"inevitable" to top up with formula?

[ahhyesiseeyouvepooedonyourfoot]

Quick query - someone recently told me that I would 'inevitably' have to introduce formula to my baby at some point as people don't have enough milk to exclusively bf until they are on solids? This isn't true surely?? It's what I presumed I'd do, and bf is going really well and I love doing it, or have I misinterpreted the info about bf??

You don't have to "top up". I never did, mainly because DD refused bottles and cups from very early on. Unless you are malnourished yourself you will be able to produce enough milk. DD had a bottle once in hospital and that was when my milk had not come in.

When I took DD to be weighed (which wasn't very often, I'm a bit dilatory) I was asked "BF or FF?" always and I'd say "BF only" and they would all marvel at the fact that I, as a mammal managed to lactate enough to feed my own child. Isn't that what nature specifically designed my boobs for?

Here it is. I was wrong, it is 2%.

haven't read whole thread, but whoever told you that is wrong, wrong, wrong
it's not true even a teeny tiny bit!

my first baby had formula, but neither the 2nd or 3rd have EVER had a drop of it. not one. partly due to the fact they're both milk intolerant, but partly because breastmilk is more than adequate.

sadly, many women end up in situations where they believe they do not have enough milk. usually due to poor support from those who should be helping them (health visitors etc etc) and unrealistic expectations over how much a baby needs feeding.
I've lost count of the number of times i've heard "my baby still wakes at night, should I give formula?"

nothing to add on the need to 'top up' per se, just want to observe that
a. very sad that a HCP has so little faith in/understanding of bf- what harm is she going to do?
b. of all the available mammals why compare the OP to a Jersey cow? why not an otter or a dolphin or a tiger?

No formula here for first two dc and ds pretty much no food til nine months. Dc3 is 3 months old so watch this space.

DS didn't have any formula, was on the 99.9th percentile, started solids at 6 months and bf till 23 months.

Its def not inevitable

Why are health care professionals so surprised that a BF child gains weight?

This really pissed me off throughout my BF year(s). If humans were so shit at BF the entire race would have died out in the stone age.

My neighbour ebf'd both her DSs and with her second donated litres of the stuff to the local hospital milk bank (I called her Daisy!)

EBF DD1 and DD2 until 6 months. Weaned at 5.5 months (one was desperate for food, I wanted to start weaning the other before she started at nursery). Both gained weight well and slept through the night from 3 months on breastmilk alone. Absolutely not inevitable unless you want someone else to get involved in the feeding - e.g. so you can get an early night - but if this is your first, you could always express milk for e.g. DP to feed baby (I found this impossible with DD2 as DD1 was always around!!).

Lol - I got compared to a Jersey cow as well, because mine was so creamy (both DCs went from 28th/30th centile to 98th in a few weeks - DS actually burst his skin at 5 days and peeled all over).

I know someone who EXCLUSIVELY breastfed twins to six months. I imagine that breastfeeding a singleton must be a walk in the park in comparision.

Our bodies are amazing

Lots of people double-team as well (sorry, can't remember the proper term!) - feeding a toddler and a baby at once. They must be pretty skinny, I'd imagine!

Octavia Thats called tandem feeding I think

Well I didn't. I exclusively breast fed dd till 14 months then introduced cows milk and that was that. She never tasted formula.

Obviously started solids at 6 months, she didn't have to survive on breast milk till 14 months.

My aunt EBF twins for 5 months. (And they never latched - she expressed the entire time). She continued feeding them only breastmilk (with solids) until 14 months. Never a drop of formula between them.

I didn't use any formula with either of my two. We're in Germany, and the rate here for EBF until 6 months is more like 40% (instead of 2 % in the UK). I believe in Finland it's more like 90% (Am I making that stat up? - it's certainly spectacularly high, IIRC). Now assuming that there is no biological or genetic reason why German and Finnish women can feed their babies for at least 6 months but British women can't/don't, I'd say the difference is down to assumptions in society and the levels of resources and support available to mothers.

HV's are obsessed with "topping up" - mine didn't mention formula but did say that I should express in the morning and give baby a "nice big bottle of milk" at bedtime and that it would be good to "see how much baby is getting". I was upset at the time because I loved breastfeeding but really didn't want to buy/hire a pump and spend my mornings attached to it rather than my child! So I didn't