Ok Mommies. I need advice/suggestions/feedback. Please comment here, on facebook, message me, call me, send smoke signals, whatever.
I had always had a dip in production right around the end of my cycle. Before it was no biggie, I would pull a bottle's worth of milk from my stash every other day, replace those milk bags with extra in the following weeks, and repeat each month. This past month has seen a much larger dip in production that has coincided with being sick. While Matt and I are weighing our feeding/my sanity options, we want to be prepared to supplement. We are 100% good with adding in formula at some point and knew it would probably happen at some point. I am very, very pleased with how things have gone so far.
What I need help with is how to add in the formula. I know I have at least a full month's worth of milk in the freezer and I hope it is more. We are trying to decide how much to keep pumping, but let's operate as if I had zero milk coming in from this point on and only had that month to rely on. Johnny is 8 months old this weekend and takes 4-5 bottles totaling less than 25 ounces per day, he gets solids (purees with cereal added) twice a day. Do I completely use up the stash I have and then throw him on formula? Do I do a couple of weeks of straight stash and then work formula in? Or do I try to stretch out some breast milk for as long as possible by giving him one or two bottles worth each day and doing the other bottles with formula?
Additionally, we have no idea how to pick out a formula. While I am looking at a Similac coupon right now which makes it seem pretty favorable, I wouldn't mind help on that road either!
I am interested to see what everyone says. Please feel free to pass along to anyone you know who may be able to provide insight! I, of course, hope and pray that this is a small little blip in the pumping road and that I can make it to 9 months or further, but we want to be prepared!
2 comments:
I slowly mixed in formula over about a week. Just mixed up a couple of ounces and added it to several ounces of breastmilk. Neither of my kids had any issues in taste or digestion. I also always used the store brand. It was cheaper even with coupons, and chemically identical. That's just me though! I would keep doing straight breast milk until you have about a weeks worth left. If you are still pumping, add formula in accordingly.
That is pretty much what our pedi said about adding formula in. She wants us to start out on Similac, but gave us two sample cans to see how he tolerates it. We are going to start him next week so we can discuss it at his 9 month appointment at the end of the month. I am only getting 2-2.5 bottles a day right now so my freezer stash is going quickly.
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