I caved into the pressure from everyone at home that my baby was not getting enough milk. He would cry within an hour after every feed which made everyone think milk wasn't sufficient. Doctor insisted and reassured me for over a month that he was getting sufficient looking at his above-average weight gain. "Crying is normal for a baby. He might be crying for reasons other than huger. So comfort him.", he would say. But we persisted for him to recommend a supplement and he did when I couldn't continue feeding after soreness. My advice is you are the best judge to decide whether your baby is getting enough or not. I always felt my baby was getting adequate supply and regret getting into the habit of feeding him formula 2 times a day.
Once you switch to formula your baby would feel satisfied for hours and wouldn't feed so often from you. This is because formula takes longer to digest than breast milk. It might be a relief for you initially but that would also cut down your milk production. So my suggestion is even if he breastfeeds often, please do so. Do not think you don't have sufficient milk and that's why he is feeding often. It just means he is healthy and growing ad is digesting your milk soon enough. The only two factors that should count are if he is wetting more than 7 times a day and if he is gaining weight. In my case he was wetting around 20 times a day when breastfed and gaining about 350 gms a week.
In this whole process there is only one thing that you need in abundance and that is PATIENCE. There is nothing that is as good as breastfed milk for your baby.
This is a great article on Low Milk Supply. Wish I had read this earlier.
Related Posts:
Is your baby getting enough milk?
Thursday, March 01, 2007
