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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

OP here. I weigh him, feed him on one breast while I use the Haakka on the other, and then switch him to the other side to see if he will eat more. I weigh him again after. I alternate which breast I start with depending on his last feed. He eats 2oz or a little more at each feed. I get drops or sometimes up to 1oz from the Haakaa. I usually have 4oz at the end of the day from the Haakaa.

I don’t know if my milk is fatty. We do keep a bottle in the fridge of the Haakaa milk and it has a small oating like thick milk and then more clear watery on the bottom.

He doesn’t take more than 2-3oz when we give him a bottle. He usually stops at 2oz unless he sleeps a little longer and then will take 3oz.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

OP here. I weigh him, feed him on one breast while I use the Haakka on the other, and then switch him to the other side to see if he will eat more. I weigh him again after. I alternate which breast I start with depending on his last feed. He eats 2oz or a little more at each feed. I get drops or sometimes up to 1oz from the Haakaa. I usually have 4oz at the end of the day from the Haakaa.

I don’t know if my milk is fatty. We do keep a bottle in the fridge of the Haakaa milk and it has a small oating like thick milk and then more clear watery on the bottom.

He doesn’t take more than 2-3oz when we give him a bottle. He usually stops at 2oz unless he sleeps a little longer and then will take 3oz.

I can almost guarantee you are going to look back on this time and wish you had just enjoyed your baby instead of stressing yourself out about breastfeeding. It does not matter in the end. It’s just something you want, not something your baby needs.

[Anonymous]

Wow, this has got to be one of the worst times in a mom's life. When she's struggling to make sure her child is fed. I was having flashbacks even though my kids are tweens. Good luck OP!

[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.

NP. I have a 5 year old. Here's what I went through when she was born:

- hospital was "baby friendly" and actively discouraged me from formula.
- when I was concerned DD wasn't gaining enough at her 1 month appointment, and I was struggling mentally because she nursed ALL DAY LONG (because my supply sucks), I was told to just keep trying. I asked for formula samples and they very reluctantly gave them to me, made it very clear they weren't happy about it.
- at my six week PP checkup, I asked my midwife what she thought of DD because to me, it was very obvious she was not gaining enough weight. She looked like a skeleton. Midwife said she was fine, BF babies are just lighter.
- at DD's 2 month checkup, she was in the first percentile for weight. First. She was practically the same weight as she was at birth. I was severely depressed from BFing, cried the entire appointment for feeling like a failure, and they *still* pushed me to BF and use only what formula was absolutely necessary.
- I gave up BFing permanently after that appointment and did solely formula. I got so much shit from people, even strangers would ask if I was BFing and give me horrified looks and exclaim "why not??" when I said no.
- all of the communities for mothers I was in while pregnant/postpartum went on and on about the benefits of BFing. It's "natural", my kid's teeth will end up crooked if I don't, it's "liquid gold", moms sacrifice their own comfort for their children, blah blah blah.
- my H kept pushing me to BF even as he saw my mental and physical health decline. When your wife is sobbing and having panic attacks every time the baby wakes up because it means she'll have to BF, no, you don't push her to keep doing it.

[Anonymous]

I think you should pump and then start mixing some bottles with formula. It will suck to pump since I know you want to breastfeed, but triple feeding is hard too. You are feeding every two hours and doing triple feeding isn’t sustainable. You can get some sleep by having your husband feed him. Sleep is important for making milk. Scales sometimes aren’t accurate. Pumping will allow you to know how much he is eating and be able to mix formula in daily instead of occasionally. He will get used to it and start to take it. Then you can go back to breastfeeding and be able to supplement with formula.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You are a sick, sick person coming into a board to say this. CPS is trying to save children in actual danger and you think a mom who has bought five formulas and had them refused is their problem. You need to seek help for whatever it is that compelled you to say this.

[Anonymous]

Dear OP. You need to teach your baby to take the bottle, the earlier the better. Just read all the posts here about moms returning to work or wanting a break and the baby refuses a bottle. So that's one. Two, you can't say you "don t want to" do anything and expect a magic solution. Either pump, as others have said, or find a formula that works. There are a ton of them. Leave the house for the formula feeding. Kid will eat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you should pump and then start mixing some bottles with formula. It will suck to pump since I know you want to breastfeed, but triple feeding is hard too. You are feeding every two hours and doing triple feeding isn’t sustainable. You can get some sleep by having your husband feed him. Sleep is important for making milk. Scales sometimes aren’t accurate. Pumping will allow you to know how much he is eating and be able to mix formula in daily instead of occasionally. He will get used to it and start to take it. Then you can go back to breastfeeding and be able to supplement with formula.

Mixing bm and formula might not work for all babies. didn't work for any of my three (I know, it's anecdata)

[Anonymous]

Get the baby on a weightlifting plan. Light weights, nothing heavy--those 1-lb hand weights should do it.

WTF DO YOU MEAN HOW DO I GET THE BABY TO GAIN WEIGHT WITHOUT SUPPLEMENTING? There is literally no appropriate food at this age that is not breastmilk or formula. Give the baby some formula. I promise it will be OK.

[Anonymous]

OP - It sounds like you don’t want to fix the problem, since your responses to suggestions are basically “no, that won’t work.” Your child can only gain weight by eating more and/or eating more caloric food. There is no other way to gain weight. Also, how can breastfeeding be going well if your child is not gaining weight and you may have low supply? Objectively, breastfeeding is not going well.

You said that you don’t want to bottle feed because you are afraid your child won’t breastfeed, but your child won’t take formula from a bottle and you don’t want to pump more to bring your supply up because it’s too much work. Did you post this because your doctor won’t validate your decision to starve your child and so you want a bunch of anonymous mommies to validate it?

To fix the problem you need to pump after breastfeeding and supplement. Try to get your supply up and at the same give your child the nutrition s/he needs to develop. If your child won’t take the bottle from you then have your husband try. Also, put your feelings aside. This isn’t about you and you definitely need to practice privileging your kids well-being over your own feelings of inadequacy/issues.

[Anonymous]

What if you breast feed more often? Breastfeeding is supply and demand. The more you nurse the more milk you will produce. That’s what I would do. Feed the baby every twenty minutes.

[Anonymous]

Op here. I suggest contacting LaLeche League for tips.

[Anonymous]

^ not op. PP

[Anonymous]

I would have ordered the European formula YESTERDAY. I’m more shocked that your “supply chain” fears and “only American formula is safe” BS are the reasons you won’t use food - yes food- that could help your baby. Like chin on the floor ignorance.

[Anonymous]

Have you tried donor milk? In my area there is a good milk bank that has very strict criteria for donors and does some kind of ?Pasteurization process on the milk so it is very safe. (I think they actually ship around the country so I'll provide the link - but obviously local can be easier - https://mothersmilk.org/ They will provide the first 40oz without a prescription - but after that you need a prescription. The coordinator is very helpful if you have questions )
It is expensive but sometimes you can get insurance to cover.
Maybe your baby will take that if you haven't been successful with formulas. (I'm assuming you would be more comfortable with strictly controlled donor milk than peer-to-peer sharing - but that is obviously also an option.)