How would you handle this situation - stranger

[Icequeen_in_ak]

There is a woman who's husband works with my mother (I found it awesome that mom came to me tonight and told me that she was a "earth muffin" like me and was breastfeeding) but she's experiencing some problems.

Her son was born at almost 10 pounds and is one week old now. At 7 days he is still 11 ounces below his birth weight.

She (mom) told me that her doctors are telling her she has to supplement with formula

I've never met this woman before, but my mom thought that maybe I should call her and invite her to a LLL meeting (to break the ice before I start bashing her ped).

I hate when peds tell women to supplement (mine did as well) but then again, he's a much larger baby than my DD was. I'm just afraid if she starts supplementing, she'll end up with more problems with supply issues and end up giving up She birthed at the same hospital I did... the same hospital that told me to feed 10 minutes on each side, so babe was never getting hind milk and wasn't gaining.... she probably doesn't even know it's not the most effective way to feed.

Am I out of place to call her and at least fill her with the knowledge I have, give her numbers of my LLL leader for counseling and just put the bug in her ear that peds don't know jack when it comes to breastfeeding???? I feel soooo compelled to call her.... it might be a chance to keep another baby on the boob.

[abigailvr]

I think you should call her. Just to let her know there are places she can get help other than her doctor's office.

[cjr]

You know, maybe she really does'nt have a choice but to suppliment. : Don't stone me. LOL When ds was born he lost 12% of his bw in three days. I had the health nurse and LC come to my home everyday for a week (they normally only come once, but they were so worried about ds and our bf'ing that they came everyday to check-in and help). They were wonderful and very anti-supplimenting...breast is best women. They were awsome. However, they told me to suppliment or ds would end up in the hospital (he was also very joundice). I had no supply (before I even started supplimenting) and ds would not wake up long enough to nurse for even a min at a time. He did'nt wake up until he hit 9 weeks, even on the bottle. His suck was so weak that he could'nt even get an adequite amount of formula on a number 3 Avent nipple at 9 weeks old...it took him over an hour to drink 2oz on that nipple. My point is that there could be serious reasons for her ped to instruct her to suppliment. I would definately call her and offer your help. If she needs to suppliment it would be great if you could show her alternatives to bottle feeding and that would def cause less problems with future bf'ing. I would have loved to have someone offer to aggressivly help me and my family cope.

[Parker'smommy]

Well, have given birth to a 10 pound baby, it took more than a week to get his birth weight back, and he was and still is fine. Babies are allowed to lose 10% of their birth weight so he is within the safe range. I would just encourage her to breastfeed on cue and not on a schedule ( although big babies tend to be sleepy!) and if he isnt continuing to lose weight, he should be fine. Not all babies gain at the same rate. My ds was HUGE at birth, to say the least, but he gained at a slower rate and was at the 50 percentile by 6 months of age and has stayed there. A big baby at birth doesnt mean he will be a big baby forever....

[bwylde]

I think you should invite her. If she's following the "advice" given at the hospital, that's a set up to fail. Even if she's doing everything right, they would be able to offer her better advice to explore her options before turning to formula. Just explain that your mom knows her and thought she'd like to go to a LLL meeting with you . It never hurts to ask!

[loving-my-babies]

I would call her. She may have no idea that supplementing may decrease milk supply, lead to early weaning, create nipple preference, and so many more problems. Could she pump? maybe that could help if her supply is an issue. At first it's always hard, she just has to be strong and get through the first couple weeks, it'll be a lot easier...
I have known a lot of moms that start with "just one bottle a day" and end up ff full-time. I am not saying this is the case, but remember that ff'ing can be a lot "easier and convenient" in the eyes of someone that just gave birth.
There are so many hormonal/life changes after first that she must be exhausted. So I wouldn't supplement UNLESS she is 100% determined to bf, in that case I would consider it since she would never early wean just because ff can be easier at times.

Hope this helps...

[sntm]

It's hard to say if she needs to supplement or not. Probably not, but you don't know all the story and haven't seen or examined the baby. I'd do what you were planning to do, but also strongly encourage her to see an LC (preferrably an IBCLC) who won't have the misconceptions that her ped might but also is trained to evaluate babies and make sure they are getting adequate nourishment. They could see how healthy the baby looks and if there are any BFing problems.

I'm the first to discourage supplementation (my son only got a few ounces but in retrospect I see how I could have avoided that) but the main thing is to make sure the baby is fed.

[*Jessica*]

I would call her. She may have no idea that supplementing may decrease milk supply, lead to early weaning, create nipple preference, and so many more problems. Could she pump? maybe that could help if her supply is an issue. At first it's always hard, she just has to be strong and get through the first couple weeks, it'll be a lot easier...~loving-my-babies

My son was jaundiced and lost quite a bit of weight in the beginning. He was incredibly hard to rouse to eat and ended up being hospitalized so he could be under bili lights.....and my doctors still discouraged formula for us because they knew I was dedicated to BFing. They said that normally they would supplement with formula but that it certainly wasn't necessary. Breastmilk would get his weight up, jusy maybe not as quickly. As long as the baby isn't still losing weight it should be fine. Unless she is having some issues that you don't know about, formula is only going to mess things up for them. Suggesting that she see an IBCLC is a great idea. What is the worst that can happen? She'll tell you she insn't interested. I doubt she'll you over it!