[janerose]

nak

ok, so dd is only 3 months, but what a 3 months!

i've had some supply issues & am supplementing (although slowly & steadily trying to decrease the amount...)

i was REALLY looking forward to extended nursing, but don't know much about how it goes if you have supply issues??? fwiw, she was getting about 8-10 oz a day of formula, but i've gotten that down to about 6-8 so far.

what things should i keep in mind as she gets older? once she's past a year and more reliant on solids can i just drop the supplement all togther as long as my supply is doing ok?

any thoughts or experiences are appreciated!

 

[Parker'smommy]

I have never supplemented so I don't have any experience with that, but I wanted to post and encourage you to just go with it, and not worry so far down the line. Hopefully by the time you are "extending nursing" you won't be supplementing anymore and you will just go with the flow.

I know that after a year I could go hours without nursing and not get too full and then I could nurse every 30 minutes and not have any problems either. By a year, a supply is usually established pretty well, so you just continue to nurse your babe when they want and not worry about it. Of course, I don't know your personal situation with low supply.

I do know that there are moms on here that had supply issues at one point and are happily nursing toddlers. Hopefully they will chime in too!!!

Just relax right now and concentrate on feeding your baby now and hopefully weaning your babe off the supplements. You are doing such a good job so far!!!

 

[stafl]

yeah, I had some major supply issues, so bad that I had absolutely no milk at all at one point because of bad advice combined with our serious problems breastfeeding. My DD was physically unable to nurse, could not stimulate a decent supply. She was born tongue-tied. I had to supplement. Because I couldn't pump more than an ounce a day (literally, even pumping every 2-3 hours around the clock) those supplements were formula at first. The formula hurt my supply even more. I was eventually able to supplement with 100% breastmilk, and my child was eventually able to nurse as she outgrew her tight frenulum. But it was really hard work. It was all a matter of my determination that my daughter got any breastmilk at all. I had to pump, literally around the clock, in order to replace supplemental formula with EBM. I finally was able to pump enough to make up all her supplements. I still had to supplement, but at least it was all breastmilk and no formula. Eventually, and with lots of patience and hard, I mean, really hard, work, she learned how to latch on correctly, and eventually how to suck hard enough to get milk from my breasts. It wasn't easy (did I say how hard it was?) but I stuck it out and made it work.

Three months is still so young! My DD couldn't even nurse at all until she was three months old. She is now three and a half years old, and still nurses occassionally. Hang in there! There is no reason to think you won't be able to nurse your child a long long time. Take it one day at a time. That's what I had to do when fighting our difficulties. Just make it through one more day, then the next one, then the next one. If you ever need any encouragement or tips please feel free to email or pm me anytime!