Trying to stop supplementing
I got off to a slow start due to an emergency D&C and hemorrhage and blood transfusion after birth that kept me in the hospital for 3 days. I didn’t get to try to nurse until several hours after birth and I was a bit drugged and out of it for a day or so and couldn’t get a normal start. My family supplemented the baby with donor breast milk, we continued to do this for several days until I tried to switch to nursing. On day 4 she did not pee for a while day, and she was also jaundiced, and the pediatrician recommended formula to help clear it up and get her back on track. She also had lost too much of her birth weight and everyone was worried. Whether I wanted to or not, my mom and husband were there giving bottles of formula and pushing formula, formula, formula. I continued to breastfeed and was encouraged by my lactation consultant to pump, but at times I would put on the pump and get absolutely nothing. I’m getting towards the end of week 5 and have managed to get to what I believe is 50/50 formula and nursing. I am really trying to get to where I’m exclusively nursing but I don’t know if that will be possible. I still give in and give her formula after nursing if she is crying too intensely, and mom & husband will swoop in and give formula. My feelings of failure are amplified by stupid things like the fact that the mom support group I found gives out little “prizes” for reaching breastfeeding milestones but they’re for “exclusively breastfeeding” like somehow I chose to be lazy and fail. It’s dumb but I almost would leave the group over it even though its a minor thing because it feels unfair and hurtful that my milestones mean less because I had to use formula. I’m just really frustrated and tired of feeling like I’m not good enough right now.
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