Breastfeeding and Supplementing

So after 3 months of pumping at work I think I'm ready to give it up. I can honestly say I hate doing it, and the stress of not getting enough each day was really getting to me. We had been mixing formula in for the last few weeks, so now I'm thinking she will just get formula MWF while I'm at work. The question I have now is what to do when I'm home? I assume my supply is going to suffer, so how do I know if she's getting enough?

Right now I'm breastfeeding her when I'm with her, I'll usually do it when she wakes up and before naps, and whenever she acts like she wants to. She also gets three solid meals a day and 5 oz formula before bed (all after breastfeeding).

When we went for our 9 month checkup two weeks ago, we found out that she's actually lost a bit of weight over the last three months. Not a lot, but it definitely scared me. We have really ramped up the solids over the last two weeks, and she gets at least 6 oz of them in a meal (usually a fruit/cereal mix and either yogurt or sweet potatoes and turkey). I'm just worried that since she's seems so hungry all the time she isn't getting enough milk from me, so would it be better to give her some formula throughout the day as well? Any advice would be appreciated!

Weight loss at that age usually means too much solids and not enough breastmilk or formula although weight gain does slow a bit at that age as they get more active and burn more calories. Has she been sick at all? Solids have less fat/calorie per density - and most baby foods are very calorie/fat poor. The only food that has more calories and fat per oz than BM is avocado.

I'd increase her nursing/bm intake and decrease her solids, personally. More solids only further displaces the more nutritionally dense BM or formula. I bet she'll stop being as hungry and the weight will increase. Too much too soon on the solids is what this sounds like to me. Pedis often don't understand this for some reason and tell parents to give more solids. They get maybe 1 hour of training on Bf or infant feeding in medschool. And, I work in peds at a med school so I'm not just a pedi basher or anything.

So - give her pumped milk or nurse directly FIRST before she eats her solid so that she doesn't fill up on the empty calories first. Then give her solids. Nurse more. How many times per day is she nursing at this point? If you decide not to pump anymore than give her formula BEFORE her solids. Until she is one year old her PRIMARY source of nutrition should be formula or BM - not solids. Only at 12 months should you start the SLOW transition to more solids....

good luck and hope this helps!
Amy

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