Im posting this with the hopes of hearing feed back from other moms. I know there are some very strong opinions out there when it comes to a babies diet so im asking everyone to please be open minded and understanding of everyones point of views.
Noah has been exclusively breastfed for 4 months now. My goal has always been to exclusively breastfeed for 6 months. One issue I have been having lately is that I am now producing just enough milk for his daily needs. This is great - except thats its near impossible for me to pump a bottle for him so that I can go out for an evening with my husband and leave him with a sitter.
I am very pro breasfeeding. But I guess my question is - at what point is it okay to start giving formula or rice cereal or whatever? I talked to my doctor yesterday about the rice cereal/baby foods thing and he said not until 6 months. I trust my doctors judgement as he has never steered me wrong, so I am fine with waiting for that.But in the meantime, is it okay to give Noah a bottle of formula on occasion so that I can do on a date with Matt?
I know there are alot of woman out there who had a very difficult time with breastfeeding and have always given formula - and thats just whats been best for them and their babies. My question is more relatating to the trickiness of doing both. Ive heard that once you give any formula your supply can start decreasing quickly and I am concerned about that (because as I said, I want to go to 6 months.)
I also need to add that I only plan to breastfeed until 6 months. Reason being, I have a big kid... and after holding a friends 6.5 month old the other day I realized that I just wouldnt be comfortable breasfeeding a child that size. That and the fact that Noah has already realized where his meals are coming from and is starting to be, well... grabby.
Anyways, at the risk of rambling on and on... please share your insight and thoughts with me.
wish i could help! i took meds to be able to breastfeed sam, but it didn't work :( so he's been a formula baby the whole way. i read, though, that nipple confusion happens when the baby is just learning to breastfeed - if you offer both breast and bottle, he won't choose both - so he should be fairly safe at 4 months, i would think. also, if you're already producing enough for his hunger, yay!, and you should be able to leave him with a bottle of formula now and then without it really affecting your supply.
ReplyDeletebut i'm not speaking from experience, so trust other people instead of me! :)
A couple of things here:)
ReplyDelete1. If you want to increase your milk supply, you can always take fenugreek (get from a health store). Totally natural, you'll smell a bit funky, but after 3 days your supply will increase! I had 2 big, big boys who ate a ton and it helped.
2. I started feeding Koen rice cereal, bananas and pureed pears at 5 months and that is when it worked for him.
3. I always said til 6 months too but the convenience of it...well, I bf Koen til he was 13 months and stopped on his own. Do you have a supportive bfing pillow? It helps with the big boys. Soon he will be bigger and able to support himself a little more so it's not all you. Also, if you wear a long strong necklace, that might be something fun for him to be grabby with instead of with you:)
4. If he starts to sleep a little more at night, you will notice you have more milk in the morning so you could pump that to keep your supply up and therefore have milk for if you go out.