Breastfeeding Support Group
While breastfeeding is recommended by many doctors, it is not as simple as it seems. This is a community dedicated to parents who are choosing to breastfeed, providing a safe place to discuss everything from pumping, to questions of whether baby is getting enough, weaning, breast care, scheduling, supply, and more.
My milk supply was drying up and I had to start supplementing with formula. My doctor won't give me that pill that everyone was talking about and fenugreek was working but not anymore. I increased my water intake alot, and I tried eating oatmeal(I hate oatmeal).
My problem is I don't know how often to bottle feed and how often to breast feed so that I don't dry up completley.
Anyone have any experience with this?
My problem is I don't know how often to bottle feed and how often to breast feed so that I don't dry up completley.
Anyone have any experience with this?
I am sorry to hear that it seems like you are not getting enough support for bf. People who never bf will often tell you things like "you will never make it, you will need to supplement" and so forth.
Then at a time when bub is perhaps going thru a growth spurt, or a bit sick, and therefore crying more, you wlll start to believe that you do not have enough milk....and succumb to the bottle of formula.
The sad truth with formula is, as I think many of the moms here have experienced, is that it can trun into a vicious circle: the more you give the formula, the mor your milk supply will decrease..so the more you need to give the formula, until one day, it is the end.
If you really want to bf, then the number one thing is to believe in yourself and to have confidence in your body. I knwo it is very hard, esp. with your first one. I went also thru all of those questions, positive that I did not have enough milk, infections, etc.
With my second, I finally realised that as long as I truly bf on demand, even if it meant every 1, 2, or 3 hours, as needed, my milk supply would always be enough!
I would also suggest that you very carefully go thru the links I gave you on the other thread...if you closely read them it may be enough to get you on the right path. Unless you manage to cut out the formula soon, though, I really do fear that you WILL dry up. It is jsut a matter of time.
Very few of us can both bf and ff for any prolonged amount of time. Only if you already have a particulary good supply can you do it for some time, and that does not seem to be your case...
Please get help! A good LC can do miracles! Trust me!
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/milk/infant-formula.html
In addition to what you've already tried, you could try Mother's Milk tea (which has fenugreek but other lactation-friendly herbs as well), Ovaltine (weird, I know, but our L.C. swears by it!) and somewhere on the breastfeeding site recently SuzyHopes posted a lactation cookie recipe that has oatmeal, brewer's yeast, wheat germ and flaxseed in it (all good for milk supply) but also chocolate chips and it is super yummy! My partner LOVES them and they seem to have helped.
If you need to continue FF and BF, I think always offer the breast first and then finish up with the formula. Even if the baby only eats from your breast for 3 minutes and then needs formula, you're still filling him up first with the "good stuff". The same rule applies to starting solids. There is one mom on here, hnelson, who I believe is mostly formula feeding but also breastfeeding a little (she has a medical condition that made it impossible for her to produce enough breastmilk).