Breast milk and drying up?

Question

I have a 17 day old baby girl, and I planned on breast feeding her, but she had bad jaundice when she was a few days old and my pediatrician had me put her on formula to make sure she was getting enough milk, now she wont breastfeed. My question is, I pump some of my milk out everyday and feed her a 2-3 breast milk bottles and the rest of her feedings are formula. How long will my milk last if my baby isnt fully breastfeeding? I want to give her as much breastmilk as possible but im worried since she eats formula too, my body wont keep making enough milk.

Answer 1

Firstly to correct Teagansmum, your doctor was NOT misinformed. He was right in giving comp feeds. A babys' nutritional intake can need increasing when it requires phototherapy, just to ensure it doesn't become dehydrated. So if Mum isn't producing enough EBM, it needs fluids from somewhere! I have been a nurse in a newborn intensive care unit for over 15 years and this is quite common. Your baby isn't breastfeeding because you are offering her bottles as an alternative. The bottle flows faster and she doesn't have to wait for a letdown to get a good mouthful. All you can do is what a lot of others have said. Also, breast feed her EVERY 3-4 hours and express afterwards TOO. The Weleda nursing tea is also good. You may also have to go on a course of Motilium which, if you stick to your guns and keep breastfeeding/expressing, should help with your supply. If you don't b/f or express often, your boobs will think you're weaning and gradually over a few weeks, your supply will dry up. Persist, love, if you really want to keep up with offering her breastmilk. Good luck.

Answer 2

I am having the same problem. I was having to supplement as well. My milk supply was low and my baby was not gaining enough. Its hard supplementing because that's really what messes up your milk supply, but sometimes you do not have a choice. The reason my milk supply was low was due to a bad latch on. Hiring a lactation consultant saved me. They are worth the money and my insurance reimbursed me. I was in so much pain I was pumping all the time for a break. Take fenugrek and use a double pump. Pumping each breast at the same time keeps your milk supply up better. Pump every 2-3 hours or how often your baby eats. Its double duty I know. , I'm going through that now. I still have to supplement too. I give her formula through the night and pump or nurse during the day. Some breast milk is better than none. I just keep saying one more day. Hang in there.

Answer 3

To debate with swintonleisa

1) Firstly there are ways to determine if a baby is getting enough, that was not done as the questioner said "yo make sure she was getting enough milk "

2) IF mom doesn't have enough milk that is because of problems with the latch 99% of the time. That should have been fixed in the begining and certainly could have been fixed at the time. But sOBs would rather just "prescribe" X oz than get a lactation consultant in and have to make the nurses weigh diapers.

3) Moms expressed milk is the second choice, and banked milk is third. Sugar water is actually fourth choice and formula a distant fifth.

4) A bottle never should have been offered, you can cup feed, syringe feed or use a SNS VERY VERY easily. Unless you are in a hospital that doesn't have pill cups or syringes.

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No to answer the actual question, get the baby back on the breast!

Help -- My Baby Won't Nurse!
http://www.kellymom.com/bf/concerns/baby/back-to-breast.html

You know in your heart that you will likely loose your supply with just pumping. It is some work but you CAN get a baby off bottles. In fact stop the bottles now and syringe feed until you get the baby back on the breast.

Answer 4

It is VERY important to pump every 3-4 hours for at LEAST 20 minutes, around the clock if you really want to have enough milk. Right now you are establishing your milk supply, something that can't be made up later. If I were you I would pump as often as possible and find an IBCLC...this is a board certified lactation consultant. Your doctor is WRONG WRONG WRONG to have had you put the baby on formula. Find a good lactation consultant to help fix what your doctor messed up. Breast shields are not always the best answer. The best way to keep your supply up is to put the baby to the breast. You CAN get your baby back to nursing full time...if you really want to. It will be hard work, but so worth it.

Answer 5

Nurse, nurse and nurse some more. Remember, the more you nurse, the more you make. Pump between feedings until your milk supply is sufficient enough for your daughter. It shouldn't take too long, a couple of weeks to a month. Just nurse EVERYTIME your baby is hungry. and let her nurse on both breasts until they are both completely drained. If need be, top off with a little formula.
I know that fenugreek and mother's milk tea will help you increase your supply as well.

And for future reference, DO NOT give your baby formula for jaundice. You can breastfeed through jaundice. That doctor is misinformed. You can ask for a bilibed next time, and just breastfeed every 2 hours until the jaundice subsides.

Answer 6

I had the same issue with jaundice with my daughter. I had trouble getting her on the breast after she got used to the bottle, but I managed. It took a LOT of patience and about 6 weeks before she finally got it. I had to use one of those plastic nipple sheilds over my nipples for her to take it. I guess it felt more like the bottle to her, but she got my milk. You can find them at Babies r Us. Eventually, I could just start her that way and then take it off after a few minutes. After a while of that, I didn't need it anymore. Keep pumping/feeding to increase your supply and eventually you can do away with the formula. Just offer her the breast with the plastic nipple first. If you have the patience, you can do it!! Good luck!

Answer 7

First of all, your doctor was wrong. Breastfeeding helps to CURE jaundice. He gave you inaccurate and irresponsible advice and put you in a lousy position that makes breastfeeding more difficult for you. It's time to fire your doctor and get a new one. It is so upsetting when doctors give bad advice that leads mothers to think they have to wean or that makes mothers have to work harder than they should in order to continue breastfeeding. It really upsets me!

Second, if you want to continue to breastfeed your child, I highly recommend you get her back to the breast full-time. Nothing stimulates milk production like a nursing baby. It would be in her best interest to eliminate the supplemental formula as soon as possible so that your supply doesn't diminish rapidly. It sounds like your baby has already developed "nipple confusion" (or as I like to call it "nipple preference". I have several links at the bottom that I hope will help you learn how to go about this.

Thirdly, you should really consider getting in contact with LLL. They might have some more advice for you, and they are friendly, knowledgeable, and best of all FREE. They have helped me out tremendously over the last three years. I put a link at the bottom to find your local chapter.

If you need more help or some support, feel free to contact me. Good luck!

edited to add:
The increased fluid requirements of phototherapy are also covered in the first link I listed below. "increased fluid requirements" does not mean "formula", which causes your baby to want to breastfeed less. It means..... "increased fluid requirements" !

Answer 8

With a new baby this might not be easy to do but start pumping more often. If you increase the number of times you pump and or the amount of time you pump you body will respond to the need for more milk. Keep at it and you should be fine.

Good luck

Answer 9

You need not worry about breast feeding your child since the child is supplemented with milk formula. As long as you are healthy and almost all of the milk (or say at least 70%) of the milk secreted is harvested, there is no problem in milk secretion. When the milk secreted is not harvested properly, it has a negative feed back effect on the secretory cells of the mammary gland and in the long run, will result in declined milk production. You can give as much milk as possible to your infant till she is 6 months old and it is usually supplemented with milk formula as the baby grows. For more information please click http://www.dairyforall.com/humanmilk.php and learn more.

Answer 10

As long as you are still pumping on a regular basis you should continue to produce breastmilk. My son had problems attaching, so I had to feed him with a bottle using expressed breast milk, supplimenting it with formula when needed, I continued to do this until he was around 5 months old when I decided to switch him to just formula.