I've been pumping since DD was born, we had latch issues, and I had three lactation consultants helping me to no avail It's been going great, and I did have a small "store" of frozen breast milk for a while, but we've gone through that already.

Well, I have to go out of town all day Saturday, so I've been trying to pump more for the last week. Apparently she's hitting a growth spurt or something, because as soon as I get a bag or two in the freezer, she's needing to be fed and I don't have any fresh ready for her. She's not super heavy anyway, I don't want to try and "trick" her into not eating or something - she's in about the 25th percentile for weight, and I'd like to keep her gaining (I never did well weight wise, and like me, she is on tops for height - tall and lean I guess).

I have some bottles of ready mixed Good Start from when we were supplementing from the hospital, and we tried that last night. NO GO. Man, did she give us the nastiest look and spit the bottle out! We gave her some breastmilk, and she took that, then we tried the formula again, and that time she gave us the nasty look and started to cry. Back to breast milk.

Today, I found some Similac powder samples, individual packs, and made one up. Same deal. She'll suck on the bottle, happy as a can be for a second, then look like she sucked on a lemon, and spit everything in her mouth out and use her tongue to push the bottle out.

I have a call into our doctor to see if he has any tips or ideas. I just need to get DH through that day with her. I'm going to have to be away for this thing probably 2 or 3 more times over the next month or so - not doing it is not an option, as it's a HUGE commission deal (I'm selling some horses for someone, and the commission will have us well set into the winter).

Help?

__________________

Oh man, I know exactly how you are feeling! My ds also had major latch issues (he would only nurse with the nipple shield, such a pain) and I pumped for 6 months, it was exhausting and did slowly decrease in amount. When he was about 8 weeks old, we had to start supplementing with formula (he was a little guy too, actually in the 7th percentile). Try mixing some breast milk with the formula, for some kids it helps them get used to it and then you can decrease the breast milk and increase the formula. The other way is to accept that when she gets hungry enough, she will eat it. That one is tougher and I'm glad we never got to that point.

I had similar issues. I started pumping after about 6 weeks and stayed with it for 6 months. Although some people will tell you not to do it, I agree with Elizabeth, mix the breastmilk with the formula. Make the ratio higher at first and put more formula in as you need to. I was able to do half breastmilk and half formula for six feedings a day.

I used Good Start with both girls and had good luck with it.

Depending on what type of bottle you are using (playtex does NOT work for this, but the bottles that are not in need a of bag or drop in do work).


Take the bottle nipple (NOT the ring, just the nipple) and put it on your breast (like an adapter) and have the baby suck on the bottle nipple, and the suction will pull your milk out through the bottle nipple to your child's mouth. When you are finished feeding, the nipple will still be full of milk, so either have a small bowl or towel there to catch the milk when you take the bottle nipple off of you.

I had to do this with my oldest (latch issues) and then after a while, we were able to nurse like normal people.


Good luck

Just talked to doc and she said to mix the formula 2/3 or half and half. I just pumped and did and ounce of EMB to an ounce of formula, and she didn't spit it out, but wasn't too hot on it either. She started smiling and playing around, so I'll try again when she is more hungry. I'm to call tomorrow to check in and tell her how it worked.

Boys everywhere...thanks for the advice, but my concern right now is feeding the poor kiddo when I'm gone for the day this Saturday, with no extra BM. We tried nipple shields and everything when she was newborn, but now, I'm pretty happy with pumping and feeding. The formula thing is only a "get by for the day" thing, I don't plan on going to formula for good. I just don't have a stored supply of BM, and DH sure can't make any for her! LOL!

I do plan on pumping and feeding BM for at least a year. I wanted to nurse, but it was getting way to frustrating, and to me, the most important thing was she was getting BM. I didn't anticipate this problem!

I'm going to try again with the Good Start, since the ready made is less steps for DH to do. I did find some containers with good markers on them so if the mixing works, he can do it easily.


ETA: We have success! I tried again with 2oz of milk and 1 oz of formula, and while she didn't down it like the BM alone, she did finish the bottle. YAY! Finally!

__________________

Congrats on getting her to take it! Something else to think about is the form of formula you're giving her. My daughter acutally couldn't stomach the ready to feed or the concentrate. Just the powder. Try getting a small container of regular powder and see if she'll take that straight. I know the price is kinda steep, but maybe it will work. I have a $3 off Good Start coupon if you'd like it. I don't know where you live but I could put it in the mail tomorrow.

__________________