Breastfeeding Without Supplementing

first of all, great job on continuing to breast feed through the latch on issue. i know its not easy! it sounds since you are leaking and full at night you are making enough milk. my suggestion would be to breast feed on demand all day everyday for a few days, that will get things up to speed. youre body is very smart! i know a lot of moms often think thier baby's arent getting enough milk when they really are. the 1st 6 weeks my son ate every 30 to 45 minute, no joke. i thought the same thing and almost gave up a dozen times. im not sure how your son is at the breast but he may become frustrated because it isnt as fast as the bottle. i wouldnt be worried as long as his weight is decent. hang in there!

As long as you're giving him formula, your milk supply will not increase on its own. You have a couple options: either wean him off the formula and make him nurse for longer (which will stimulate milk production, although he may cry a little more than normal as it comes in) or pump.

Good luck!

Congrats on continuing to nurse despite the latching on problems ! I agree with Shannon H, nurse on demand. They say not to try and wait it out or get the baby on a feeding schedule. Every baby is different and so are their demands. It's true, as long as he is where he should be in weight, he is fine !! If you have doubts, you can always call the his ped. office and ask if you can bring him in to be weighed. They shouldn't charge you for the visit unless the doctor ends up seeing him. If you want to exclusively breastfeed, be careful with supplementing. Even though the bottle nipple is slow flow, it is still faster than the breast and babies can get use to that. They may start wanting that "Instant Gratification" they get from the bottle nipple and will not want to "Work" for the milk from the breast. Good luck and congrats on your new baby !!

Nurse nurse nurse... just keep at it and don't schedule your baby. The more he nurses the more milk you will make. A pump is not as effective at building your milk supply as the baby, so just hold him a lot and anytime he seems interested go ahead and feed him. Even when it seems like he's sucking but not getting anything, just let him keep sucking and it will signal your body to make more milk - but it takes about a week for your body to catch up to his appetite. Not only that, but you may be surprised at how much he is eating in a short amount of time - it may seem like he's only getting a couple of ounces when he's really eating more. As long as he is peeing pooping and growing, he's getting enough to eat. Most of all, don't give up, nursing gets much easier and goes quite smoothly after the first two months - it takes time to work out all the kinks (I nursed my son for 19 months and am on month 4 with my daughter :))