I bf exclusively. Well, sort of until recently. She nurses good but starting about 4pm until she goes to sleep at 10 or so (to sleep for about 4 hours) she is fussy and seems hungry. I nurse, nurse, nurse and she fusses, pulls off, on and on and on. I know this is normal in a newborn (she is 5 weeks) but when it hits dinnertime and I have 3 other children and a husband to fix dinner for although dh does help sometimes...its hard to sit and nurse her. My kids are 2 1/2, 7, and 16.

Well, I end of giving her a small bottle of formula or ebm (if I have any pumped). I am beating myself up over this and I am scared my supply will dip. I do pump for about 15 minutes after I give it to her to *hopefully* signal my body to keep making milk. Am I affecting my supply at this time. I have supplemented her for 3 days now...just that one time of day though. I nurse her the rest of her feedings.

After everything calms down and I get past dinner time I do sit and nurse her and let her do her thing until she goes to sleep. I just give her the supplement to get me through dinnertime basically.

I am thinking about pumping in the early morning after she nurses (I will offer one side??). I will wait for about an hour or so afterwards. AND pump in between her 4 hour period. I want to do this so I can get a little stash so I can at least give her breastmilk during this time.

When does this period usually stop? I dont really know what else to do. Anyone have any suggestions????? I want to bf exclusively but at this busy time of day I just have a hard time.

I also posted about her not staying on after the milk flow stops. Is this related to that? (if you read that one)

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Debbie

Host of Due in July 2006 - Hot Tots

What your little one is doing is known as cluster feeding. It is extremely normal in infants. It usually starts late afternoon and can last until late evening. I am not sure how long it lasts for each baby(my 1st cluster fed from about 3 weeks until 6 months of age and my 2nd cluster fed from birth until 3 months of age....both started solids at/around 6 months of age).

Infants cluster feed to 'stock up' on their calories. Our milk supply is lowest in the late afternoon/evening time, HOWEVER, it has the highest fat content during these hours. So, they nurse, nurse, nurse, nurse.

Might you try a sling? There are several slings out there and you can wear the baby while they nurse without any problems. My 2nd son loved to be worn in the evening, I could cook dinner and he could just do his thing.

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Nancy

I bought a sling from Hotslings and dont care for it...what kind do you have?

Do you think I have messed up my supply?

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Debbie

Host of Due in July 2006 - Hot Tots

I have a New Native Baby Carrier. It is super easy to use and literally rolls up so that I can throw it in a bag/purse when we are walking out of the house.

Hard to say if your supply has suffered, she is really young still and your supply is not truly established until around 6 weeks. And, there is a 6-week growth spurt.

Both of my boys have been only BF(they are 37 months and 17 months and the little one is still BFing); so I have never been in your shoes with 3 and an infant. I do not think that you are going to have major issues by offering a bottle one time a day(especially if you sneak in a pumping session during that time- your breasts will still be getting stimulation then and continue to produce). I am a huge BF advocate and if it were me I would work hard to make the bottles BM and use as little formula as possible, but that is just me.

You are doing a great job!!! Hang in there.

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Nancy

I think that if you are pumping around the same time as you give the supplement, your supply will probably not suffer. From about 3 weeks on, my daughter got a dinnertime bottle (of EBM) from DH daily--not because of issues like yours, but to get her used to a bottle before I had to go back to work. But my supply never suffered, and it was a good break for me. I don't think you should beat yourself up about that.

I agree with the previous poster, though--do what you can to make it EBM instead of formula. Formula is a fine option for those who can't breastfeed for whatever reason, but if you've got the liquid gold, you should use it! Even a little bit of formula can have a significant effect on a newborn's digestive system; sticking will all breastmilk for as long as you can is the best thing for baby's health.

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Jessica 34
DH 42
Darling Niece 14
Big girl S. born August 28, 2003
Expecting in January 2007!

It's well known that consistent supplementation WILL lead to supply problems. If you continue to fully pump the session that you're supplementing, you probably won't have that problem, but I guess I don't understand how that's helping you if you end up still spending time pumping and now giving that bottle.

Typically what happens is that pumping session gets dropped and the formula continues to be given. And that bottle tends to get bigger and bigger until a significant amount of calories come from that bottle and your body never realizes that the baby's needs have increased.

Those cluster sessions serve a purpose and you really should try not to short circuit it. It's how your body learns to continue to build supply through the early infancy period. Pumping is good, but not ideal.

A better suggestion would be to just work this into your schedule. Maybe get meals prepped in early afternoon and just need to be popped into the oven around mealtime so you can sit down with the baby during the evening. Enlist your 16 year old in some helping around the house. The key is, the best way to handle a cluster feeding newborn is to try to work around the issue rather than make the infant cede to the previous schedule.

This, too, shall pass. This is an incredible period of growth for your infant and it won't be this way forever.

Good luck!

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I totally, totally agree. Formula is not just a substitute, it's an entirely different substance and does have consequences for the newborn digestive system and development overall. These consequences aren't grave, but they're not inconsequential, either. You can't see it, but a newborn's body reacts an entirely different way to formula than breastmilk. It's digested differently and takes different enzymes. To us, it looks like a similar white liquid is going in. To a newborn's body, it's all foreign and totally different.

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