Challenges in Breastfeeding
For me, breast is better. Breastmilk is still the best source of nutrition and I am grateful that I have not had any problems with my ability to produce milk.
I breastfed my first child exclusively. I wanted to do the same with second child. However, he had jaundice as a newborn. Since I had to feed him more and my breast milk supply still couldn't keep up in the beginning, the doctor advised me to supplement breast milk with formula. And I did.
When he was cleared, I decreased his formula supplement in order to slowly go back to breastfeeding exclusively. It worked.
A week after I was finally able to breastfeed exclusively, he got constipated. It has been almost 2 weeks and he still is unable to do #2 on his own, without the help of a baby laxative which the doctor prescribed.
Next step? Supplement again. Since breastfed babies are more prone to constipation, we would like to see if we can rule out breastfeeding as the cause. We'll see from there what the next step would be.
I have been pumping milk in order to make sure that my supply does not dwindle down. I just hope that soon we can go back to breastfeeding exclusively, without any problems.
Oh yea… did I mention that my breasts are lopsided now? I can pump around 120ml from my right breast and have slowly increased the supply from my left breast to 40ml. But that is another story.
October 22nd, 2006 at 11:29 pm
Breastfed babies are NOT more prone to constipation. In fact formula fed babies are more prone to constipation due to the ingredients in formula, and the lack of water they intake. a breastfed baby actually, if fed on demand, takes in more water through momma’s breastmilk than a formula fed baby.
October 23rd, 2006 at 2:38 am
i had to give the baby formula the next day she was born coz i had my tubes tied and with all the epidural and anaesthesia i was pumped with during the surgery I could’nt breastfeed for 48 hours.
now i give her 6 oz before bedtime to make her sleep better. whenever she wakes up for midnight feeding i breastfeed of course.
October 23rd, 2006 at 5:51 am
Lots of women have lopsided breasts after childbirth.
October 24th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
Dawn: strangely, ALL american websites say that breastfed babies are NOT prone to constipation whereas German sites (and even my german doctor) says the complete opposite.