mambera1
08-30-2009, 08:20 PM
Hi everybody, I need your input on this dilemma I have.
My dd is 3 months old. I went back to work when she was 2 months old, and since then my MIL has been living with us full time to help with the kiddo.
I have a little bit of a supply problem. When baby was 4 weeks old we found out she wasn't gaining quite enough and we started formula supplements while I tried pumping, herbs, etc. to up my supply.
Nothing really helped with the supply so the baby remained on the supplement. But while I was at home I was able to keep the supplement down to from 2-6 ounces q day. Sometimes none if she slept a lot or I had a good supply day. On this amount she was able to catch up to her weight curve and she was exactly on target when I went back to work.
I actually expected my supply to dip when I went back to work but it hasn't. It seems robust to perturbations either way: I make about an ounce per hour (more when I'm empty, less when I'm full) whether I drive myself crazy with pumping and herbs and oatmeal or not. Since the baby is supposed to need about 25 oz q day I am almost there and I feel like she shouldn't continue to need more than the (average of) 4 oz q day she was getting. (Especially since that was for catch-up.)
But my MIL just seems to love to give her formula. Even when I am around my MIL will always suggest giving the baby a bottle when she is hungry instead of giving her to me to breastfeed.
Sometimes in the evening dd cries and rejects both the breast and the bottle. I give up quickly on the breast and move to other soothing methods but my MIL keeps forcing the bottle in her mouth until she stops crying and drinks it.
Even if I am away or empty, even when there is plenty of refrigerated BM available my MIL seems to prefer to give the baby formula. (No freezer stash due to the supply issue - I fed her everything I pumped while I was home.) I came home the other day and baby had had 8 oz of formula already even though there were still 6 oz of EBM in the fridge. I can't figure this out at all.
So now the baby is getting 10-15 oz of formula per day instead of 2-6. I am really unhappy about this and I'd said I'd go on domperidone if she ever went over 50% formula but now that it's happening I'm kind of mad about needing to take a drug just because of my MIL's formula habit.
The baby had been amazingly resilient to changes in feeding methods but recently she is developing a preference for bottle flow, and who could blame her? This is making the whole situation worse bc it just gives my MIL more reasons to give her bottles.
My husband is slightly more supportive of the bfing but not much.
MIL says the baby needs to get a full stomach and the 2-3 oz I can give her at a time are frustrating. I guess that's true but if dd has to feed more often to get the most BM possible I am OK with that. MIL seems to think I should wait to 'fill up' before I feed her but that really reduces the total amount of BM she gets, not to mention the likely supply impact (although as I said supply has seemed robust though lowish so far).
My MIL bfed 4 of her own babies (but never had a supply issue) but doesn't seem to get it about the supply-and-demand thing. She also ffed another grandchild when my SIL's milk didn't come in. So I don't feel like I have much of a leg to stand on to argue with her about this since I am a first-time mom. Also we get along pretty well otherwise and I really don't want to make trouble.
Any help you guys could offer would be great!
My dd is 3 months old. I went back to work when she was 2 months old, and since then my MIL has been living with us full time to help with the kiddo.
I have a little bit of a supply problem. When baby was 4 weeks old we found out she wasn't gaining quite enough and we started formula supplements while I tried pumping, herbs, etc. to up my supply.
Nothing really helped with the supply so the baby remained on the supplement. But while I was at home I was able to keep the supplement down to from 2-6 ounces q day. Sometimes none if she slept a lot or I had a good supply day. On this amount she was able to catch up to her weight curve and she was exactly on target when I went back to work.
I actually expected my supply to dip when I went back to work but it hasn't. It seems robust to perturbations either way: I make about an ounce per hour (more when I'm empty, less when I'm full) whether I drive myself crazy with pumping and herbs and oatmeal or not. Since the baby is supposed to need about 25 oz q day I am almost there and I feel like she shouldn't continue to need more than the (average of) 4 oz q day she was getting. (Especially since that was for catch-up.)
But my MIL just seems to love to give her formula. Even when I am around my MIL will always suggest giving the baby a bottle when she is hungry instead of giving her to me to breastfeed.
Sometimes in the evening dd cries and rejects both the breast and the bottle. I give up quickly on the breast and move to other soothing methods but my MIL keeps forcing the bottle in her mouth until she stops crying and drinks it.
Even if I am away or empty, even when there is plenty of refrigerated BM available my MIL seems to prefer to give the baby formula. (No freezer stash due to the supply issue - I fed her everything I pumped while I was home.) I came home the other day and baby had had 8 oz of formula already even though there were still 6 oz of EBM in the fridge. I can't figure this out at all.
So now the baby is getting 10-15 oz of formula per day instead of 2-6. I am really unhappy about this and I'd said I'd go on domperidone if she ever went over 50% formula but now that it's happening I'm kind of mad about needing to take a drug just because of my MIL's formula habit.
The baby had been amazingly resilient to changes in feeding methods but recently she is developing a preference for bottle flow, and who could blame her? This is making the whole situation worse bc it just gives my MIL more reasons to give her bottles.
My husband is slightly more supportive of the bfing but not much.
MIL says the baby needs to get a full stomach and the 2-3 oz I can give her at a time are frustrating. I guess that's true but if dd has to feed more often to get the most BM possible I am OK with that. MIL seems to think I should wait to 'fill up' before I feed her but that really reduces the total amount of BM she gets, not to mention the likely supply impact (although as I said supply has seemed robust though lowish so far).
My MIL bfed 4 of her own babies (but never had a supply issue) but doesn't seem to get it about the supply-and-demand thing. She also ffed another grandchild when my SIL's milk didn't come in. So I don't feel like I have much of a leg to stand on to argue with her about this since I am a first-time mom. Also we get along pretty well otherwise and I really don't want to make trouble.
Any help you guys could offer would be great!