Want to move from mixed feeding to ebf

[ceeveebee]

I had my twins 9 weeks ago, and have been mixed feeding since virtually day one.

There are two reasons for this, firstly one of my babies was less than 4lb and taken off to special care, was given formula as they said she needed to get fat quickly. My other baby lost 11% of his weight by day 3 so the hospital told me to top up. In hindsight I should have stuck to my guns but was a bit vulnerable at the time!

Anyway now I am mixed feeding but I want to move to ebf if I can. They currently have 5 day feeds and a night feed. I bf +top up 3 feeds, ff only for 2 feeds and express 2 times a day which makes enough for one night feed. Its hard to know how much they consume but I'd estimate that around half their intake is bm and half formula.

Its so time consuming to top up, and although they are gaining weight rapidly I would prefer them not to have as much formula as I know breast is best. Any tips on how I can increase production so that I can cut out the top ups?

Thanks

Congratulations on your twin girls and well done for keeping bfing even in difficult circs.

Are you in contact with a bfing professional (e.g. a bfing counsellor, infant feeding co-ordinator, specialist MW/HV)? Is there any bfing groups near you to give you support? You can PM me your area/county and I'll find out what's near by if you like?

The easiest way to increase supplies is to bf more often, while slowly reducing the amount of formula milk they are given. It will take time though so patience is a virtue!

You can do this by slightly dropping the amount of top up given (e.g. instead of 45ml top up give 30mls on one of the top ups a day) and put babies back on the breast to finish up. A day/few days later you can try dropping the amount topped up again, putting babies back on after the formula. If they seem satisfied you can cut out that one top up all together and work on the next one.

When you have dropped all the top ups you can work on turning the formula feeds into top ups (you may find giving a smaller ff then bfing works for this - you can always give a little more formula afterwards if babies seem fussy after bfing).

There are herbal remedies and some medicines that can increase milk supply but they do have side effects so you would need to look into them carefully and they aren't a quick fix - if the milk isn't being removed they don't work well at all.

HTH

Great suggestions from Truthsweet but just to note check out the new info from the BfN drugs helpline about Domperidone for increasing supply and always ask your GP before taking - there have been heart probs. contradictions in some patients.

Thanks for your replies, very helpful. Truthsweet, I will pm you with my details

Sent you a PM back sorry about the number of groups I just wanted to be sure I didn't miss one off!