Trying to decide. . .

[chanstew]

DS is 8 days old, and nursing has been a challenge. My supply doesn't satisfy him, he lost more than 10% of his birth weight, so as of Monday, we've been supplementing with formula. What little milk I make, he's not willing to work hard enough to get, and bfing just leads to both of us crying in frustration.

He and I are so much happier now that his belly is getting full, but I still want him to get some benefit from bm. So I'm pumping what I can, and working to increase my supply.

So I'm trying to decide what I want to do. . . Fight to get him back to ebf, EP with formula if necessary, or just formula?

Anyone want to share why you're EPing, and offer any advice?

[ajacot924]

I had similar issues. My daughter was losing weight, having trouble latching, and wouldn't feed very long-"snacking" all day and night. I have been EP-ing for 3 weeks (baby is 4 weeks old). She has gained lots of weight and we are both much happier. I like that I can see exactly how much milk she is getting. As far as advice, pump every 2-2.5 hours at first to get a consistent supply. That means pumping at night as well. You may always have to supplement since pumping doesn't always yield enough milk ( but it certainly can-every woman is different). EP is not easy. Cleaning the parts and bottles is a pain, but you can refrigerate parts to avoid this. It is also time consuming because you have to pump and then bottle feed your baby. For middle of the night feedings, my husband feeds her while I pump, which makes it much faster. Before you decide, I recommend doing lots of research. I googled a ton and found some blogs for women that EP that I found helpful. Good luck!

[Widget123]

I had similar issues with my DD as well. She was born with a low birth weight then just kept losing weight. Breastfeeding was frustrating so we supplemented at first, then I was ready to give up BF and EP. It took me a while to build up my supply to meet her demand, longer than I imagine it would have took if she BF for longer. It wasn't until that I strictly adhered to my pumping schedule that I was really able to make some progress. I also found being an EPer was much harder for me at home than it was for me when I went back to work. But DD went from off the growth chart on the bottom to consistently at 75% or greater for over a year and I attribute that to EPing.

Now that I am going to have my second soon I am going to try to breastfeed again, but there is a lot of things that scare me about breastfeeding. As much as being an EPer was a huge pain in the butt sometimes I loved having that sense of control.

[raechay]

Welcome. My story (copy/pasted):
Baby has always latched great but (like many newborns) consistently fell asleep while feeding. This led to jaundice, weight loss, and what I think of as the evil trinity of feeding: breastfeed then bottle feed then pump....every 2-3 hours for 4 weeks or so. Then the LC came by after weeks of this mind numbing/soul sucking adventure and declared that baby was still getting less than half of what he needed from breastfeeding alone (determined by weighted feedings twice weekly for 2 weeks).

Even with my best efforts after 6 weeks or so of this special kind of torture, baby was still in the 2nd or so percentile for weight (he is also very tall so that doesn't help). So I started to EP and he finally started to gain weight. And we both started to sleep. It's working for us.

As for your question: first you need to contact an LC. They will likely put you on the trifecta: BF, bottle feed, pump, repeat times 8 per day at a minimum. It's the worst. Sorry.

Other options: EFF (try to avoid if possible) or throw in the towel and EP. You could also EP but also try bf'ing once daily. This way baby doesn't forget and maybe later you can get back to ebf. But try the LC first. Good luck.

[chanstew]

I saw an lc on Wednesday. We did a weighted feed, and he got 8ml from one side, and even less from the other. I was exhausted, and she gave me the same advice the ped nurse have me, "just feed him" she also suggested I just pump that day, for my sanity.

I tried to bf one time that night, and it was terrible. I haven't done it since, and dont see me going back.

For now, he's getting about 2/3 formula and 1/3 bm. I'm happy with this for now, and will reevaluate after his weight check on Monday.

I will not sign up for the evil trinity. The horror of the first week still haunts me, and now that DS is full and happy, and still getting some bm, I can sleep and be sane. I can't risk my sanity again.

Thanks for your stories. For now, well just have to see how long I will pump.

[raechay]

it's good to know what you're willing to do and not do. So my next advice would be to dig deep and determine if EP'ing is for you for the long term. I would strongly encourage a hospital grade pump rental, if you don't already have it - check with your insurance to see if they will cover the rental fee. You will get more milk in less time and with less discomfort than with a lesser pump. If you plan to EP for any length of time, this really is important.

You will be wanting to increase your supply; this will come naturally in time but will also take work on your part (again, this is if you plan to EP....if you think you will just EFF then disregard). You will need to pump 8x/day for 15-20 min per session in order to establish your supply, til baby is probably around ten weeks old. At this point you can drop to 7 pumps (increase time to 20 min/session is my advice). Then around 12-13 weeks you can drop to 6 pumps. I can't say that I've read any scientific research to back me with this, like most of us here I've combed the EP blogs and asked other EP moms both online and the one of two I've been fortunate to know IRL. Look at the EP blogs. Start on some fenugreek if you're looking to give baby a higher ratio of BM to formula. Good luck.

[chanstew]

Thanks!

[WittyLittle]

only little piece of advice I could add (you got excellent advice so far of course) is after you've pumped, check if you can still express by hand. My right breast doesn't respond well to pumping and I can get another ounce out of it after every pump. If I don't hand express my breast doesn't get any signal to maintain teh supply and I notice a decrease after a day or two.

[chanstew]

Update: 4/25 was the first day he got 100% bm, yay! We also had a good nursing session. I'm feeling more rested and hopeful about bfing and am going to try increasing my nursing sessions with him. Thanks for all the advice ladies.