Ugh. Did anyone go back to EBF after supplementing due to poor weight gain?

[Anonymous]

My baby is eight days old. She’s been EBF and I thought it was going well. We’ve done two weighted feeds (3 oz and 2 oz respectively) and had two sessions with a lactation consultant. Everything seems good - good latch, strong suck, lots of swallowing, plenty of wet and dirty diapers. But she lost 9% of her birth weight and still isn’t gaining - no weight gain at all in 3 days. So, the pediatrician wants us to supplement with formula after every other feeding for a few days.

I’m oddly upset about the whole thing. I EBF my first child with no issues, and after the initial toughness of the newborn stage, found it very easy. I hate to think I’m giving up on that already!! The ped and my husband seem to think this is short term - a week or two until she starts gaining. But I just feel like my supply will inevitably take a hit and I’ll never get back to nursing exclusively.

Anyone BTDT?? How did it turn out for you??

[Anonymous]

Yes - 2nd child lost 11% at 2 days so Ped said I had to supplement - cue the tears for me. I did triple feeds (nurse, pump, supplement ) for two weeks and stopped then. A few days in I was able to change the formula supplementing to pumped breast milk and stopped the extra pumping and supplementing at two weeks.

My 2nd seemed to be latching fine, but my milk takes about 5 days to come in and I dont think she fought as hard as my 1st for the milk. My first did have latch problems and lost 9% but ped did not say I had to supplement - just sent me to the breastfeeding center.

I nursed them both to 25 months - you should be fine - just start using the pumped milk instead of formula as you can and evaluate when you can cut it out - hopefully after about 2 weeks. Good LUck!

[Anonymous]

This isn’t about you. Your baby needs more calories any way she can get them as soon as she can get them. Whether that is through a milk donor or formula doesn’t matter.

[Anonymous]

Huge BFing proponent here but I know I produce skim milk. My baby didn’t have trouble gaining weight but was born very small and never even got on the charts until I started using formula at 6 months. Honestly would’ve started sooner had I known.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I had to supplement in the first couple weeks and then went on to EBF and nursed until 22 months. Like the previous poster, I started out supplementing, but did triple duty and was able to move to supplementing with pumped milk. I just always offered the breast first, and then offered a bottle after so that baby was still stimulating my supply. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Yes, I had to supplement in the first two weeks with baby #2. She quickly regained and we dropped the formula. Went on to nurse exclusively until 7 months and nursed until 28 months.

Feed your baby. It will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes - 2nd child lost 11% at 2 days so Ped said I had to supplement - cue the tears for me. I did triple feeds (nurse, pump, supplement ) for two weeks and stopped then. A few days in I was able to change the formula supplementing to pumped breast milk and stopped the extra pumping and supplementing at two weeks.

My 2nd seemed to be latching fine, but my milk takes about 5 days to come in and I dont think she fought as hard as my 1st for the milk. My first did have latch problems and lost 9% but ped did not say I had to supplement - just sent me to the breastfeeding center.

I nursed them both to 25 months - you should be fine - just start using the pumped milk instead of formula as you can and evaluate when you can cut it out - hopefully after about 2 weeks. Good LUck!

OP here. Thank you for your response. The thing that’s confusing is the pediatrician isn’t recommending triple feeding or pumping or adding feeds or anything. Just topping off with formula after half the feedings temporarily. That doesn’t feel right to me and I’m worried about my supply.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I had to supplement in the first two weeks with baby #2. She quickly regained and we dropped the formula. Went on to nurse exclusively until 7 months and nursed until 28 months.

Feed your baby. It will be fine.

OP here - did you triple feed? Or just supplement?

[Anonymous]

This happened to me but for jaundice. We only made it 3 months before she rejected boob for bottle. I previously breastfed my son for over 2 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes - 2nd child lost 11% at 2 days so Ped said I had to supplement - cue the tears for me. I did triple feeds (nurse, pump, supplement ) for two weeks and stopped then. A few days in I was able to change the formula supplementing to pumped breast milk and stopped the extra pumping and supplementing at two weeks.

My 2nd seemed to be latching fine, but my milk takes about 5 days to come in and I dont think she fought as hard as my 1st for the milk. My first did have latch problems and lost 9% but ped did not say I had to supplement - just sent me to the breastfeeding center.

I nursed them both to 25 months - you should be fine - just start using the pumped milk instead of formula as you can and evaluate when you can cut it out - hopefully after about 2 weeks. Good LUck!

OP here. Thank you for your response. The thing that’s confusing is the pediatrician isn’t recommending triple feeding or pumping or adding feeds or anything. Just topping off with formula after half the feedings temporarily. That doesn’t feel right to me and I’m worried about my supply.

yeah - follow up with an appointment at the breastfeeding center or an LC you trust. Pediatricians are not always extremely well educated in specific breastfeeding info. (before DCUM jumps on me - im not saying to not supplement, but not to only do that.)

I do remember at my 1.5 week appt with the LC - we did a weighted feed and she got about 2 oz and LC was happy with that and had been gaining for a few days by then. So you may have a slightly different issue than supply or maybe baby just needs a few more days. Definitely do another LC visit (I really trust the Breastfeeding Center even though I had to pay out of pocket for them).

[Anonymous]

Just want to validate that you feel oddly upset! I was very much fed is best, I’ll do formula if I need to. Then the time came and I despised needing to use formula. We did, and still do at 9 months, but it was so hard to accept that I couldn’t make breastfeeding work. It has to be hormones or something.

We had to supplement early for jaundice and never made it to EBF. But I had low supply (8oz max per day with triple feeding) and he had a tongue tie. Had it released at 14 weeks but my supply was already established.

[Anonymous]

3 days seems short. My first one didn’t regain birth weight in the target timeframe and we supplemented. The next ones I’m sure didn’t gain much in the first few days but we didn’t supplement. Of course listen to your doctor, but if breastfeeding is going well, it does not seem dire and you can probably go back to EBF soon you want to. Even though doc didn’t say pump extra, that should help with supply so you may be able to get back to EBF sooner if you do.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I did triple feeding with help from a lactation consultant but was able to EBF after a few days. I actually ended up with oversupply, which sucked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I had to supplement in the first two weeks with baby #2. She quickly regained and we dropped the formula. Went on to nurse exclusively until 7 months and nursed until 28 months.

Feed your baby. It will be fine.

OP here - did you triple feed? Or just supplement?

Triple feed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just want to validate that you feel oddly upset! I was very much fed is best, I’ll do formula if I need to. Then the time came and I despised needing to use formula. We did, and still do at 9 months, but it was so hard to accept that I couldn’t make breastfeeding work. It has to be hormones or something.

We had to supplement early for jaundice and never made it to EBF. But I had low supply (8oz max per day with triple feeding) and he had a tongue tie. Had it released at 14 weeks but my supply was already established.

Ditto this. I'm very level-headed about this when it comes to other moms - formula is great! do whatever works for you and your baby! etc - but when I couldn't exclusively breastfeed it sent me into a serious PPD/PPA spiral. Combo fed for six months then switched to formula, baby is now an amazing toddler, and I look back at how hard I took it in amazement. Hormones are nuts; be gentle with yourself.