I am in need of advice and hope you can help me. My daughter is 4 weeks old. She was two weeks overdue and for the first two weeks of her life she was in the special care unit for respiratory distress and required tube feeding. Breast feeding was hard for me to establish in this environment, so when able she was given formula via a bottle and my expressed milk. Now at home, following skin to skin and perseverance she is latching to the breast and sucking. The problem is my supply is not meeting her demand at present (she is a big baby) and she becomes very frustrated when she does not have enough. She is also continuing formula feeds. Whilst exclusive breastfeeding may take time to establish (if possible) I would like to increase her breast feeds and reduce the amount of formula she is taking-generally 90-120mls 4-5 times daily. Just wondering if you guys had advice on safest way to reduce formal feeding-I read that reducing this by 30mls every 3 days may be useful.
Congrats on your new baba. It is a crazy time no doubt.
continue to put her to the breast as often as possible, that is definitely the number one thing. I upped my supply which was low due to a TT by pumping at the same time as BF using an electric pump. I also used a thing called power pumping in the evening. There is a lot of information available online on this.
However I strongly suggest you get to your local LLL group for some support. You will get great support and advice and are likely to meet more than one other woman who has been through a similar circumstance. The 2 women I can think of off the top of my head got to exclusive BF so it may well be a possibility.
I think I might have read your post wrong sorry . I just reduced formula by giving the breast first at each feed and so only giving as much formula as was taken which got gradually less and less. I did not do it by a prescribed amount iyswim.
I've done this twice, with both my DSs, my first was also a large baby at 9lbs 13oz. So it is possible, but it is hard work. I had to express as much as I could to increase supply. I agree that once your baby latches, then putting them to the breast as often as possible is really important. I also used bottles that mimic the breastfeeding action (the Medela Calma ones) to try and help as well. As with PP I didn't measure formula amounts, just gave whatever was needed and gradually that amount reduced as my supply increased. When the amounts were quite small I took the leap of stopping using bottles. I found that feeding frequency then increased a bit until my supply caught up again. I fed my DS1 until 16 months and am feeding my DS2 at 12 weeks having got past the hardest part a few weeks ago.
I've done this twice, with both my DSs, my first was also a large baby at 9lbs 13oz. So it is possible, but it is hard work. I had to express as much as I could to increase supply. I agree that once your baby latches, then putting them to the breast as often as possible is really important. I also used bottles that mimic the breastfeeding action (the Medela Calma ones) to try and help as well. As with PP I didn't measure formula amounts, just gave whatever was needed and gradually that amount reduced as my supply increased. When the amounts were quite small I took the leap of stopping using bottles. I found that feeding frequency then increased a bit until my supply caught up again. I fed my DS1 until 16 months and am feeding my DS2 at 12 weeks having got past the hardest part a few weeks ago.
It's great your baby is happy to come to the breast despite a really difficult start.
I think you are right to tackle reduction of formula now. She is having quite a lot ( you can have a rough idea of how much shed need if fully formula fed by working it out using her weight - about 150 ml X weight in kg). You do need to BF frequently, using both breasts at least once each time if you can ( without fighting with her though).
Prob best to speak to someone in real life and get a plan together. Hcp or BF counsellor?
. I just reduced formula by giving the breast first at each feed and so only giving as much formula as was taken which got gradually less and less. I did not do it by a prescribed amount iyswim.