a little encouragement for those who supplement

Hi all,

My sweet twinkies turned 1 yesterday. Wow did that year fly by! Breastfeeding was SO HARD in the early days, and I wanted to quit about a million times. I found this forum to be so helpful and encouraging. We ultimately decided that supplementing was right for us (I was going back to work, never made *quite* enough for both) and I was SO scared that it would mean an end to our nursing relationship, but I'm happy to report that we're still going strong at one year, which I never thought would happen. Supplementing is not right for everyone, and God love you ladies who exclusively breast feed. But if supplementing is right for your family, I just wanted to put our story out there as an example of how it can successfully happen. Things that helped us:

1. I always nursed first, then offered a bit of bottle.
2. I tried to keep them to the same amount of supplementing each day, so that any growth spurts meant they demanded more milk from Mom, not more formula.
3. I pumped every 3 hours at work to keep my supply up.

However you choose to feed your little ones, try not to let any quilt or second guessing rob you of the joy of watching them grow and thrive. And thanks to everyone on here who encouraged me so much.

Amy

 

Well done, Amy! :babyflips:

And thanks so much for the encouragement to other mamas. It means a lot to hear such positive words from our community members.

 

Awesome! I had the same fears regarding supplementing - thanks for sharing how you made it work for you. :good:

 

Wonderful post! I supplemented too...and at 4 months switched to exclusively pumping and supplementing with 1-2 bottles per day due to recurring mastitis and continued until they were 13 months old I battled the guilt for awhile...I had exclusively BF my oldest DS until 29 months. But eventually realized BFing is not all or nothing!

Congrats to you!!!

 

Congrats on making it through the first year! I think it's interesting and cool that you give them a set amount of formula and let them increase as they needed to from you.