Supplementing Formula to Assist with Breastfeeding

If you read on my blog about my first time challenges with breastfeeding, then this is where you will read about how I supplemented with formula to assist with breastfeeding.

One of the first questions that women asked me after and even before I had Baby D was, "Are you going to breastfeed?" And when I would answer them with a yes, they would go into their personal story about how breastfeeding didn't work out for them, because baby would not latch-on or other issues so they just went straight to formula. I kept my mouth shut about the formula part, because I am a very strong believer in breastfeeding.

Since Baby D would only latch onto the nipple shield once the milk started to fill up in it, I had to supplement with formula. It wasn't until the second day of his life that I decided this. He was having so much trouble and would take him 10-15 minutes just to latch-on and start nursing. My top priority was to make sure he was getting nutrients! I talked to Dear Husband and said, "If I can't get him to nurse, then I need to supplement with formula until he learns the process of breastfeeding". DH was down with that. This is the type of formula the hospital had that I used to supplement:

This formula comes in a small bottle that has 2FL OZ (60ml). I would start by giving Baby D 10ml of the formula. He was just loving the reward of being able to suck and receive a mouthful of food! His hands would pull up under his chin and just suck away at that thing! After he would drink 10ml of the formula, I would then put on the shield and offer it to him. He took it! But only after drinking some formula. We repeated this process all day with 10ml and eventually went down to 5ml, then 3ml then 1ml. We brought the newborn formula home with us to keep in case he needed that 1ml to get him started. We did this process for about 3 more days after we got home from the hospital, then ran out of the formula. Here's the deal with that newborn formula. It's made from cow's milk. You cannot reheat the bottle once it has been opened and you must throw it away within an hour of opening it. So, basically I opened the bottle, used 1-2ml of it and had to throw it away, because by the time Baby D ate next an hour had gone by. There are 6 little bottles in a box for about $10.

Since Baby D nursed every 1-2 hours, I went through 6 bottles in a half a day! I didn't want to continue to give him formula! It was about 3am on Sunday morning and I busted out the breastpump. Baby D had just finished nursing on one side for 45 minutes, so I had to work fast since he would need to nurse again in about 30-40 minutes. Good thing I sterilized all my pump parts before baby was born! My milk had just come in, so I was only able to get 1fl oz of breastmilk pumped. But you know what? Being able to get that small amount was a big deal! I pumped into the small container and twisted on a nipple that came with the Enfamil formula and did the exact same thing I was doing with the formula. SUCCESS!!!