard time believing any outside information that tells mothers they dont produce enough milk. babies have tiny tummies, and they, as you know, pretty much triple their weight and double their height in the first year. thats a lot of growing on a tummy only the size of their fist! so naturally, they will always want to be nursing. this is normal, natural, and does not mean you dont produce enough milk.

also, if you pump here and there, you will actually produce MORE milk, as your breasts will produce to meet the needs. the more the nursing or pumping, the more supply you will have. again, the le leche league will be able to help support you and help you to pump, and increase supply. dont worry about having too much. theres no such thing as too much... breastmilk can be used for all sorts of injuries, even ear infections, eye infections, sinus infections... etc. im sure it would also be nice on a cut or scrape, although i havent tried it... i did try it in my son's eye a couple times and it works like a charm.

so . there. my earnest support for going for it - breastfeeding and school arent competing for attention... and you should be able to produce more than enough milk for it! i encourage you not to stress about it.. since simple stress will sometimes decrease supply. again... www.llli.org - go there and find the closest le leche league near you!

HOWEVER if you do decide that you want to suppliment, you still deserve respect and awe because you are still going to nurse. i highly discourage getting frustrated with it and quitting just because formula seems easier. as a mom of a breastfed child, it was such a relief to not have the constipation, and my son didnt get so much as a COLD until he was 13 months old. some is better than none, so i highly encourage you not to quit breastfeeding. its pretty tempting to do when the formula is already there.

check with baby's doctor to find out which formula he recommends. some formulas are harder on baby than others. some cause allergies, some cause stronger constipation, etc. you want to make sure that you get something that is trustworthy, and you want to be able to change it if it doesnt work.

(however, i am suspicious of hospitols who are probably paid by formula companies to hand out free formula or recommend their formula in order to gain more business. this is sneaky, rude and underhanded, but it happens. take this advice carefully)

i dont know much about bottles. i never used them. a kid in my day care though uses the playtex bottles with the drop in bags. i think it really helps him to keep down the burp bubbles, so i would recommend those. the first nipple that the mom had sent here with the bottle was one with a deep ridge right around the nipple... that SUCKED!!! DONT GET THESE NIPPLES!!! i went to the store and bought some 'normal' mound shaped nippes for the bottles and they were much better. the ridge holds milk and caused him to drool a lot, sputter, and leak it all over himself... and it gave him a TERRIBLE rash. mom didnt know what it was from, but after noticing that he only had the rash after using the ridged nipple, it was pretty obvious.

i would start by mixing some formula into breastmilk i guess. again, i dont know much about it myself, but that would seem like the most natural choice. however, it would also be like a double concentrated dose of food... so maybe instead of putting one scoop for every 2 ounces of water i would use one scoop for every 4 ounces of breastmilk to decrease the intensity. remember constipation is NOT a good sign, and remember that formula fed babies will need an extra bottle of water during the day to keep their stools softer. i dont know how that rule applies to only supplimented babies, but its good to remember if your baby ends up constipated.

i wouldnt stress too much about the nipples. recently i have seen a couple magazines say that studies are showing that nipple confusion isnt that big of a deal. how long are you going to have at home before school? it sounds like quite a bit, so i wouldnt even start the bottle for the first month, as that is the time whent they usually worry about the nipple confusion thing.

do you use a sucker? if so thats a good thing. it helps prevent SIDS and also helps increase their sucking power. thats a good thing as the baby i have cant even hold the bottle in his mouth properly. so allow your baby to use his sucking instinct. www.askdrsears.com is a good resource for ANYTHING and dr sears (who has 8 children and is a ped and wife is a nurse) explains that babys need to suck. an unfulfilled need shows up as an undesireable habit later. (thumb sucking is a popular example, but other oness ive noticed is grinding teeth, rocking, or other forms of self soothing that parents find worrisome or annoying)

anyway, i dont know how you feel about any of that, and i know its probably over-information, but i figured it goes along with feeding kinda ... so.. i stuck it in there .

anyway, if you decide to pump, the medela pump in style is fantastic, see if your insurance company would provide one. mine did for FREE as long as my doctor wrote a prescription!

anyway, i hope that you figure out how to work it all out. thats what its all about anyway is finding out what works best for you and your family. le leche league is very supportive whatever you choose to do. im sure they would love to have you as a part of their group... you would have a lot to share! GOOD LUCK!

Congrats on the new little one! My little guy took a bottle no problem, but I guess that's not so common. We used Avent at first, but switched to BPA-free bottles. My son also took any nipple, so I am not sure what to recommend. I would start with breastmilk and slowly switch over to formula. Good luck!

www.safebaby.com They have the best researched bottles, nipples and formula to supplement for healthy babies.

Hey T.,...I just want assure you that you should NOT have to justify your choice to anyone. (I get the feeling by your post that you are already defending your decision, for fear of other moms disagreeing with you) I hope no one gives you grief for either decision. Do what you're comfortable with,...and I also hope that people can offer you some great advise, instead of being judgemental about your decision.

I've been told that between 2-3 weeks is the best time to introduce a breastfed baby to a bottle...however, many babies are brought into this world and are bottle fed from the beginning (no breast), so whatever works for you. (I think there is a theory that once a baby gets a bottle, they often refuse the breast...or vise-versa, but every baby is different, as you know)

The best advise you can get will be from the nurses at the hospital. I would suggest going from breast to bottle after a few weeks. They say you can introduce a bottle to them around 3 weeks...I am sure you can do it sooner....it is extremely important to breastfeed though. even if you pumped out a little milk for him each day til your milk dried up it will make the biggest difference in his health in the long run. The best nipples I have found for my daughter which is just over 4 weeks is made by NUK. They are shaped more comfortable for an infant. Since I am breastfeeding her it does not cause her confusion between the two.

My daughter was solely breastfeed, she wouldn't take a bottle. It was very important to me for my son to take formula so I introduced formula in the hospital after I had breastfeed him a few times. The nurses tried to tell me I shouldn't do this because it can confuse them and they may reject breastfeeding after having a bottle but to me it was worth it to make sur ehe took it becuase of the problems I had with my daugher when I went back to work. Most people recomend waiting two weeks at least before starting the formula, but to me I think it depends on if it is worth taking the chance that the baby may reject breastfeeding. Good luck and congradulations.

Hi T.! I breastfed my 3, also...currently breastfeeding my 8 month old, and my kids were/are ALWAYS at the boob, too...so I feel your pain. Especially if you have to go to school...but I would definitely try and hold on off on giving a bottle until you absolutely have to, both for nipple confusion reasons and because it will decrease your milk supply. I am not a lactation consultant, but I have had it happen to me...so if I were you, I would wait. Especially if you don't have a huge supply to begin with. I would pump breastmilk in a bottle when you have to start introducing it, and as your supply lessens, if you don't have enough breastmilk, THEN add formula. The more formula you give your baby, the less milk your breasts will produce. Good luck, and congratulations!!

I agree with Jessica that its fine to intro a bottle anytime after 3wks when breastfeeding is going well, but why intro formula before you have to? Nurse him through the summer when you start school, then intro formula. THe longer you wait and exclusively breastfeed, the better his body will be able to break down the formula and digest it without problems.

Hi T.,
I breastfed my little guy exclusively for the first 3 weeks, and then, b/c I wasn't producing all that much milk, I began to supplement him with formula. It worked just fine, and all of the lactation specialists that I spoke with said to wait until about the 2-3 week mark to begin supplementing. If you wait any longer, you may have more trouble switching your baby back and forth b/w breast and bottle. I completely stopped nursing at 4 months, and then my little guy took formula. It worked out just fine, and I was really glad to have a break from feeding now and again. Good luck!

I had to supplement my children as well. I started at about 2 weeks. If you do decide to pump, you can do some pumped with some formula, that's what I did until I just wasn't getting enough for pumping to be worth wile. If you do that, you can just do like 1 oz pumped and 1 oz mixed formula....

Or you can just go straight to formula.

We used carnation good start on my oldest and had great results...we had trouble finding a formula that worked for my youngest, but eventually used Enfimil Gentlease-because he had gassy issues.

My kids weren't picky on nipples...my oldest used even flow, my youngest used the traditional brown playtex nipples. You may have to try a few different brands, so don't buy a bunch until you find one that works for your little one.

Hi T.! Congrats on your baby! In response to your question I would say to wait to introduce the bottle until you know you have to, as in, getting ready for school. My kids never had nipple confusion but there is always a possibility. I think a bottle of breastmilk here and there in the early months is fine if you have to go somewhere or whatever, but you don't have to do it on a regular basis until closer to the time when you are off to school.
As far as people giving you a bad time for supplementing I would just lean on what you said in your post..."trying to be the best I can be!" People will be jerks about it but YOU know what you need to do, not them! I do hope that people who post to you will be actually responding to your question instead of shooting you down and using you as a platform for their cause.
I had to supplement both my kids and they are lovely, smart, and healthy -as will your baby!

I had my daughter in April and had to get ready to return to work. I work as a Nursing assistant in a nursing home. SO i had to do something. I breast feed for the first two weeks, but then due to no being able to produce enough due to growth spurts we started supplementing with Nestle Good Start and she did great. I am also pumped. We used Playtex Advance bottles with the air vents. We found after trying different bottles that these gave her less gas and she was less fussy. I however also use a nipple shield from Medela while breast feeding, and there was no nipple confusion. Plus nipples didn't hurt. Good luck!
Just a quick note: Look at the age group and the flow rate for the nipples. At first they need a slow flow rate. Some bottles come with fast rates which newborns cant handle.

Hi T.,
I had the best luck transitioning my son from breast to bottle with the Pur nipples (available from St. Luke's hospital supplies in Cedar Rapids. Probably available at other medical supply shops as well. I liked those a lot because they were smaller than a lot of the other nipples out there (my son didn't like to open his mouth very wide), so he'd get a better latch and less gas. They fit great in the Dr. Brown bottles and in the Evenflo comfi bottles.

Also, if you're in the Cedar Rapids area, I highly recommend the breast feeding support group at Mercy Hospital. Its held weekly on Wednesday mornings from 10:30 - 12:00 (or so) and the first and third Thursday evenings from 6:00 - 7:30 (I think). The ladies that run the group are extremely helpful and welcoming, and they are very supportive of all moms, no matter what methods of parenting or feeding you choose to use. I found their advice, and the advice of the other moms who went invaulable in my first foray into motherhood.

Good luck!

My baby was exclusively breastfeed, but I also wanted to make sure she would take a bottle when I started working so when she was 3 weeks old my husband introduced her to a bottle of breast milk. He gave her one bottle every night and then I just pumped during that time to maintain my supply and also to get milk for the next night. We did also try formula with her at about 2 months just because we wanted to make sure she would take it in case I ran into supply issues once pumping. She took it just fine even though we ended up not needing to use it. I think every baby is different and you will just have to find a nipple that she prefers. We used the playtex drop in bottles and that worked fine. We stayed with the slow flow nipples for quite some time because one of the reasons a baby may decide they don't want to go back to the breast after having a bottle is that it is so much easier to get milk out of a bottle then the breast which is why in the breastfeeding class I took they suggested not giving a bottle until 3 or 4 weeks old.

I had to suppliment my son when he was breastfeeding too. He had had a massive growth spurt and feed so much I had to give him formula just to keep up. What I have found with bottles and babies (I have 4, the last 3 only bottle fed) is they can be picky about which nipple they like. My son had no problems with the cheaper nipples and switching between bottle and breast. My son who is 3 months old only likes the Gerber bottle nipples and wont use any other. It took about 3 or 4 different bottles/nipple combos to find one he would use really good and not spit up after drinking. My daughter who is 3 needed a special nipple that I could get in past her tongue that she stuck out while feeding (which is why I couldnt breast feed her), the nipple had to be small and kind of long. So it will depend on what your baby is comfortable with and will enjoy using. Good Luck and congrats!!

I just started this with my third. I breastfeed and waited until about a month to introduce a bottle. I put breastmilk in the bottle to begin with, and actually tried formula for the first time yesterday (woohoo it worked). I have found the MAM bottles are the best, or at least they were for my kids. They are fairly hard to find but they do have a website, I think it's www.mam.com - anyway, My kids use the MAM binkys (silicone) and I have found that using the same nipple on the bottle as the binky makes the transition to bottle supplements easier. After you've introduced it I would give at least one feeding a day from the bottle, whether it be milk or formula. I had a real hard time with my first two because while they were supplemented with formula, it almost never happened because I'm a SAHM and I don't have a life, so there was no reason that I couldn't breastfeed :) Hope this helps :)