Author: Christie del Castillo-Hegyi MD

Co-Founder of the Fed is Best Foundation, Board-Certified Emergency Physician and Investigator of Breastfeeding Complications that Result in Infant Rehospitalization, Brain Injury and Disability

I Was Ashamed to Ask for Formula in the Hospital, But I Couldn’t Hear Her Scream Anymore

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I took some time to write up my story and let you all know why this cause is so important to me. Thank you for welcoming me to this community.

I’m not afraid to admit that I’ve had some issues with post-partum anxiety following the birth of baby Ariya – I still struggle with irrational anxiety from time to time at 8 months post-partum. One of the biggest reasons was because of my ‘failure to provide for my daughter’, AKA struggling, and ultimately deciding not to breastfeed her due to my inability to produce milk at the time of her birth.

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We Supplemented Our Baby with Confidence Until My Milk Came In…Thank You For Helping Us Have a Happy and Healthy Baby

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From Alison

Thank you for sharing your important message. My husband I found your website and resources when we were four months pregnant. While pregnant, we regularly talked about the stories you post and my husband’s older son who became severely dehydrated and underweight in his first two months of life as a result of inadequate breastmilk supply. Your stories and my husband’s firsthand experience helped me recognize the importance of putting the health and safety of our soon-to-arrive baby ahead of any pressure to exclusively breastfeed.

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I finally realized what shame was put on me by the hospital staff for wanting to feed my child and keep him and myself healthy and happy

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By Jennifer Brozowski, Mom and Behavior Health Specialist

My son, Jakob, was born 3 days after his due date weighing 8lbs 6 oz, healthy and very hungry. I delivered by c-section and my milk did not come in right away. I had other medical complications making it difficult to hold my son to breastfeed. The nurses discouraged my husband and me from giving my son a bottle and fed my son with a very tiny amount of formula in a cup. My husband struggled to feed Jakob this way and he went several hours without drinking any significant amount of formula. I was committed to breastfeeding and stuck to the plan of very tiny amounts of formula without using a nipple. I trusted the hospital staff to do the best thing for me and my son. The baby began showing signs of hypoglycemia and was not crying, only grunting the first 12 hours of his life. The doctor decided to admit my baby to the NICU. While he was in the NICU, Jakob was fed by bottle and showed immediate signs of improvement. My baby was discharged out of the NICU and back at my bedside within 24 hours. My husband and I continued to follow the discharge instructions from the NICU, which were to feed the baby with the same amount of formula as he was getting in the NICU when breastfeeding was not successful. We were both scolded by the nurses, being told that we were feeding our son too much.   The postpartum nurse stated that, “The NICU does things different than we do. They feed the babies too much and do so using a bottle. We promote breastfeeding alone.” Continue reading →

Supplementation Kept My Daughter’s Sugars from Falling

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By Paula 

After undergoing five years of infertility, my son was born on November 27, 2012.  He was a strong, healthy boy weighing in at 9 lbs 7 oz and 21 inches long.  I had an easy pregnancy, no health issues and delivered him without any medication, without even an IV, with a midwife in a hospital.

He latched on and nursed, just as expected.  However, because of his size he needed hourly blood sugar monitoring to be sure he’d maintain his sugars.  The delivery nurse recommended giving him some formula after nursing to avoid the NICU.  I also did skin to skin, his sugars stabilized enough that I was able to stop supplementing and he stopped getting the heel sticks a few hours after birth. Continue reading →

I Supplemented the First Days of Life to Keep Him Safe and Fed, Now We Don’t Need to Supplement

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By Aubri

My baby is 9 days old. The first night in the hospital he had regular glucose tests because he was a big baby and his blood sugar was low on the 2nd test. Thanks to your site I didn’t think twice about saying yes to formula when they suggested it for one feeding to bring his blood sugar back up. I continued to try to breastfeed after that and the 2nd night in the hospital he kept us up all night cluster feeding. The Lactation Consultant told us that his blood sugar was now measuring fine and I was producing colostrum and there was no medical reason to supplement.

I continued to try to breastfeed, but after a full hour going back and forth from breast to breast he started screaming and flailing and attacking my breasts and seemed to be desperate for food. I told the nurse to bring some formula and I cried the whole time, but he ate that formula so desperately and then went right to sleep. I went back to breastfeeding as long as I could and when the same thing happened the next evening I didn’t hesitate to grab a bottle. The next day my milk came in and we haven’t needed to supplement since, but the formula got us through those first few days. I don’t understand why my baby and I had to be in tears to make sure he was fed, but I’m so glad I found your site before I had him so that I had some source of reassurance that I was doing the right thing. So thank you.

Gryphon, safely supplemented by mom until her milk came in

#supplementing #listentoyourbaby #SafeBreastfeeding #FedisBest