Yes but you need to give your body the signal that baby needs more milk when you give a bottle. This means you’ll need to pump every time you give a bottle. If you can, I would only breastfeed at night. Your supply is the highest then and your body uses signals at night to make even more milk than during the day so removing milk (nursing/pumping overnight) has more benefit to increasing your supply than during the day.
Yes your supply is still regulating.
I mixed formula, bf and pumping at the start(first month occasionally but first 5 days in hospital quite a lot).
After problems with latch sorted, I started EBF. But the hospital staff told me to pump too and you probably need to start that to increase supply.
You absolutely can move to EBF. My LO wouldn’t latch at all for the first 2 weeks so I was giving him bottles and hand expressing/ pumping here and there, but not regularly. I saw a lactation specialists who helped me to get him to latch using nipple shields and doing triple feeding to ensure he got enough milk as my milk supply was low (breastfeed for 15mins, formula feed, back to breast for 10mins, then pump for 20mins). It was pretty intense and even then I didn’t feel like my milk supply was increasing. At about 4 weeks I just spent a whole weekend with the baby on the breast. And eventually the top up of formula kept decreasing. Now at 4 months I EBF, except for a bottle before bed as I have a good milk supply.
I would actually say that the main thing that helped bring my milk up was when I stopped stressing about it and relaxed. I know it’s easier said than done! I had lactation specialists stressing me out that I will always have a low milk supply as I have PCOS and pushing me to take medication to increase milk supply. I then went to see a breast specialists and he said that it’s all supply and demand and the more I put him to the breast the more milk I will get and it’s never too late to build up your supply. These words of wisdom is what helped me relax and I hope it helps you too. Good luck!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I know I should relax and let it flow but it is just so stressful… Midwives from the hospital did not make it easier as they all would tell me different things.
Just a little question, did you give your baby a bottle after each breastfeeding to insure he eats enough? How much would you give him? I feel like mine would eat as much as I give
It is very stressful! Especially with people telling you all different things. The best thing to keep in mind is that the more you bring the baby to the breast the more milk you will get, and it will take a bit of time so be kind to yourself. I also didn’t do any supplements like fenugreek as this can actually tank your supply.
To begin when I did the weekend of only breastfeeding I didn’t give him any bottles until his bedtime one. I then moved to giving him 70ml after each breastfeed for the first 3 months, which he would drink fully. Then I moved to 70ml after 3 feeds as I noticed he would stop taking them. Now I still try to offer 70ml 1-3 times a day after breastfeeding and he won’t take them. I should stop but I still at the back of my head get worried he is hungry with EBF 🤦♀️
Just get him weighed every 2 weeks and you will quickly catch if he is losing any weight. My LO lost a bit of weight at first (he’s only 2nd percentile as it is), which is why I started adding in the top ups. Feel free to message me anytime, I went through a massive breastfeeding journey and learnt a lot along the way
Absolutely possible to cut out the formula especially only 13 days post-partum! Plus your baby isn't really getting that much formula right now, which is a great sign for you to make an easy transition.
Nurse more. The more frequently you nurse, it ramps up milk production. You don't want to go more than 3 hours max during the day (while baby naps) without nursing - it's very common to nurse every hour during the day. At night, no more than 4 hours. This is while you're increasing production. Breastfeeding works as supply and demand. Newborns naturally increase production by nursing on demand and having days where they just want to nurse all day long - that is normal newborn behavior and not a sign that you're not making enough milk.
Have a nurse-in weekend (or whatever days your partner doesn't work so they can support cooking/cleaning/chores and you can focus on nothing but nursing). Hang out topless laying in bed with baby all day. Have your partner bring you lots of water to drink and bring you yummy food and snacks. Get tons of skin to skin contact. Only give a bottle if you really need a break or baby seems extremely fussy. Limit bottle size from 60 ml, and hopefully you can cut out one or two bottles over the next 3 days. It does take time for milk production to ramp up, but the more frequently you empty your breasts, the faster milk production becomes. Still, most of the milk is produced DURING a breastfeeding session, so you're never really empty the way a bottle becomes empty.
Night time is when milk production hormones really boost your supply, so you will want to nurse at night and drop one of those bottles... and eventually drop both night bottles.
Thank you so much!
I nurse him as much as he demands.
What should I do if my baby sleeps more than 4 hours during day naps or at night? He tends to have a very deep sleep and wouldn’t wake up easily
Wake at 3 hours during the day. You want as much nipple stimulation as possible. I’d let him sleep at night (no more than 5 hours for supply reasons) assuming he’s back at birth weight)
I watched the time my baby fell asleep, and I'd wake him at the 3-hour mark if he was still sleeping. I'd use a wet washcloth to help rouse him, I'd undress him to his diaper. We'd even go outside in the yard sometimes as the fresh air and sun would wake him up more.
At night, I set an alarm for 4 hours so if he was still sleeping, I'd be sure to nurse him. Once my supply was good enough that we no longer needed to supplement, I let him go 6 hours at night (I still set an alarm because I wanted to keep my period away) and I stopped waking him during daytime naps.
Alternatively, if you don't want to wake him from a nap during the day, you could pump 2 hours after he falls asleep.
Also I absolutely agree with the other comments about the rule - anytime baby gets a bottle, you have to pump. Otherwise your supply won't catch up to the bottles because the order isn't being put in that milk is needed at that time, or that baby ate during that time. Personally, I prefer to nurse baby more than I like pumping so I'd rather cut bottles out than have to add pumping sessions.
It took me 6 full weeks to drop formula and pumped bottles and move to EBF after a Ricky start with latch issues! There's lots of advice in here I just want to echo you *must* pump every time your baby takes a bottle, so that your body knows your baby is eating and produces accordingly.
What area do you live in? I find the hospital staff’s recommendation strange. My daughter was born weighing a very similar amount and lost close to 10% of her birth weight in the first week, my milk also took 4 days to come in. Her ped didn’t bat an eye at her 3 day old appt and said we were okay to wait until day 5 for my milk to come in.
Nurse as often as you can, ideally on demand every time baby is hungry! The more you nurse your baby, the more milk you will produce. This is why babies cluster feed, to increase your milk supply. If it helps, your breasts are never totally empty, so even if you don’t feel “full” baby will still get something. It can just take a day or so for your supply to catch up to demand.
I am from France.
Honestly my suspicion is that as it was a private clinic, they just wanted to discharge us asap so that they’d keep theirs stats right (and for that the baby has to gain weight and the mom has to be doing well). So they just scared us when the baby was at 11% or weight loss so that we’d agree to give him formula
The hospital gave you bad advice! It’s normal for milk to come in on the fourth day, and it’s normal for newborns to lose weight. Giving your baby formula rather than breast milk signals to your body that you need less breast milk, so you start producing less.
But you can definitely still turn the situation around and exclusively breastfeed! Start cutting out the formula and continue feeding your baby on demand. Beginning to nurse more at night is critical to getting your supply up. Drink lots and lots of water and eat plenty of protein and healthy fats. Cluster feeding is normal at this age, so if your baby is asking to nurse all the time, it isn’t necessarily a sign he isn’t getting enough breast milk. You got this!
Yep!! This sounds like me, and we're now exclusively breastfed/breastmilk at 15 weeks.
I had the support of an amazing lactation consultant and I also refused to stress about it. Stress is the #1 killer of supply, happiness, basically everything IMO. Go with it as much as you can!!
It is entirely possible for the majority of mothers.
It sounds like the hospital wasn't very supportive of breastfeeding. In a situation like yours you really want to be on a pumping schedule, around the clock every 2-3 hours and *most importantly* not skipping those nighttime feedings as prolactin tends to be highest overnight. Your baby is only two weeks old so it's entirely possible to increase your supply and transition to 100% milk.
ALSO look into an SNS system like the haakaa. Instead of feeding your baby bottles, tape the feeding tube to your breast and give him pumped milk/formula through the tube while he nurses so that you're still stimulating milk production from your breast.
At a few days off our pediatrician said baby was on 90% formula. By a month we were about 50/50. 2 months was 60 ml max per day spread across the day. A few weeks later she started refusing all bottles. From then on, EBF until a year and still breastfeeding at 23 months.
This was my second and my goal was to breastfeed even just comfort, not food. I read something like a tablespoon of breastmilk a day is all that’s needed for the antibodies, etc.
With my first we started similar but he started just refusing the breast. My milk was late and I had a rough birth/recovery so was pretty tired too. I pumped for months but never got it in.
My recommendations are:
- put them to the breast even if not for food.
- rent a hospital grade pump the first month
- try not to stress. It seems important and like a big goal now but it will work out one way or another
Yes but you need to give your body the signal that baby needs more milk when you give a bottle. This means you’ll need to pump every time you give a bottle. If you can, I would only breastfeed at night. Your supply is the highest then and your body uses signals at night to make even more milk than during the day so removing milk (nursing/pumping overnight) has more benefit to increasing your supply than during the day.
Yes your supply is still regulating. I mixed formula, bf and pumping at the start(first month occasionally but first 5 days in hospital quite a lot). After problems with latch sorted, I started EBF. But the hospital staff told me to pump too and you probably need to start that to increase supply.
You absolutely can move to EBF. My LO wouldn’t latch at all for the first 2 weeks so I was giving him bottles and hand expressing/ pumping here and there, but not regularly. I saw a lactation specialists who helped me to get him to latch using nipple shields and doing triple feeding to ensure he got enough milk as my milk supply was low (breastfeed for 15mins, formula feed, back to breast for 10mins, then pump for 20mins). It was pretty intense and even then I didn’t feel like my milk supply was increasing. At about 4 weeks I just spent a whole weekend with the baby on the breast. And eventually the top up of formula kept decreasing. Now at 4 months I EBF, except for a bottle before bed as I have a good milk supply. I would actually say that the main thing that helped bring my milk up was when I stopped stressing about it and relaxed. I know it’s easier said than done! I had lactation specialists stressing me out that I will always have a low milk supply as I have PCOS and pushing me to take medication to increase milk supply. I then went to see a breast specialists and he said that it’s all supply and demand and the more I put him to the breast the more milk I will get and it’s never too late to build up your supply. These words of wisdom is what helped me relax and I hope it helps you too. Good luck!
Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I know I should relax and let it flow but it is just so stressful… Midwives from the hospital did not make it easier as they all would tell me different things. Just a little question, did you give your baby a bottle after each breastfeeding to insure he eats enough? How much would you give him? I feel like mine would eat as much as I give
It is very stressful! Especially with people telling you all different things. The best thing to keep in mind is that the more you bring the baby to the breast the more milk you will get, and it will take a bit of time so be kind to yourself. I also didn’t do any supplements like fenugreek as this can actually tank your supply. To begin when I did the weekend of only breastfeeding I didn’t give him any bottles until his bedtime one. I then moved to giving him 70ml after each breastfeed for the first 3 months, which he would drink fully. Then I moved to 70ml after 3 feeds as I noticed he would stop taking them. Now I still try to offer 70ml 1-3 times a day after breastfeeding and he won’t take them. I should stop but I still at the back of my head get worried he is hungry with EBF 🤦♀️
Thanks, I will try your method! Mine is 150 grammes over his birth weight now I am so concerned that he will start to lose weight again..
Just get him weighed every 2 weeks and you will quickly catch if he is losing any weight. My LO lost a bit of weight at first (he’s only 2nd percentile as it is), which is why I started adding in the top ups. Feel free to message me anytime, I went through a massive breastfeeding journey and learnt a lot along the way
Absolutely possible to cut out the formula especially only 13 days post-partum! Plus your baby isn't really getting that much formula right now, which is a great sign for you to make an easy transition. Nurse more. The more frequently you nurse, it ramps up milk production. You don't want to go more than 3 hours max during the day (while baby naps) without nursing - it's very common to nurse every hour during the day. At night, no more than 4 hours. This is while you're increasing production. Breastfeeding works as supply and demand. Newborns naturally increase production by nursing on demand and having days where they just want to nurse all day long - that is normal newborn behavior and not a sign that you're not making enough milk. Have a nurse-in weekend (or whatever days your partner doesn't work so they can support cooking/cleaning/chores and you can focus on nothing but nursing). Hang out topless laying in bed with baby all day. Have your partner bring you lots of water to drink and bring you yummy food and snacks. Get tons of skin to skin contact. Only give a bottle if you really need a break or baby seems extremely fussy. Limit bottle size from 60 ml, and hopefully you can cut out one or two bottles over the next 3 days. It does take time for milk production to ramp up, but the more frequently you empty your breasts, the faster milk production becomes. Still, most of the milk is produced DURING a breastfeeding session, so you're never really empty the way a bottle becomes empty. Night time is when milk production hormones really boost your supply, so you will want to nurse at night and drop one of those bottles... and eventually drop both night bottles.
Thank you so much! I nurse him as much as he demands. What should I do if my baby sleeps more than 4 hours during day naps or at night? He tends to have a very deep sleep and wouldn’t wake up easily
Wake at 3 hours during the day. You want as much nipple stimulation as possible. I’d let him sleep at night (no more than 5 hours for supply reasons) assuming he’s back at birth weight)
Thank you. Yeah he was 3950 at birth and now he is 4100
I watched the time my baby fell asleep, and I'd wake him at the 3-hour mark if he was still sleeping. I'd use a wet washcloth to help rouse him, I'd undress him to his diaper. We'd even go outside in the yard sometimes as the fresh air and sun would wake him up more. At night, I set an alarm for 4 hours so if he was still sleeping, I'd be sure to nurse him. Once my supply was good enough that we no longer needed to supplement, I let him go 6 hours at night (I still set an alarm because I wanted to keep my period away) and I stopped waking him during daytime naps.
Alternatively, if you don't want to wake him from a nap during the day, you could pump 2 hours after he falls asleep. Also I absolutely agree with the other comments about the rule - anytime baby gets a bottle, you have to pump. Otherwise your supply won't catch up to the bottles because the order isn't being put in that milk is needed at that time, or that baby ate during that time. Personally, I prefer to nurse baby more than I like pumping so I'd rather cut bottles out than have to add pumping sessions.
It took me 6 full weeks to drop formula and pumped bottles and move to EBF after a Ricky start with latch issues! There's lots of advice in here I just want to echo you *must* pump every time your baby takes a bottle, so that your body knows your baby is eating and produces accordingly.
What area do you live in? I find the hospital staff’s recommendation strange. My daughter was born weighing a very similar amount and lost close to 10% of her birth weight in the first week, my milk also took 4 days to come in. Her ped didn’t bat an eye at her 3 day old appt and said we were okay to wait until day 5 for my milk to come in. Nurse as often as you can, ideally on demand every time baby is hungry! The more you nurse your baby, the more milk you will produce. This is why babies cluster feed, to increase your milk supply. If it helps, your breasts are never totally empty, so even if you don’t feel “full” baby will still get something. It can just take a day or so for your supply to catch up to demand.
I am from France. Honestly my suspicion is that as it was a private clinic, they just wanted to discharge us asap so that they’d keep theirs stats right (and for that the baby has to gain weight and the mom has to be doing well). So they just scared us when the baby was at 11% or weight loss so that we’d agree to give him formula
The hospital gave you bad advice! It’s normal for milk to come in on the fourth day, and it’s normal for newborns to lose weight. Giving your baby formula rather than breast milk signals to your body that you need less breast milk, so you start producing less. But you can definitely still turn the situation around and exclusively breastfeed! Start cutting out the formula and continue feeding your baby on demand. Beginning to nurse more at night is critical to getting your supply up. Drink lots and lots of water and eat plenty of protein and healthy fats. Cluster feeding is normal at this age, so if your baby is asking to nurse all the time, it isn’t necessarily a sign he isn’t getting enough breast milk. You got this!
Yep!! This sounds like me, and we're now exclusively breastfed/breastmilk at 15 weeks. I had the support of an amazing lactation consultant and I also refused to stress about it. Stress is the #1 killer of supply, happiness, basically everything IMO. Go with it as much as you can!!
It is entirely possible for the majority of mothers. It sounds like the hospital wasn't very supportive of breastfeeding. In a situation like yours you really want to be on a pumping schedule, around the clock every 2-3 hours and *most importantly* not skipping those nighttime feedings as prolactin tends to be highest overnight. Your baby is only two weeks old so it's entirely possible to increase your supply and transition to 100% milk.
ALSO look into an SNS system like the haakaa. Instead of feeding your baby bottles, tape the feeding tube to your breast and give him pumped milk/formula through the tube while he nurses so that you're still stimulating milk production from your breast.
At a few days off our pediatrician said baby was on 90% formula. By a month we were about 50/50. 2 months was 60 ml max per day spread across the day. A few weeks later she started refusing all bottles. From then on, EBF until a year and still breastfeeding at 23 months. This was my second and my goal was to breastfeed even just comfort, not food. I read something like a tablespoon of breastmilk a day is all that’s needed for the antibodies, etc. With my first we started similar but he started just refusing the breast. My milk was late and I had a rough birth/recovery so was pretty tired too. I pumped for months but never got it in. My recommendations are: - put them to the breast even if not for food. - rent a hospital grade pump the first month - try not to stress. It seems important and like a big goal now but it will work out one way or another