Supplementing with Formula - Chicago,IL

Great job breastfeeding this long. Keep in mind that supplementing will probably increase the baby's reflux issues unless the reflux is due to you having a milk overuspply/ forceful letdown.

At any rate, it seems like most babies take better to formula when it starts out mixed with breastmilk. You can start wuth 50/50 and then gradually decrease the amount of breastmilk per bottle. I always found my kids took well to Good Start when I gave them formula.

You might expect her BM's to become a little more stinky- but maybe not if you are just going to supplement a little bit. It's possible that she could experience some constipation, but again if you just supplement a little bit it may not be an issue.

Another thing to kepe in mind is that some docs have their breastfed babies on iron/vitamin drops- you want to make sure baby does not get too much iron from the combination of vitamin drops and formula.
Good luck!

Until my daughter was six weeks old, I breastfed exclusively. Between 6 and 8 weeks, I gave her breast milk that I had frozen and formula (alternated bottles). When I ran out of breast milk at 8 weeks, she switched to formula cold turkey. From what I could tell, she didn't notice the difference, and she didn't have a problem taking to the bottle. She, too, had reflux (just recently went away FINALLY, and she's 13 months now), but she was on two good doses of Zantac every day that really helped. Without it, she definitely would have spit up ALOT and would have been in real discomfort. The only real difference I noticed was in her bowel movements. Instead of being mustard yellow/seedy/looser on breastmilk, they became split pea green in color and more formed (think paste or peanut butter like consistency -- sorry for the food analogies). I always used Similac Advance, but I heard good things about the Nestle formula. Once you start on a brand, you really shouldn't switch -- especially if your child has reflux -- unless your ped directs you to. With that being said, you may HAVE to try more than one to see which one agrees with your daughter. (Before the ped would put my daughter on Zantac, he had us try soy formula -- even after she had been on the Similac Advance -- to rule out milk intolerance/allergies but she projectile vomitted everywhere. That's how hard switching can be. On a side note, I don't think that the formula made it any better or worse -- it was just her immature digestive system.

Good luck and don't forget to tell us how it all worked out!

When my now three year old was born, she only had breast milk for the first 3-4 weeks but my pedia. suggested I supplement w/formula since I was having issues w/breastfeeding. I attempted diff. types of formula but my daughter too had the reflux problem and this only made it 100% worse. I could not see her continue to get sick so I then spoke to a lactation nurse that helped me so much more w/my breastfeeding issues. I was so appreciative because then I was able to take her off the formula about 3 weeks later and she was so much happier and healthier (as I was). Eventually I went back to work and although pumping was time consuming, It made me so happy to know that the reflux was non existent w/M.'s milk.

I found that when I started supplementing formula that Good Start worked the best. He refused to drink Enfamil, he spit up his entire feeding pretty often with Similac, and the Good Start seemed to be the easiest on him. The biggest difference I found was that his poop started to smell awful. Breastfed babies' poop doesn't really smell, but add in the formula and yikes!

Good Start also had the least bubbles when you mix it up, which helps with the gas. However, if you still find it is causing a lot of gas, I would just put a couple of drops of gas relief drops in the bottle when you mix it.

good luck!
L.

Dear Kerie,
You might want to try a formula called Nutramigen (think that is how it is spelled). My oldest son is now 15 and when he was 5 weeks old he got Rotavirus which is an intestinal viral infection which causes diarrhea, vomitting and potential dehydration. Our doctor recommended Nutramigen at the time because it is made somehow differently than most formulas that it is easier for babies immature digestive system to process. My son also had colic and gas at a few months and this seemed to help with that too. It is quite a bit more expensive than your Enfamil and the rest but was worth it if baby is more comfortable. Goodluck, let me know how it works out for you. Bowel movement texture will also change since breast milk has a different composition than formulas, but
Nutramigen will still be more easily digestible than the other types of formula and should be easier for her reflux.

Sorry I didnt check my mail yesterday but still wanted to respond. My daughter had reflux also and was on axid, anyways when we got exclusively to formula she didnt have a bowel movement for 10 days and then it was hard and huge and she had such a problem with regular formula we switched to soy and that was just as bad so we had to go to Enfamil Nutramigen, its in a white and orange container but kinda pricy but no more problems ever since. Hope this advice helps if your daughter has the same bowel movement problems.

With formula you can expect harder stools that are more difficult for the baby to pass, a huge difference in the smell (yikes they stink), very hard to get out spit up stains, and more gas.

I tried to breastfeed as long as possible. Unfortunately, I developed postpartum depression and needed medicine to get past it. I lost the baby weight so easily breastfeeding, and my son was much healthier thanks to breastmilk. Plus, breastfeeding is much cheaper than formula.

I still regret having buckled to the other doctor's opinion and take the depression medicine he prescribed. I ended up having to go sans anti-depression meds anyway when they made the depression much worse in my case. I would have preferred to keep breastfeeding as that gave me a stronger connection with my son and made me feel better about myself than the meds ever did. Not that they (the meds) don't help other cases, they just never helped me.