How Can I Bring Up Baby’s Weight Without Supplementing?

[Anonymous]

Just look at the above, someone telling the OP that her baby’s weight is normal for breastfeeding against the advice of her pediatrician. There is definitely pressure to bf to the detriment of mother and child.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:HIPP is a great formula for mostly breastfed babies, OP. Don’t believe the propaganda. All three of my breastfed babies happily took the formula when needed.

You have to get your baby’s weight up. That trumps any and all of your desires.

OP here. I don’t feel comfortable with imported formula with the pandemic. I have no clue how it’s stored and if anything will be contaminated.

Oh FFS! This isn’t about you. It’s about the baby. You should probably also be checked for post party I’m depression bc you’re not thinking straight. That or you are incredibly sleep deprived bc you are feeding every 2 hours around the clock. That also is t good for the baby bc he’s not getting bouts of deep sleep.

Many pediatricians and experts have said to avoid imported formula.

Where are American formulas made? Most Overseas.

Most of them are made at the same factory in Vermont. Do some research.

No, they really are not mostly made in Vermont!!!

And the ingredients are almost always made and shipped from overseas.

Store brand formulas are manufactured by Perrigo, whose manufacturing plant is in Vermont. They also make Bobbie formula, which has been mentioned on this thread.

Anyway, the argument that American formulas are manufactured overseas and therefore are just as safe as European formulas is silly. European formulas are perfectly safe for infants - European babies are not malnourished. OP is just coming up with straw arguments because she is too selfish to put aside her own desires and parent the child she has, not the child she wanted.

A PP who brought up what happens in developing nations if a mother’s milk supply is low (and doesn’t have access to formula and clean water) was absolutely right. Those babies are malnourished at best, dead at worst.

This “breast is best” nonsense is terrible. My SIL (much older than me - my nephew is early 30s) told me how for the first 6 weeks of my nephew’s life she tried everything she could to breastfeed. At his 6 week appointment my nephew had barely regained his birth weight. The pediatrician told her “Give that baby a bottle”. And she did, and he thrived. That would NEVER happen now. Women are encouraged to pursue breastfeeding at all costs, and it’s sad. At least OPs pediatrician has told her to supplement.

OP - listen to the pediatrician. If your baby ends up with a failure to thrive diagnosis, it will be no one’s fault but yours, and you will have to live with that.

You have no idea what you are talking about. I wonder if you even have kids let alone any that are under the age of, say, 10. This is narrative that you convinced yourself exists. When DD was 6 days old, she was struggling to nurse. Her weight was dropping. My super pro-breastfeeding pediatrician said she needed nutrition now and to give formula and try triple feeding. After nursing, give the baby either formula or what I could pump. She had me come back for a weight check in two days.

This is the norm. Yes, breastfeeding is strongly encouraged, but never at the cost of the baby or mother’s well-being.

Sorry, dear. Oldest is 6, and I’m pregnant with my third. A friend who had a baby earlier this year was encouraged to triple feed. She did it for months on end. There is little regard for mother’s mental health in this country. Why do you think people like OP get ideas like she has? Not because feeding the baby in whatever way is best for baby is encouraged. It’s because breastfeeding is pushed so heavily. The pressure is there even if it’s not explicit.

[Anonymous]

I had to supplement with my first baby for a few months and absolutely would have gotten him the expensive European formula if he didn’t take our regular American formula.

You have to get nutrients and calories into your baby, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You need to supplement, or pump after feeds. Those are your two options. I was like you. I cried, it was so hard and sad for me especially being post partum. I asked my pediatrician, “but what happens when babies in third world countries have this issue? Frequent breastfeeding HAS to work eventually!” My ped said, well, those babies usually just get malnourished if there isn’t another woman who can offer him her breast a few times a day.

So, let your baby get malnourished and lose out on precious brain development, or, just pump or use some formula.

Your pediatrician was gentle. It’s not just that they’re malnourished. Why do you think infant mortality is so high? I’m sorry about but no matter what, your baby needs to be fed. You have clean water and you have formula…and/or pumped milk.

That's exactly right, pp, those babies die, and that's what will happen to OP's baby, he's not "sleepy" Op he's not getting adequate nutrition, he's getting dehydrated and his little body is shutting down. The next stop for you is the hospital where your baby will be poked and prodded, and you could possibly lose custody because you were aware he was not gaining weight not getting enough nutrition you were advised to change his feedings and refused to do that.
Is this really want you want for your baby?

And I agree with the advice to see your own doctor your obsession with needing to feed him a certain way to his detriment is a big sign that you are struggling yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HIPP is a great formula for mostly breastfed babies, OP. Don’t believe the propaganda. All three of my breastfed babies happily took the formula when needed.

You have to get your baby’s weight up. That trumps any and all of your desires.

OP here. I don’t feel comfortable with imported formula with the pandemic. I have no clue how it’s stored and if anything will be contaminated.

Oh FFS! This isn’t about you. It’s about the baby. You should probably also be checked for post party I’m depression bc you’re not thinking straight. That or you are incredibly sleep deprived bc you are feeding every 2 hours around the clock. That also is t good for the baby bc he’s not getting bouts of deep sleep.

Many pediatricians and experts have said to avoid imported formula.

Where are American formulas made? Most Overseas.

Most of them are made at the same factory in Vermont. Do some research.

No, they really are not mostly made in Vermont!!!

And the ingredients are almost always made and shipped from overseas.

Store brand formulas are manufactured by Perrigo, whose manufacturing plant is in Vermont. They also make Bobbie formula, which has been mentioned on this thread.

Anyway, the argument that American formulas are manufactured overseas and therefore are just as safe as European formulas is silly. European formulas are perfectly safe for infants - European babies are not malnourished. OP is just coming up with straw arguments because she is too selfish to put aside her own desires and parent the child she has, not the child she wanted.

A PP who brought up what happens in developing nations if a mother’s milk supply is low (and doesn’t have access to formula and clean water) was absolutely right. Those babies are malnourished at best, dead at worst.

This “breast is best” nonsense is terrible. My SIL (much older than me - my nephew is early 30s) told me how for the first 6 weeks of my nephew’s life she tried everything she could to breastfeed. At his 6 week appointment my nephew had barely regained his birth weight. The pediatrician told her “Give that baby a bottle”. And she did, and he thrived. That would NEVER happen now. Women are encouraged to pursue breastfeeding at all costs, and it’s sad. At least OPs pediatrician has told her to supplement.

OP - listen to the pediatrician. If your baby ends up with a failure to thrive diagnosis, it will be no one’s fault but yours, and you will have to live with that.

You have no idea what you are talking about. I wonder if you even have kids let alone any that are under the age of, say, 10. This is narrative that you convinced yourself exists. When DD was 6 days old, she was struggling to nurse. Her weight was dropping. My super pro-breastfeeding pediatrician said she needed nutrition now and to give formula and try triple feeding. After nursing, give the baby either formula or what I could pump. She had me come back for a weight check in two days.

This is the norm. Yes, breastfeeding is strongly encouraged, but never at the cost of the baby or mother’s well-being.

Sorry, dear. Oldest is 6, and I’m pregnant with my third. A friend who had a baby earlier this year was encouraged to triple feed. She did it for months on end. There is little regard for mother’s mental health in this country. Why do you think people like OP get ideas like she has? Not because feeding the baby in whatever way is best for baby is encouraged. It’s because breastfeeding is pushed so heavily. The pressure is there even if it’s not explicit. [/quote]

NP here, but I agree with you about breastfeeding being pushed to the detriment of the mother and potentially the child. I have a cousin and sister who both recently gave birth and describe feeling bullied by the LCs when they were FTM struggling with breastfeeding. I was also recently looking for work , and looked into a position with a local organization for a breastfeeding suport counselor, and the only wanted someone who breastfeed , not pumped, or supplemented only breastfeeding, how compassionate do you htink the person they hire will be to a mom who doesn't have it eady breastfeeding? The pendulum has swung to far the other way from shaming moms for breastfeeding to shaming moms for not, and neither way is good for moms and babies, and as we see in OP is detrimental to the health of newborns.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I have at at the doing the triple feeding and will continue to try to give formula. We use the Comotomo bottles but we have tried all bottles and a syringe. He will take the breastmilk in all of them with ease, but will refuse the formula. We had a slightly better success with the Happy Baby Organics than others so we will keep trying it. I will keep trying other ones that are from the U.S. too. I have had my husband feed him while I was away and he still refused to take it unless it was breastmilk. The lactation consultant said some babies will refuse formula.

I do want to breastfeed and he’s has gained a little over 1lb in the first month. We did a lactation consultant before who said his latch was fine. He eats and transfers milk without issue. It could be my supply. I’m going to start with triple feeding and see if that helps while trying to give some more formula mixed in with breastmilk.

[Anonymous]

That sounds like a good plan. Goodluck, OP! I've combo fed with both of my babies, one by necessity and the other by preference. I think it's a lot more common than it feels during these newborn days.

[Anonymous]

OP, I had a similar story with my first. Weight gain was slow, but it was determined that I didn’t have a supply issue by doing weighted feeds. I would get yourself a scale and starting doing weighted feeds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I have at at the doing the triple feeding and will continue to try to give formula. We use the Comotomo bottles but we have tried all bottles and a syringe. He will take the breastmilk in all of them with ease, but will refuse the formula. We had a slightly better success with the Happy Baby Organics than others so we will keep trying it. I will keep trying other ones that are from the U.S. too. I have had my husband feed him while I was away and he still refused to take it unless it was breastmilk. The lactation consultant said some babies will refuse formula.

I do want to breastfeed and he’s has gained a little over 1lb in the first month. We did a lactation consultant before who said his latch was fine. He eats and transfers milk without issue. It could be my supply. I’m going to start with triple feeding and see if that helps while trying to give some more formula mixed in with breastmilk.

I’m curious, is the formula you’re using with iron? Sometimes the metallic taste is too strong for breast-fed babies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I have at at the doing the triple feeding and will continue to try to give formula. We use the Comotomo bottles but we have tried all bottles and a syringe. He will take the breastmilk in all of them with ease, but will refuse the formula. We had a slightly better success with the Happy Baby Organics than others so we will keep trying it. I will keep trying other ones that are from the U.S. too. I have had my husband feed him while I was away and he still refused to take it unless it was breastmilk. The lactation consultant said some babies will refuse formula.

I do want to breastfeed and he’s has gained a little over 1lb in the first month. We did a lactation consultant before who said his latch was fine. He eats and transfers milk without issue. It could be my supply. I’m going to start with triple feeding and see if that helps while trying to give some more formula mixed in with breastmilk.

Keep trying. My baby refused formula and it was a struggle but my supply was dropping and I had no choice. We did 1oz of formula with a 4oz bottle and slowly started adding more formula. It took about a week and then he started talking formula. I would stick with one formula since others may have a slightly different taste. We did Enfamil NeuroPro but you do the one you think he prefers.

[Anonymous]

Get a second opinion. Some babies do gain 2+lbs in the first month, but not all of them. My son only gained 1lb each for the first two months. The pediatrician wasn’t concerned. Going from 6lb something to over 8lbs sounds normal for a one month old.

[Anonymous]

OP, have you tried gradually introducing formula by mixing it with breastmilk?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I had a similar story with my first. Weight gain was slow, but it was determined that I didn’t have a supply issue by doing weighted feeds. I would get yourself a scale and starting doing weighted feeds.

OP here. I got a baby scale when he didn’t regain his birth weight. I do weighted feeds at each feed and he eats about 2oz or a little more each feed. He eats about 24oz/day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I had a similar story with my first. Weight gain was slow, but it was determined that I didn’t have a supply issue by doing weighted feeds. I would get yourself a scale and starting doing weighted feeds.

OP here. I got a baby scale when he didn’t regain his birth weight. I do weighted feeds at each feed and he eats about 2oz or a little more each feed. He eats about 24oz/day.

How do you breastfeed him? Do you offer one or both breast? Are you making sure he gets the fatty milk? Maybe your milk isn’t fatty enough? I know someone who had this issue and had to switch to formula because the baby wasn’t gaining any weight, even after she switched to pumping and bottle feeding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I have at at the doing the triple feeding and will continue to try to give formula. We use the Comotomo bottles but we have tried all bottles and a syringe. He will take the breastmilk in all of them with ease, but will refuse the formula. We had a slightly better success with the Happy Baby Organics than others so we will keep trying it. I will keep trying other ones that are from the U.S. too. I have had my husband feed him while I was away and he still refused to take it unless it was breastmilk. The lactation consultant said some babies will refuse formula.

I do want to breastfeed and he’s has gained a little over 1lb in the first month. We did a lactation consultant before who said his latch was fine. He eats and transfers milk without issue. It could be my supply. I’m going to start with triple feeding and see if that helps while trying to give some more formula mixed in with breastmilk.

I’m curious, is the formula you’re using with iron? Sometimes the metallic taste is too strong for breast-fed babies.

Most formulas have iron in them.