Stop pumping
so your body slows production a bit
so that your baby will get more hind milk when he nurses
which is full of fat.
problem solved

Try not to sweat it too much. I had to supplement between 8 and 12 weeks, but at almost 7 months now we are going really strong, my baby is EBF now and went from below the 2nd percentile in weight to the 90th. (For real!)

Can you supplement with your own pumped milk instead of formula? Breast milk and formula have the same calorie count, and you do not have a medical lab report saying there is anything low quality about your milk, right?

For my baby, his latch was terrible and he would nurse and nurse but not be able to get in enough milk. The LC explained to me that the calories out were more than the calories in. That's why bottle feeding was so important in getting my guy healthy. Once he had more food (from the formula), his latch improved greatly, and then he became an expert nurser, and we stopped supplementing. Hope this helps. Sorry it's disjointed.

Anonymous wrote:Op, you are not listeningg to your doctor and you need to. Stop pumping so much- you do not have to completely drain your breasts every time. Eat more protein and healthy fats. You need to make peace with supplementing for now- bc it’s what your baby needs.

How is OP not listening to her doctor? She is formula feeding her baby as advised by the pediatrician.

Op, you are not listeningg to your doctor and you need to. Stop pumping so much- you do not have to completely drain your breasts every time. Eat more protein and healthy fats. You need to make peace with supplementing for now- bc it’s what your baby needs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop obsessing about what you are eating and if there is enough "fat in the milk". Stressing less is going to help the most when breastfeeding. Honestly. So the pediatrician said to supplement. You need to listen to him or her. Since you are also pumping, why not ask if you can supplement with more breastmilk with lipids in there? We used olive oil for our NICU baby. Maybe they can help you with a "recipe" based on what you are comfortable with, like a bit of formula (it's not the end of the world) and lipids in breastmilk?

It's not as convenient, it's just as nutritious, and it is certainly more scientific than screwing around with your diet and wondering what is passing through (which in my experience is never the right answer).

Good luck!

I've never heard of adding olive oil to breast milk. Is it safe?

That's a question for the pediatrician, but I would not give oil to a newborn baby.

How about to a 4lb baby? Even scarier? That's what NICU doctors advised. But I'm sure you're right.

I'm sure you understand that what was advised for your baby isn't best practice for all babies, right? I'm sure you understand that having a child in the NICU does not make you a pediatrician, right?

Anonymous wrote:You're not going to lose all the weight overnight You are breastfeeding, eat more. There is nowhere near enough fat or protein in that diet to keep YOU healthy when you're breastfeeding. The baby will get what it needs, but you and your bones will turn to garbage.

OP here. Why are we talking about weight? I never said anything about losing weight. I only have like 10lbs to lose which is far from my priority list right now. I eat healthy and don't restrict myself. When I eat it's a large amount.

Breakfast is 1.5-2 cups of oatmeal
Snack: very large salad bowl of fruit
Lunch: about 2 bunches of greens and 2 cups of veggies
Snack: large bowl or 20oz smoothie
Dinner: Chicken, 1.5 - 2 cups of veggies, 1-1.5 cups of roasted potatoes with olive oil.

On most nights I end up eat some eating dairy free ice cream or candy ( move Hershey's, Ghiradelli, and Dove chocolate). I don't starve myself if that's what you are suggesting. I eat healthy, but I eat large portions.

Anonymous wrote:You should also wean from the pumping. You don’t necessarily have an oversupply, your body is just responding to the pumping.

Op here. My baby wouldn't latch until week 2 so I had to pump. I got way more than normal. I have to pump because he doesn't empty the breasts when he eats. I heard that not draining the breasts can lead to mastitis.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop obsessing about what you are eating and if there is enough "fat in the milk". Stressing less is going to help the most when breastfeeding. Honestly. So the pediatrician said to supplement. You need to listen to him or her. Since you are also pumping, why not ask if you can supplement with more breastmilk with lipids in there? We used olive oil for our NICU baby. Maybe they can help you with a "recipe" based on what you are comfortable with, like a bit of formula (it's not the end of the world) and lipids in breastmilk?

It's not as convenient, it's just as nutritious, and it is certainly more scientific than screwing around with your diet and wondering what is passing through (which in my experience is never the right answer).

Good luck!

I've never heard of adding olive oil to breast milk. Is it safe?

That's a question for the pediatrician, but I would not give oil to a newborn baby.

How about to a 4lb baby? Even scarier? That's what NICU doctors advised. But I'm sure you're right.

Anonymous wrote:You know eggs aren't dairy, right? They come from chickens and chickens don't make milk.

OP here. Yes but I am allergic to dairy and eggs upset my stomach.

Anonymous wrote:The best indication of whether he's getting enough to eat is his output - how many wet/dirty diapers are you changing every day, and are they really wet? For wet, it should be 6-7 heavy diapers (like, the weight should be enough to know that it's wet), and dirty varies a bit.

There's nothing wrong with supplementing, but some babies do gain a bit slower than others and it can be normal and perfectly OK.

OP here. He has a wet and dirty diaper ( blue line on diaper) at every feed.

The milk that comes out when you are first nursing is watery and the hind milk at the end has more fat. Ask the pediatrician or a lactation consultant, but I think that might increase the fat % of the milk your baby is getting. Also as much as you can just focus on nursing and not doing a lot else (e.g. stay at home as much as possible and avoid distractions like too many visitors etc). I think that might help with your baby's weight gain. Don't worry too much about supplementing. I had an undersupply and had to supplement with formula early on, but by the time my son was 6 weeks old I was EBF and did so until he was 2 yrs old!