EBF Question From Mom To Be

A friend of mine told me that it takes 3 days for your milk to come in and I'll need to supplement with formula in the meantime. She said the colustrum is not enough for an infant to be nourished on for 3 days. What has your experience with this been? Did you FF until your milk came in? Does it even take that long?

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

I EBF when DS was born. He was born on a monday night, milk came in Friday morning. All he had until then was colostrum and he was fine. I was never told by anyone (doctors, nurses, etc.) to supplement The colostrum is enough for a couple of days. He will not starve. Also keep in mind, the more you put him on your breast to nurse, the more stimulation your ducts will receive to start producing.

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

I EBFed both DDs at the beginning. The hospital told me on both that their weight dropped and that I need to supplement.. I think I might have given them both one bottle of formula, and they were fine..

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

My milk came in about 4 days later and I EBF'd with no problem. The colostrum seemed to be fine for DD and her weight barely dropped. The docs never said anything about supplementing. Best of luck!

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

Message edited 5/22/2009 8:37:09 AM.

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

Nope not true. The colostrum is all the baby needs for the first few days. There is no need for formula. Both of my kids were EBF & neither one had issues with their weight. They didn't lose any more than normal.

Message edited 5/22/2009 8:27:28 AM.

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

Definitely NOT true.

Ryan was born 3:25 Tuesday morning via C-Section. My milk did not come in until Saturday-ish. He was EBF and still is almost 11 months later.

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

That is definitely not true.

I had to supplement because my DC were very small, but colostrum is absolutely sufficient until your milk comes in. It is how nature intends for your baby to be fed.

ETA: I had a c-sec on a tues night and my milk came in sunday morning.

Message edited 5/22/2009 8:39:58 AM.

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

Your friend is very very misinformed.

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

Sooooooo not true. I had a c-section Tuesday evening and my milk came in on Friday afternoon. DD had her first check up on Saturday, and her ped said she was FINE!!!!

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

Your friend is very misinformed. I EBF and never needed to give DD formula until my milk came in. Everyone's milk comes in differently - but the colostrum is the stuff you want your baby to get. I would imagine you would only need to supplement IF there were weight issues or other medical issue that would cause a problem. But in normal births (includes sections) without health complications there is no reason to supplement.

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

Your friend doesn't know what she's talking about. I had a c-section on Friday and my milk came in on Tuesday. The only reason I had to supplement with a little bit of formula for a few days was b/c DS ended up in the NICU with a high fever and lost too much weight. Otherwise, he would've been fine on just colostrum. The best thing you can do to get your milk in and establish your supply is put DC on the breast whenever he or she wants to nurse.

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

Not true. DD was born on a wednesday morning and I think my milk came in that saturday. She dropped some weight in the hospital but all babies do - I think 10% of their body weight. We had a peds appointment on monday and she was back up at her birth weight.

I will say I did sit under her most of the weekend and she fed a lot so you may have to do that when your milk comes in.

You will hear a lot of "advice" about the baby not eating enough if you decide to EBF so please dont listen to those people - feed your newborn every 2-2 1/2 hours and if its weight is fine then there is no need to supplement.

Lots of luck to you

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

giving formula can actually hurt your milk supply because it's all supply and demand.

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

a good reference my ped gave me was that an infant's stomach is the size of their fist - so tiny....and their body needs a little time to get used to this new way of doing things.


I will say both my kids were 10+ pounds and both lost about 12 oz in the hospital (which everyone freaked, but it was still less than 10% which is fine)

#1 was EBF, but for #2 the nurses asked if I wanted sleep they could do the night feeding - and I wanted sleep - but he still lost that much weight with the suplementing. you never know

(my milk came in fast for both too! under 2 days)

Message edited 5/22/2009 10:59:45 AM.

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

This was really helpful feedback. Thank you all!!! Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

Your body knows how much your baby needs. Their stomach's are smaller than a ping pong ball. You don't need much to satisfy them. My biggest mistake was to supplement in the beginning. It causes major milk issues for me which took weeks to resolve. Now that I know better I would advise you not yo do it!

Re: EBF Question From Mom To Be

We got a few samples of the premade formula. We gave DS about 3 servings of formula in the first week. After that, we didn't need formula. I think it's good to have some around in case you don't produce enough milk in the first few days.