Hi all! I just had my little girl on tuesday nd hav been gutted to discover i just cant give her enough to eat. She's a big baby at 9lb 9oz so is too hungry for me i'm still in hospital but hopin to leave tomorrow.
Does anyone hav any advise on which brand of ff is best to suppliment bf? Hospital arent allowed to advise me and i'm clueless. Hav been using sma here but at the end of the feed she retches so it mite not suit her.
Advise much appreciated as will be buyin food on way home tomorrow. Thank u!

If you just had your baby on Tuesday, your milk may not be 100% in yet. For the love of god, DON'T supplement, as the more she nurses, the more your supply will respond. My Jack was 10lb 8oz and it did take a couple of very hard days for my milk supply to come in. In the meantime, your baby will get everything she needs nutritionally from your colostrum. Be patient! Trust your body to provide for your baby.

I know how hard it is to feel like your baby is hungry and you're not able to provide for her, but believe in yourself. Your body will catch up to her hunger if you let it. The more she nurses, even if you feel she isn't getting a lot of milk, the more milk your body will make.

I second that. You do have enough for her, it's just not come in yet. Babies are born with reserves to last them for days, she won't starve in the time it takes for your milk to come in. Does the hospital have feeding consultants/helpers? Ask to speak to one.

Hi there honey,

I will also second what the other ladies have said. Your production will catch up to what your LO needs. However if you really do want to supplement i would post on the formula feeding section.

In the mean time, ask one of the midwives if you can speak to a lactation specialist.

good luck

you will get there hun, the important thing to remember is that as long as you're eating well and you're feeding her (more frequently at first to establish your milk) then she will be getting enough. See if someone at the hospital can advise you on a breast feeding support worker that can help and advise you

As for formula - I'd go with Aptimal, but every baby is different so see what works best for yours

I can only echo what the other posters have said. Supplementing with formula now could lead to problems with your supply. To get your supply going, the best thing is to let your baby nurse as often as she needs.

By giving formula, your body won't get to know how much she really needs and you won't make enough milk. Can you get hold of a breastfeeding counsellor to advise you?

I agree with all the others... I have issues with latching and was offered top up, but I refused and just expressed, about 3-7ml a time (which wasn't a lot!!) until about day 3 when we got the BF sorted. He lost a little weight, but not a great deal and feeds fine. If I had FF then my supply may have been affected.

i agree with others. the fact your baby is big means she has a better fat store to get through the firstd days until your milk comes in. if you are concerned and want your milk to come in faster consider pumping for her. but remember even if you get only one drop of colustrum give it to her in a syringe. it is liquid gold. but dont supplement yet. what makes you think you dont have enough?

Sorry I wasn't responding, I got out later than expected yesterday and haven't had a chance. Thank you so much for your posts, its great to get this support as I'm struggling but I'm determined not to give up.

When I was in hospital the MW's suggested that I should top her up as when she was finished feeding from me she would start to cry uncontrollably for more. We tried letting her feed from both breasts, for longer than normal etc and the only result was that she was comfort sucking on me and leaving me with mangled nipples. If we didn't let her suck on me she would take gulps of air which left her screaming in pain as well as hunger which added to her misery. Then on Thursday she had to be seen by the doctor as she was getting jaundiced from lack of fluids and the doctor also said to top her up to make sure that she had enough fluids in her to allow the billiruben (SP) to be expelled from her system.

What I've been doing is breast feeding when she needs fed and then once she has finished after 30-45 mins I offer her some formula and note how much she takes. I've noticed a dramatic decrease in how much she needs which is really encouraging. My milk is definitely coming in properly now so hopefully I will be able to get away from topping her up. If she wasn't jaundiced or swallowing all that air I think that I might have been able to cope with not topping up her feeds.

I was going to try expressing as well but the community midwife was in earlier and she said to leave it for a week as my nipples are still really sore and I could just make them worse. Its just a bit of a battle at the moment but hopefully we will get there.

I'm glad you're persevering. Make sure that your latch is good, as your nipples shouldn't be very sore.

Perhaps looking at Dr. Newman's website would help -- it has videos of what a good latch looks like (he's the Canadian breastfeeding guru).

http://www.drjacknewman.com/