How does she drop the supplements? Expert advice needed please.

[ReverseThePolarity]

A lady from our slow weight gain thread has been supplementing with bottles of formula for five days. Baby is having three ounces four times a day.

She is thinking of dropping these supplements & going back to exc. bf. How would she go about this please? If dropped one at a time, over what period of time should she drop them (iyswim)?

Should she take steps (e.g. galactagogues, expressing etc.) to increase her supply or will just putting baby to breast more often do this?

Also baby is now developing aversion to breast (nipple confusion?) I have suggested cup feeding baby if supplementation is required, is that a good idea?

Baby is just under six weeks old.

TIA.

RTP - can she not start her own thread?

Bit reluctant to chip in as indirectly as this....

I have not contributed to the mighty oaks thread as it is mainly for mutual support, I think, from people in the same position.

I did this and successfully went back to excl bf. I dropped all the bottles all at once though and put baby to the breast every hour or so to build my supply back up. It might be more sensible to drop the feeds gradually, I only ditched the formula completely because my DD was getting too fond of bottles and making no effort at the breast. I needed her to understand that there was no alternative, which she sussed after 24hrs luckily. She was about 16wo at the time IIRC.

As for galactogogues I found they were only of relative help. The only thing useful about the foul tea I was given to drink was that it made me keep up my liquids. I actually found that Indian food appeared to up my supply (all that cumin and fenugreek I suppose) so just ate lots of curries.

I was doing topping up after bfeeds though, and not substituting feeds. Not sure that makes any difference.

I also tried waking up in the night to express then as my baby had always slept through from birth. That seemed to help but I gave it up after a few nights as it was a faff and tiring me out.

She could start her own thread but there seems to be problem with her computer which means that one post gets repeated 100x!!!

I was wondering this, have been supplementing Callum for 3 weeks now and really want to drop the formula and get back to Exclusive BF. I just don't know how or when.

Ah sparkly, there was someone in the same sit. as you wrt prem fedding that needed advice here don't know if you could help?
Glad Callums doing well

Cup feeding no better than formula feeding at reducing confusion - big myth that it is somehow better. In any case, it's not really confusion when babies start to prefer the bottle - they go for the most productive 'vessel' and when the breast is not 'working' they'll reject it. Not confused but sensible Same thing can happen with cups....and cup feeding a term baby is a nightmare and mothers can do it, of course, if they want to, but they shouldn't be led to think it is somehow better.

Four supps a day at this age is a lot, and she needs to stop gradually - alongside lots of skin to skin and bf day and night. Biggest hurdle is getting over the idea that the only thing to aim for is a 'settled' baby who sleeps for 2-3 hours....that becomes the benchmark, and a baby who is wakeful and who feeds often becomes interpreted as 'not getting enough'......

Tiktok, really!? I knew nipple confusion was really nipple "preference" but I did not know that about cups at all! Why do they recommend it in hospitals for non-latching babies? That is very interesting.

I feel a bit sick now as I was told it was better (by a BFC actually - I will have to tell her!!) than bottles for avoiding that very thing, and have suggested it to others as a result.

Sparkly come over to mighty oaks and let us know how Callum is doing!!

RTP - I am not saying that cup feeding has no place. In the very early days, it allows a non-latching baby to take ebm in, in very small quantities of 5 mls and 10 mls, more easily than with a bottle (where some of the 5 and 10 mls can get lost up the sides and in the teat). It is hard to get 30 mls in with a cup, but easy with a bottle, so cups have this advantage. They are also easy to keep clean and don;t have to be 'assembled' like a bottle and teat.

Hospitals who say 'this will not cause confusion' are wrong as there is simply no proper evidence for it - there is no proper evidence for 'confusion' or 'preference' with bottles either, except people's observations, which should be taken seriously, even so....and so should observations about cup feeding and anyone who has been in this for a while and followed cup feeders through will have seen cup feeders developing pref for the cup....which is why, whether you use a cup or a bottle, the baby's breast skills should be maintained.

The bfc who told you it was 'better' from the confusion/preference point of view got it wrong, too.

It can be better - see my reasons above - but I would say for a term baby and esp one beyond newborn, cup feeding is very difficult.

Mother's choice - some people really don't want to use bottles. Some people find the difficulty of using cups too great. It is up to them!

Just to add - it can be 'too easy' to get 30 mls into a newborn with a bottle, which is why the cup with its self-limiting volume transfer (!), can be better when you are trying to protect direct breastfeeding. Filling a newborn up with 30 mls of ebm (or formula) will tend to zonk him out and mean he will not wake up....and this reduces his time at the breast.

Tiktok,

Appreciate that you have avoided the tiny acorns thread for the reasons you stated, but could I cheekily ask that you lurk around it every now and then, if you don't mind?

Your expertise is reassuring, and you may be able to chip in like this.

We're all learning all the time.

(RTP - absolutley NOT casting any aspersions on our advice and support - hope this is OK wiith you!)

Carrot I was thinking the same thing. God it's like when you're at school isn't it? You might be able to support the other pupils but sometimes you all need to ask the teacher!

Tiktok I will tell my bfc friend that, thank you for explaining it. I will have to see if I can get the phrase "self limiting volume transfer" into a conversation now.

Sorry, I'm gonna say 'no'. If I go there, it will be like the teacher going in! You are all fine there, and if anyone has a specific question to ask, they can start a new thread. I don't want to be on every thread, really

No, I understand really.