Anyone made the transition from supplementing with formula to supplementing with solids?

[JosiesMomma]

Hi,

I'm in a new mom with a 5 1/2 month old baby boy. Currently, he's 75% breastfed and 25% formula-fed. I would have preferred that he be exclusively breastfed; however, because he wasn't gaining weight initially, the doctors introduced formula supplementation. Now that my son is old enough to start solids, I was wondering if anyone in a similar situation was able to replace the formula feeds with solid food feeds (while maintaining breastfeeding) and have the baby gain good weight. If so, what did you do and how did you do it?

Appreciate any advice on this matter. Thanks so much! 

[ElliesMomma]

i did that with my first child.

how you do it, is you keep *all* of your nursing sessions. you nurse *before* every meal. you nurse on demand throughout the day. you nurse overnight. you nurse, nurse, nurse, every chance you get. 

when the baby is giving cues that he's ready for solids (reaches for food, hands to mouth, can sit up alone in his highchair), you offer foods to him as appropriate, let him eat. then, since he's had a meal, skip the next bottle. but offer the breast. offer, offer, offer.

unless you have a very rare breastfeeding friendly doctor, don't ask your pediatrician for advice on this. their standard advice is to slowly wean from the breast, replacing breastmilk with solids, and assumes that people like to give bottles instead. most peds will tell you to feed solids before you nurse. but you should know that you do the reverse -- nurse first, always.

in short, this can be easily done. good luck!

[JosiesMomma]

Thanks, ElliesMomma!  I didn't know the importance of nursing before feeding solids, so that definitely helps.

My little guy sleeps through the night, so I try to nurse him as much as I can during the day. It's been an uphill battle to remove the formula, but I'm gearing up to reduce the bottles in conjunction with offering foods as you said. Thanks again! 

[Megan73]

First, props to you for sticking with nursing with low supply!
The breastfeeding guru Dr. Jack Newman has some info on his site about supplementing with solids although I'd wait until your son is truly ready and it may not be right at six months.
I totally agree with the previous poster - ALWAYS nurse first and nurse often. You could also try breast compressions and switch nursing to get the most BM into your LO.
When you do start solids, I'd focus on nutrient-dense foods such as avocado, full-fat Greek yogurt, minced meat or salmon, egg yolk, sweet potato mashed with butter etc.

[hollywilson82]

I did this with my first. A long story short, we had a horrible pedi who threatened to report me for neglect if I did not supplement with formula even though dd was gaining and I was too overwhelmed and uninformed to just find a new pedi, so I did. And I was never able to not supplement again. But I was able to slowly eliminate bottles one at a time and eventually replace bottles with solids when nursing was still not enough. It was hard work to keep going, so kudos to you! The way I did it was to not have a "schedule" but to nurse whenever possible and "top off" with solids when that was not enough. Keep up the hard work mama!