Doc says give formula

[firsttimemom]

I'm breastfeeding my baby, but sometimes give one formula bottle at 11pm so i can have longer than 2 hours sleep at night. His weight gain is not much, last check up at 2 months old was 3% only, though he IS gaining every check up at health center. Today in his private doctor, he said the gain is not good (which i agreed), so he said i should give more formula, like twice a day.

I got my medela pump today for me to be able to have more milk, or give bmilk in bottle aside from my breast, and for my supply to increase.

What do you think? just carry on or baby really needs formula twice a day?

 

[carang]

it's really up to you what to do.

IF you decide to give formula, it doesn't make you a bad mother. Just as IF you decide to continue with just bm for all but one of the feeds, it doesn't make you a bad mother.

It is really up to you. If you REALLY want to continue with just bm, then why don't you give LLL a call and I'm sure they can help with increasing supply as I believe you have more chance of increasing supply with direct latch than from pumping.

 

[FutureHKmom]

I don't think there is anything wrong with giving formula once or twice a day - or more really depending on your situation. You should do what you think is best for your baby. I give my baby one meal of formula a day, sometimes two depending on whether or not we are going out that day and whether or not I have back up supply of EBM in the fridge and he is doing really well on it. So just do what you think is best for your baby now.

 

[pooch]

I agree with carang. if you do want to continue bf as much as possible then contact LLL.
For peace of mind it can't hurt to offer top ups of EBM or a few bottles of EBM to get an indication of how much he taking in.

 

[putput]

I can't begin to tell you how many times it was suggested to me that I give formula to my daughter. Each time I ignored them and for each time that I did, I am so, so glad! Not that there's anything wrong with formula - at the end of the day your child needs milk in whatever form - but it was my personal choice. Doctors, paeditricians, allergy specialists etc etc all telling me at some point or other to give formula be it because she was a low birthweight baby, because she had allergies, because she was having a growth spurt, because I could only feed from one side. It was mainly male doctors. I've just weaned my daughter at 14 months, having exclusively breastfed her, and I look back now and know that I made the right choice by ignoring the futile advice given to me.
I'm not saying you ignore the advice given to you. I'm saying if you want to breastfeed then hopefully there's no reason why you can't even if your baby's weight is low, and I second the advice about speaking to LLL.

 

[joyofliving]

Perhaps one of reasons your doc advised you to give the baby formula is so that you can monitor his intake. Since you have got the Madela pump you can feed him BM through the bottle a few times and monitor his intake each time for a few days. If he is drinking only a little each time, feed him often. His appetite will increase after he has the 3 month growth spurt so he should be drinking more anyways. Pumping often will also increase your supply. The quality and quantity of your BM depends on your diet. Hope you are eating healthy and high calorie diet (1800- 2200/day). If not please do so and start taking mutli vitamin and calcium supplements. You should have asked the doc will giving your son formula 2 times/ day help him gain weight? Extensive research has proved that breastmilk is the ideal and complete food for the first 4- 6 months of your baby's life

 

[babylicious]

I was also advised to give formula for various reasons but didn't.
If your baby is still hungry (which isn't obvious from what you've described), you have two choices;
1) Top up with formula
2) Increase your breastmilk supply.

I'd caution that if you decide on Option 1), this could adversely affect your supply.

It's not difficult to increase your supply; you just need to know how. Contact LLL.

Good luck.

 

[mama-to-be]

Breastmilk is as they say the best for baby and not only is it nutritious it contains lots of antibodies which formula doesn't have and with all the viruses around it just makes sense to strenghthen your baby's immune system. Also don't forget that by substituting it for formula that would just mean that your supply will drop accordingly. Maybe your baby is just one of those that doesn't get fat (like mine. she was always around 50% percentile). Fat babies doesn't mean healthy babies!!!! Just hang in there and do contact the LLL for advice. All the best!

 

[Shenzhennifer]

At the end of the day, it's all about the health of your baby. But I would want to get a second or even third opinion, since I think a lot of doctors would be quick to suggest formula for whatever reason.
If you do decide to give formula, I wouldn't feel guilty about it -be happy with your decision as if would be for the health of your baby.
BUT - I would continue to pump your milk for every formula feed your baby is getting, or try to only offer formula top ups. Basically breast feed at every opportunity that your baby lets you and all other times pump to endure that you keep your supply up and to have a supply that you can maybe give your baby instead of the formula.
But I would definitely pop into some other clinics to get some other opinions.

 

[lylee]

just like to share my experience - i also breastfed my baby exclusively for ~7mos. though she was tiny to begin with, at the 7 month check-up, we found out she didn't gain any weight over the month & just 7oz the previous month. so my ped recommended formula... i struggled a lot with the decision & in the end, gave in & switched to formula. but not sure if it's only my baby? but switching to formula did NOT help her weight gain at all. she was more or less at the same weight a 8 mos check-up. the ped did some tests & everything seems fine and she's active, hitting all the milestones so i'm trying not to focus on the weight aspect anymore. so, formula does not always help a baby gain weight! no in my baby's case anyways.