Breastfeeding Questions

I had a very hard time BFing my first but I am willing to give it another try.

I've been reading that you should NOT pump right away, but did anyone have success doing that?

Also, if you BF AND gave formula, what was the schedule?

Breastfeeding Questions

i bf dd...in the beginning (maybe a week or so into it) i didnt have enough milk for her so after a bf session at night (before iw ould attempt to go to bed), i would give her an ounce of formula (or however much of the ounce she would take). I started pumping around that time too bc i was told it would help bring my supply in and it seemed to work
good luck!

Re: Breastfeeding Questions

I had milk issues with both of my children sadly. This time I pumped early on (4 days in) since my daughter lost 10 percent of her birthday weight. I was starving her and although I am sure a LC would say not to I gave formula. She wouldn't latch after that so I pumped. I actually got more milk this time then the first time with pumping. I dont know the actual answer i am sorry.

Hang in there!

My daughter is 4 weeks old today and she eats 3 oz bottles every 2.5-3 hrs. Sometimes closer together sometimes longer. At night she wakes up twice and eats 3 oz. Newborns cant be on a schedule you feed on demand.

Breastfeeding Questions

My first DS was what turned out to be tongue tied so at 5days of life I was horribly engorged and I had a LC come to the house. Since he had problems with his latch and pumped for over a week every 3-4 hours but I was also working with nipple shields or pumping a little to elongate my nipple then at 12 days of life he got his frenulum snipped and I only pumped to build up my stash for work and then went back to work at 3m

Re: Breastfeeding Questions

That is correct you should not pump right away. You need the baby to regulate your supply pumping will only make that harder

I pumped with all 3 from day 1 but all 3 were in the NICU so I had no choice. Once they were home I didn't touch the pump for about a month

Re: Breastfeeding Questions

If you want to BF, I would not plan on giving formula right away. That will not do you any favors with your supply/bfing relationship with baby.

Re: Breastfeeding Questions

I had no idea what the heck I was doing breastfeeding and had a consultant come in and help me my first day home. She was great and even showed me how to work my pump. I pumped that very day and it was fine.

When introduced formula to my son, I just put it all together with the breast milk in the bottle to whatever ounces he was having. I know my pediatrician recommended giving the breast milk fist and then topping it off with formula, but I just found if I stopped the bottle to refill he would loose interest.

Good Luck!

Re: Breastfeeding Questions

I pumped in the beginning so I could freeze it. I pumped when she slept for more than 2-3 hours. I didn't use that milk until I went back to work, but I did pump

Re: Breastfeeding Questions

I also had a hard time breast feeding my first. He never latched and I pumped for 2 months but always needed to supplement with formula and then eventually gave up and it always made me feel awful that it didn't work out (I also didn't know what I was doing) but my dd took to it right away and is a breast feeding champ!

with my dd i pumped right away. I figured it would up my supply and give me some milk if I wanted to go out. I only pumped once a day usually in the morning.

I didn't want to give her a bottle in the very beginning. But I was really sore the first few weeks so every once in awhile I let dh give her a bottle so I got a little break. (And it was nice that I had extra breast milk) She didn't love the bottle and prefers the breast so she never got nipple confusion.

Message edited 6/15/2013 9:00:58 AM.

Re: Breastfeeding Questions

Re: Breastfeeding Questions

My DS had some latching issues for the first 7 weeks, so I pumped and bottle fed him. He finally latched at 7 weeks and I went on to BF (and pump) until he was about 13m. I did have some supply issues at one point, and that is when I supplemented with 1 formula bottle a day.

Breastfeeding Questions

My milk didn't come in for over a week so my lo was starving. My
Ped had me bf from both sides for 10 mins
Each then top her off with an ounce or two of formula. I just started pumping at 6w to build a daycare stash and for me pumping
At night right after she goes down for her 4hr stretch is working for me. For me it has been trial and error.

Breastfeeding Questions

I pumped from the beginning so I can make a supply for when I went back to work, went out ect. I also had my husband feed the baby once a day so I had to pump so we would have a bottle. I honestly had no issues. I even pumped if she wasn't on me for too long. But I don't think there's anything wrong with pumping in the beginning. My milk leveled out. Good luck!!