Breastfeeding Question - Fort Worth,TX

Milk is produced by supply and demand. The baby's nursing at your breast is actually what stimulates your breast to produce more. That's why it's so important to ALWAYS nurse when your baby wants to and NEVER take the baby off the breast before they're finished eating. This is called demand nursing and will ensure that you will always have enough milk and not have to supplement at all.

I suggest you also look at www.kellymom.com for great breastfeeding advice as well as getting together with your local La Leche League who can help you if you get stuck! :)

Good luck!

Hi A. - The key thing to remember in breastfeeding is the concept of supply and demand. Your body will always make more milk WHEN you remove it. So the more you remove the milk (i.e. breastfeed), the more your body produces.

It is so, so, important, especially the first couple months to not turn to formula if your goal is to exclusively BF. Everytime you give formula, you body's natural response is "baby doesn't need this, so don't produce as much". In the beginning, it may seem like you don't produce enough b/c baby is acting hungry. When this happens just nurse, nurse and nurse; this is especially key during growth spurts as this is how your body understands that due to a growing baby and growing hunger to make more milk.

Also keep in mind that your baby is much more effective than a pump. So, don't think that just b/c you get a certain amount via pump, that is all baby is getting.

I hope you find this helpful. My daughter is now 18 months and I successfully nursed her for 15 months, while working full time without supplementing.

To try to keep my supply up, if you don't have to I wouldn't bottle feed at all until absolutly nessecary. We would let our daughter hold our son when he wasn't eating and awake. We also let her pick out all his daytime clothes as well as what pjs and blanket he would take to bed. She also helped out at bath time by handing me the soap and helping me wash his body with the wash rag. She was allowed to help with the neck down to the belly button. Once he started solids at 3 months she would help feed him then with the spoon in his high chair.

Hi A.,
I have a 4 year old daughter and 8 month old son. With my daughter we just never got the hang of BF so I pumped and gave her a bottle. I think that as long as you keep pumping every 2-3 hours initially you will really be able to establish your supply. I was able to pump and give breastmilk for the first year. My son was in the NICU for 8 days and so he did get a bottle. Initially with formula and then breastmilk as my supply got established. He decided that he preferred nursing to bottle feeding. I guess what I'm saying is that while breast milk is absolutely the best thing to give a baby, what the most IMPORTANT thing is that they are eating something that is allowing them to grow and gain weight. As for your daughter, I think that encouraging her to sit next to you while you nurse and feed her own baby is a great way to involve her. Also holding the diaper for you or getting you the bobby pillow is a good way to get her involved as well. Good luck to you!!!

OMGOSH, I ENCOURAGE you to be versatile. My best friend did this, she fed her baby breastmilk and formula, she alternated every feeding, so if she were ever out in public and needed to feed she could whip out the bottle instead of the breast. DO DO DO alternate, it will be easier to wean later. I did not alternate, did not find out about it soon enough, and now I am having HUGE weaning issues.

I have 3 boys 5, 3, and 4 months. And I would have to say with me that my milk supply increased with each pregnancy. My first one was the only time that I struggled at the beginning. I truly believe in a feeding schedule to help your milk supply to be established. If you feed on a consistent schedule then your body will automatically start letting down when it is time to feed again. I personally would hold off on a bottle supplement if you can until about 2-3 weeks of consistent breastfeeding. In the mean time let your 2-year old feed her "baby" doll while you are nursing and she can help in other ways like holding the baby after you nurse or getting the diaper for you to change things like that. I never had any luck with pumping on the first one, I never tried with the other 2, but I'm sure that it would have went better because my milk supply was larger. So I would say try again on the pumping and you may have success this time around.

A.,
You have recieved some excellent advice on ways to share the bond with your first child and the new baby. Most of these are what I teach to second time moms and sibling classes.
I am sure your consultant will tell you that supplementation and bottle feeding can lead to decreased milk supply and nipple confusion. Babies are able to process alternate methods of oral motor control by about 4-6 weeks and that is a great time to introduce the bottle if you want to give one. If you do this you should probably feed one bottle per day. The best way is to pump and give expressed breast milk. If you choose to supplement you have to pump to replace that feeding or your milk supply will decrease, so if you want you can mix formula and breast milk in any bottle given. That ensures the fatty layer in your milk and antibodies will continue to coat the intestines and give your baby the protection you had in mind when you began to breastfeed.
It is great you are going to a consultant before delivery. It is a huge help to have those reminders of the first 2 weeks and the differing needs from an older baby. A review of techniques is great at this time as well.
K. @ The Nestingplace

I introduced the bottle (avent) at 5-6 weeks and there were no issues. Too much bottle and they won't want to nurse as that is more work but better for milk production. Be sure to pump when you do give the bottle or (in case you are taking a much needed nap) at least after teh next feeding.

My DD (3years old at the time) wanted to nurse again when she saw my DS nursing as a baby. So be aware that it may happen. They may regress a little because mommy is not all theirs any more.

Congrats and good luck.

Supplementing with a bottle may interfere with your breastfeeding especially during the first few weeks. I breastfed my second child exclusively and the older one was a part of the process, as I would take the nursing pillow and put it in his lap after feeding and let him hold the baby - that was his "quality" time with his brother in the early days and he really looked forward to it. They have an incredibly tight bond, so I don't think your daughter feeding the baby with a bottle is the only way to create that bond. You can also have her be your helper when you bathe the baby. I also encourage you to buy some little surprises to have on hand when your son is first born as not everyone will remember your daughter when they come to visit the baby and bring gifts. Also, when I left the hospital, the nurse let my son help push the wheelchair out. Those early days are when you should be most concerned about making sure she feels comfortable with the new addition to the family. ,

I also have the cutest memory of my son taking his doll (yes, I'm one of those moms that thinks boys can play with dolls) and lifting up his shirt to nurse his baby while I was nursing his brother.