Supplementing - every feed, every other, only at the end of the day?

[sattygirl99]

I am hoping we'll be able to wean from supplements... With Bella, I just supp'd every feed at the breast via lact-aid with donor milk and never thought anything of it. This time, I'm not sure if I should be supp'ing every feed at the breast, only some of the feeds or just at the end of the day. I'm getting mixed opinions from friends... One says to not worry about how much he's taking, just supplement him at every feed since it's all BM and he's still at the breast. Another says to try supp'ing every other feed... And another says to only supplement in the evenings when supply is lowest. We're not sure why my supply is low... With DD, my supply was good but her latch, tongue tie and nursing troubles messed us up. This time, it's like my milk just didn't come in very well...

I tried not supp'ing him today (I did after the morning feed because he was still rooting like crazy, once in the afternoon and twice this evening) and he did NOTHING but sleep on the breast today. He's a lazy nurser as most newborns are and I don't seem to have much milk so it's really hard to get him to suck effectively when he's not content. I think we're battling jaundice still (he was a bit jaundiced at our 48 hour home visit) but since he's supplemented, he's pooping and pee'ing well. I know jaundice babies are often a bit more lazy/sleepy.

He was tongue tied but it's since been clipped (on day 5 of life). Nursing is still a bit painful but I guess that's to be expected at 1.5 weeks old. I'm working to boost my supply but if I try only supp'ing him at the end of the day, I can't put him down... He's literally attached and mostly asleep on the breast ALL day. I know I should be pumping in between feeds to increase the demand but that's almost impossible to do if he won't sleep anywhere but attached.

So, what's the best way to supplement him (at the breast, he has not had a bottle) in order to maximize my chances at getting my supply up to normal? And what is a normal supplement amount for a 1.5 week old, on the guess that he's getting a half oz from me each feeding (based on pumping output on an un-nursed breast)? I don't want to end up over supplementing and never being able to catch up to what he's used to. That happened with Bella...

Also - I'm taking domperidone (currently 90mg, I just started it a few days ago so I want to give it a chance... and I've already started leaking in the morning which hasn't happened at all!), just started more milk plus tonight (I took 3 pills to kind of jump start it) and I'm looking at adding in goat's rue, alfalfa and shativari (can I take shativari and dom together? I'm finding mixed reviews on this...). A mama is sending me some mothers milk tea she makes that includes goats rue among other herbs. I've had good luck with domperidone and MMP in the past and hope it works as well as it has in the past!

Thanks everyone!

[emilysmama]

Well, when my daughter used the SNS, it was really decided by whether I felt like using it or not. At the beginning I used the SNS with every feed. When I started thinking about weaning the SNS, sometimes I would start feeding without the SNS, and then find that the baby wasn't latching on, so I would tape the tubes on and start of the SNS. Sometimes, I didn't bother trying without the SNS. To be honest, it didn't really seem to matter what time of the day or how many attempts a day I tried to feed without supplementing. By the time I started thinking about weaning from the SNS, it was still clear that most of the milk going into her was still from the SNS and not from the breast.

So I started just once in a while randomly trying cutting off the SNS every now and then. But it didn't work. Then one day, I noticed that the rhythm of the baby's sucking was steady and constant, not lazy like it used to be, and to me it seemed like she was really sucking on the breast correctly. So I had the feeling that when I removed the tubing for the SNS that this time it would work. And it did! It just clicked one magical day.

So for me at least, it wasn't a matter of training the baby to gradually stop the SNS. It just happened.

I do know that the lactation consultant told me that if the baby drinks say, 15cc from the SNS at a feeding, and then the next feeding drinks less from the sns, that perhaps it is a sign that the baby is getting more from the breast and is getting ready to be able to wean from the SNS. It didn't happen that way for me, however, and I know because I logged the amount of breastmilk consumed at each feeding.

[ILoveMyBabyBird]

well i have heard many different opinions, but ultimately the idea of having the baby get less supplement per feeding, with more frequent supplementing is better if you are trying to build your supply. How much are you supplementing at this time?

The formula is a baby needs 2.5 ounces for every pound of weight in 24 hours so if the baby is 8 lbs it will need 20 ounces of milk/supplement per day and if you are getting 1 ounce of your own breast milk into your baby each feeding and you feed on average 12 times then the baby would need to be supplemented about 8 ounces throughout the day. I personally would probably do 1 ounce of supplement per feed except at night skip the sns since that is when supply seems to be better and will be easier on you.

Good luck and hope you get everything figured out.