[Miss Information]

Ok, Emily's birth weight was 9'3", she was 8'12'' at discharge 48 hours later, then was 8'11'' on her two week checkup. A week later after supplementing with formula and ebm (though at that time it was more formula b/c I didn't have a whole lot of ebm), she was back up to 9'6".

Now, at her 2 month checkup, she is 12'12". She gets 4-6 oz of formula and about 6 oz of ebm a day. That's at the most 12 oz of supplement a day. I don't know, seems like a lot of supplement to me (and other times I wonder if it's enough). Her weight gain is very good, but now I don't know what to do. Do I still keep supplementing her the same amount because it's working, or do I gradually drop the supplements? How will I know my body is taking up the slack? I'm glad that most of her diet comes from me and I'd eventually like to return the pump rental, but for now I'm really afraid to change things since they are working. But I know as baby grows, so will her need for more calories.

In the meantime, I just got my order of More Milk Plus and Goat's Rue. Next week I should be getting the dom I ordered. Is it okay to take all these things in combination, or stop the MMP and GR if I don't see any improvement in a week's time then do the dom?

Any advice?

Thanks

 

[captain optimism]

My friend went through this. It took her about four months to get to 100% breastfed. I think she had a lot of help from the wholistic family doc they found under pressure of the situation. I would get in touch with an IBCLC lactation consultant or a LLL leader, and work on gradually replacing the formula with your milk.

You didn't have PCOS, right? There isn't an organic reason why you would be low supply? You should be able to increase your supply as the baby increases her demand on your breasts (by taking out the supplemental feedings, she should be that much hungrier.)

 

[alegna]

I'd reduce the amount of formula and see if you can't make up the difference. Nurse nurse nurse. Also I wonder if you had an IV in labor- that will increase the birthweight artificially.

good luck!

-Angela

 

[Miss Information]

More info - I had an iv for a short while so they could admin antibiotics for GBS. I had one only an hour before I delivered. DD1 and dd2 had been 8'6 and 8'8. I don't remember if I had iv's with them, but possibly.

No I didn't have PCOS, but I did have milk supply issues with dd1 & dd2. With #1 had the brick dust in the diapers for many days until I started supp. In the early days prior to supplementing, I wouldn't have enough dirty (wet and bm diapers) with K and E too.

With dd1 my dh was laid off for about a year, so I had to go back to my job to support us at 3 months, I could never pump enough for her needs (4-5 oz in an 8 hour period- that was pumping 3 times during that time). With dd2, I still had to return to work at 3 months, so I had the same thing happen. Couldn't pump enough to support her either.

So now that I'm home for the first time, I have no idea how to go about this.
I've always had to supplement, I almost gave up bf altogether this time when she didn't regain birth weight, because I knew I'd have to work harder and bf all day long. With 1 child, that's definitely doable, with 2 it wouldn't be so bad. With 3 under 3.5, it's almost impossible to keep baby at breast all day long. Believe me though, sometimes she is on me for 2 hours at a time. When I'm not attending to the other girls' needs, or my own for potty breaks, eating and washing a few dishes once in a while, she is on me nursing. And then I pump also, in between as much as I can. I stay up late to do power pumping sessions (10 min on, 10 min off for at least an hour).

The other thing is that we aren't very good at nursing in bed very well at night. She was actually a very good sleeper at night from the beginning so I had to make sure to supp something otherwise she'd sleep through feedings (and so would I). If we don't co-sleep, she wakes up almost instantly. If we co-sleep, she sleeps too well.

To be honest, I really don't know if it's a milk supply or a milk storage issue (she possibly could get all her calories if she nursed non-stop 24-7, but also due to other secondary issues like chronic nipple/breast pain in addition to the impracticality of doing that with chasing after 2 other toddlers, I can't sit on my butt to do that all day long and she doesn't nurse effectively at night either).

So that's where I'm at. I think things are going better than I thought they were. I didn't have any idea how much she'd been gaining until today - though I did see her retain some of her plumpness in her face and arms.

Anyway, have to go again for now.

Thanks