OT: APers...please reccomend formula :(

[baybemama]

I've made it 9 months and I wanted to do extended BFing but I think my supply is dropping dramatically. I want to keep nursing morning and night (he nurses every 2 hours at night) until he tells me no but wean off the day feedings gradually. He only nurses maybe 3-4 times during the day anyway, I really think he prefers night nursing! I really don't want a debate about this, just some help. It's taken me weeks to come to terms with this decision.

I'd like to use an organic formula. The two I'm looking at now are the Earth's Best and the Baby's Only.

Thanks for your help!

 

[chrisw127]

Similac has an organic formula that's widely available. We weren't crazy about the lumpiness factor, however.

 

[bunnyscootles]

It sounds like you've had a tough time with this decision and your feeling a little defeated.
I don't want to question your decision, because you know your baby best, I wanted to give you some information.
It sounds like he's reverse cycled, which is common for mom's who work outside the home (i do) and even mom's who dont see this sometimes. It just means they are getting all their nutrients at night instead of during the day. I can give you some more information about this, and how to encourage him to un-reverse cycle if you want.
If he is nursing every 2 hours at night, and a few times during the day he should be getting plenty of milk. How is his diaper output? Is he happy and meeting milestones?
There could also be a few reasons you've felt like your supply has dropped, if you've started a hormonal birth control, or got your period back recently a lot of moms see a drop in supply. There are ways to help with these situations too, although really it sounds like you still have plenty of supply left.
Again, not to debate you should do what you feel is best for your son. Just wanted to let you know you still have options if you do not want to wean or use formula.

 

[mommy-on-the-move]

first off I'd say a huge congrats on the 9months nursing! It's a big achievement and I really do think you should look at what you have achieved in a positive light.

Secondly I'd be tempted to say (but i know others might not agree) if he is nursing as often as he is at night and happy to take other fluids during the day and gaining a good balance of nutrition (vitamins, calcium, protein etc) from his solid food then personally I wouldn't panic too much about introducing a formula in place of the day time nursing if he's naturally weaning himself.

You do mention your supply is dropping- would you like some suggestions to try and help with that? (if not I entirely understand- it's not a pushy offer, just a offer of information if wanted) I found when DS got to 8/9 months my supply in the daytime seemed to be dwindling but I actually think it was/is more of a case of my body adjusting to what he wanted in the daytime (when he was tiny i was near engorgement if he didn't feed often!)

Formula wise I used aptamil with my eldest 3 - but that's a european formula- not sure what it's equivalent in the states is (i had no problems with it at all with any of them)

 

[DevilDuckie]

I've made it 9 months and I wanted to do extended BFing but I think my supply is dropping dramatically. I want to keep nursing morning and night (he nurses every 2 hours at night) until he tells me no but wean off the day feedings gradually. He only nurses maybe 3-4 times during the day anyway, I really think he prefers night nursing! I really don't want a debate about this, just some help. It's taken me weeks to come to terms with this decision.

I'd like to use an organic formula. The two I'm looking at now are the Earth's Best and the Baby's Only.

Thanks for your help!

While it wasn't as long as you wanted, nine months is nothing to sneeze at! You did good, Mama!

I had a friend who used the Earth's Best and was happy with it. I don't know the other brand at all.

 

[NotUrsula]

Have you spoken to your ped. about this decision? Mine told me I could use cow's milk for supplementation starting at 10 months. I did and DS was fine with it. He WASN'T fine with formula -- hated the stuff and absolutely refused to eat it, no matter what brand or type I tried.

 

[minkydog]

I just want to give you a bit of encouragement. Your breastfeeding has been a success. You're a good mom, no matter how you feed him, because you love him so much.

If your baby is nursing every 2hrs at night and 3-4 times during the day, it seems he's getting plenty of milk. At 9months a lot of babies are getting more interested in solids and feeding themselves. Perhaps rather than giving him formula you could start cup feeding. Put a teaspoonful of water in a small cup and let him have at it. It will be messy, but if you let him try you'll have a baby who can totally drink from a cup by age 1. If you don't want the mess, let him have his cup in the bathtub.

I nursed all three of my kids to about a year, including #3 who had some serious feeding problems. Even though he was failure to thrive, he still wanted to go to breast twice a day. (I used Isomil to supplement because my other two have milk allergies.) I barely had any milk for months but Christian didn't care--he just wanted to be close to me.

There is nothing wrong with nursing part-time. I was under the impression that it was all or nothing, but as I have said, my third child was a part-time nurser for almost a full year. He's now 12yrs old and the healthiest kid in the bunch. He is still very developmentally challenged, but I am convinced that our months of part-time nursing paid off in closeness and gave us the strong bond we have today.

Just my own opinion, of course.

 

[bumbershoot]

If I were in your situation I would use the organic stuff.

On the other hand, this is PRIME time for big huge nursing changes that can make women think one of two things. 1. that baby is weaning. 2. that their supply has tanked.

This age is ripe for nursing strikes, which LOOK like weaning, but aren't. Even my voracious guy went through a nursing strike, which was WEIRD because he hadn't had any solid foods. So for a few days he was barely taking in nutrients. Because I know better, I just let him do whatever he was doing, and soon he was back to normal. Nursing strikes have ruined better nursing relationships than mine and my son's!

Supply. Supply, as I'm sure you know, is a fluid and ever-changing thing. The beauty of nursing is how the milk changes over time. Now that he's getting older, his needs are different. Just last year a study found that as the baby ages, the baby might drink less milk, but the milk is heavier in fat and nutrients so it packs a bigger punch, so to speak.

I don't say this to "debate" (these are facts, nothing to debate about!), but just in the off chance that no one has said these things to you before. Night nursing is fine for him; even though I am at home my guy used to get the bulk of his nutrients at night. As long as I was nourished and hydrated, it was all good. Though we have a family bed so maybe that's the difference...I could sleep through his night nursings, and sometimes the only reason I knew he had done it was b/c DH noticed it and told me.

Have you seen kellymom.com?

 

[druidcat]

First off, congrats mama for nursing for 9 months

If you feel you need to switch to formula to either supplement or replace I'd go with Earth's Best...we were very happy with all the products we tried from them. Of course, it probably won't be an easy switch and I'd talk to your ped about other options as well.

The other ladies on here have given you very good info and ideas. If you can keep bfing that's great, but if you feel you need to stop then be proud of the time you did nurse and don't feel guilty!

Proud mama of an extended bfer...2 years and going strong!

 

[baybemama]

Thank you for all the kind and thoughtful replies. I'm still a bit undecided of when I will begin to wean or if I will at all. I'm glad to be reminded that there are many changes around this time. I don't know for sure if my supply is dropping...I think DS having a cold and hardly nursing makes me feel a little panicked about it. The um, girls, feel so deflated lately but I've never had a time where there wasn't milk so I guess they are good to go. I think every once in ahwhile I also reach a point where I just feel so done with it and the past few weeks have been that way. I think I will give it some more time.

Thank you again, I appreciate the support

 

[GoinToDisney]

I remember getting to this point around 9 months. I read on kellymom.com and felt a lot better. Whenever I felt that way, I would just decide to give it 2 more weeks and see how I felt then. My "girls" did shift back to normal (feeling empty), but I could always express milk and my dd wasn't looking for more after nursing, so I decided (after some research) that my body finally figured it all out and knew what she needed. I stopped needing nursing pads at that point too. If your son has had a cold, and is nursing more at night, then you are probably dragging a bit yourself. I would not decide anything at this point. It's totally normal for them to cut back how often they nurse as they get older. Check my info (my dd is 3.5 now), but I think 3-4 feedings per day is normal at this point. I used to just try to make sure to nurse before solids and sometimes offer after. I didn't work on night weaning until my dd was 12-14 months old. It was just easier to nurse her back down before that. Night-weaning did get her to cut back on how often she woke at night, but not entirely. She's a pretty good sleeper now, so there is hope.

I reached this "itching to wean" point quite a few times with my dd, but I still ended up making it to 17.5 months. It got easier after 12 months, though. I was able to cut out a feeding at that point without worrying too much. My dd was nursing less and less around 9 months and then she picked up (because of my encouragement when I was worried about supply) and ended up nursing 10 times per day by 12 months. Then I realized that I was the one initiating half the time. There are lots of ups and downs with it, but if you take nothing else from my rambling , just know that your concerns are normal and that you don't have to decide anything immediately.