Expert: ruth kraft - 2/26/2011

Question
At 3 weeks of age, my pediatrician suggested we supplement breasfeeding with formula as my son was a large baby and i didn't seem to be making enough milk.  He has fluctuated back and forth with drinking from the breast, and bottles with either expressed milk or formula with no issues.  He is now 14 weeks old and He has been having some skin rash issues so the pediatrician put him on hypo allergenic formula.  He only drinks 1 or 2 (4oz) bottles at most a day of formula the rest being breastmilk.  Since introducing the new formula, he has no interest in nursing at my breast anymore. He will drink either the formula or breast milk from a bottle without hesitation.  Why would this be?  How do I get him back interested in nursing?

Answer
This is because there is nipple confusion. Your baby is very smart and understands that drinking from a bottle takes very little effort. Nursing takes alot more effort.  To get him more interested in nursing you have to encourage him to nurse more often. preferably feed him other ways like through a syringe or SNS feeding device or a sippy cup etc. It is more time consuming but he will continue to try what is easiest and fuss until he gets it.

You can build up your milk supply as well and the more mil you have the easier it will be to nurse. You can pump more frequently to get a super supply going , you can eat more fiber to make more milk and then wean onto breast.

this is a link for those who have adopted babies and get the baby to breastfeed. Although you have not adopted, many of the same principles apply while trying to make more milk to exclusively nurse as well as get a baby to latch when they don't want to much anymore.

Your doctor gave you mis information. It does not matter how large or small a baby is. You should be able to make enough milk no problem when nusring starts out correctly. You can exclusivly nurse if you want but it will take some extra effort on your part being this far into it.

http://asklenore.com/breastfeeding/abindex.shtml#adoptive_breastfeeding

Good luck!