Is it possible to supplement with formula while breastfeeding and how to mix correctly

Basic principles of mixed nutrition

If a child is constantly hungry, his body is not saturated with the substances necessary for development and growth.

Women need to supplement breast milk during lactation when:

1. The baby is not gaining weight.
2. Born prematurely.
3. The mother is being treated with drugs that are harmful to the child.

If supplementary feeding is necessary, pediatricians advise giving the baby formula in an amount not exceeding half the volume of breast milk. A woman needs to determine the portion that the baby is missing. If she doesn't know how to calculate this on her own, she can consult a doctor.

The volume of milk increases when expressing and putting the newborn to the breast. To prevent the baby from stopping sucking it, it is better to give the mixture with a spoon or inject it with a syringe. If a child drinks from a bottle, breathing problems arise, which is why the baby often cries.

Breastfeeding and artificial feeding are necessary if the woman continues to work. It is necessary to supplement the baby's feeding when he remains hungry, and milk must be added with formula after applying to the breast. When the baby grows up, porridge is introduced into the diet, which must be alternated with meat or vegetable puree.

In what situations should you supplement your baby?

Before introducing supplementary feeding, seek help from a support group or lactation consultant. They may help you avoid supplemental feeding or teach you how to supplement to maintain breastfeeding.

It is preferable to supplement the baby with expressed breast milk. If you don't have enough milk of your own, try to find donor milk. And only if breast milk is not available in any form, consult your doctor for advice on what formula to supplement your baby with.

Let's look at three different situations.

• In the first case, the family is preparing for a move or holidays. For several days, mom was busier than usual, so she fed less often. The baby began to worry more and ask for the breast more often. In this case, more frequent applications will solve the problem without pumping and bottles.
• In the second case, the baby suckles and grows, but does not gain weight. He may have difficulty sucking. In this case, the mother expresses milk and feeds the baby until he is strong enough to empty the breast well on his own.
• In the third case, the baby does not gain weight for some long time. During this time, my mother’s milk supply decreased. In this case, the mother continues to breastfeed, begins to express to increase her milk supply, and supplements the baby with donor milk or formula in addition to her expressed milk.

How much supplemental feeding does a baby need? Only he knows the answer to this question. If he was content with little for some time, then at first he can get by with small portions. After some time, he may become ravenous and eat much more. The baby's stomach is used to a small volume of milk, so it will take several days before it can accommodate more food. Measured bottle feeding gives the baby the opportunity to stop eating when he is full. Over the course of a week, you will understand how much supplemental feeding your baby needs at different times of the day. Offer supplementary feeding first, then breastfeeding. Some babies breastfeed better on a full stomach.

If a child has not gained weight well, he needs not only to grow, but also to catch up. Accelerated growth requires more food, so it is not surprising that the baby eats so much at first. Rapid growth during this time will also be noticeable along a steeper growth curve. As your child regains weight gain, he or she may begin to eat less.

How to give supplementary food? Supplementary feeding should be given in the way that seems right to you.

Advantages and disadvantages

Mixed feeding has advantages, but additional supplementary feeding is not without its disadvantages.

The formula can be given to the baby not only by the mother, but also by any other family member. The baby receives nutrients when suckling, which helps strengthen the immune system and protects against diseases.

When the father takes part in feeding, a close bond develops between him and the baby.

Due to a decrease in lactation, a woman often:

• milk stagnates;
• there is chest pain;
• mastitis develops.

Additional complementary feeding is also difficult for the baby, which affects behavior and appetite. Having tried the formula from a bottle, some children do not want to suckle, do not allow their mother to sleep at night, are capricious and cry. Their tummy often hurts, and painful colic occurs due to the accumulation of gases.

Pediatricians recommend giving breast milk or formula at the same time if the baby is malnourished, as indicated by lack of body weight. Such nutrition is especially necessary for children who were born much earlier than their due date.

DOES A NEWBORN NEED SUPPLEMENTATION AND SUPPLEMENTATION?

Soon after birth, the baby cries and sucks poorly. Does he need any additional feeding or supplementary food? What can be done in this situation and how can it be avoided?

In the case of natural, physiological childbirth, if the baby is in the mother’s arms most of the time, is healthy, active, grasps and holds the nipple well and has no obstacles to sucking at his request, he does not need either supplementary feeding or supplementary feeding for that reason that he does not have a violation of thermoregulation, there is no excessive loss of fluid, he receives sufficient volumes of extremely nutritious colostrum, and then transitional milk and milk.

In the maternity hospital we have the following:

Unnatural birth

During childbirth, there are interventions for various objective reasons that can affect the behavior of mother and child after childbirth. The child may be too lethargic, inactive, or, conversely, restless. The mother may feel unwell after various interventions and may not be able to adequately respond to the baby’s needs.

How to change this - Bring childbirth as close as possible to the natural course of events.

Interventions in a child’s life that disrupt the implementation of his instinctive behavior aimed at successful survival in his new environment.

1. The child spends a relatively long time alone , without physical contact with his mother. This is facilitated by the strong belief that the mother needs to rest after childbirth, and it is better and more comfortable for her to rest if the child lies in his “incubator”, “trough”, “crib”, albeit at arm’s length from the mother. For a child, this is approximately the same as at 10 meters... In this situation, even a healthy and active baby will want to suckle less often and sleep more.

How to change this - Mom will be able to relax without depriving the baby of physical contact if she is given comfortable positions for resting with the baby and feeding while lying down or half-sitting. This way it will be much easier for the child to express his instincts and needs, and the mother will respond to them faster and feel the baby better. The baby has a huge need for his mother, his mother’s warmth. Just a day ago, the baby was in contact with his mother 24 hours a day, and having just been born, he needs about the same thing, certainly no less than half. And immediately after birth, the baby’s need for physical contact with his mother is enormous; all his behavior is based on it and the future well-being of the baby’s infancy and childhood is laid down on it. It may not sound like much, but our task is to convey to mothers the importance of a normal start in life. Yes, the baby will be “laid out” on his mother’s stomach, yes, he will spend the first hours with her inseparably, but it is also important to subsequently maintain a physical connection with his mother.

I'm not talking about skin-to-skin contact, i.e. I don't just mean him. The baby may be dressed - swaddled, the mother may be in a shirt or whatever she is comfortable in, but the baby should be next to her, in her arms, as much as possible.

2. The child is swaddled “maternity hospital” and the mother does not untie him. Such swaddling does not bother some children, but for others it really bothers them.

How to change this - The child needs and can be unwrapped from this swaddle. And mom can do this. The child does not have to be naked, he can be dressed or swaddled lightly so as to only limit his space (set boundaries - in this sense, and not limit movements). The child should be able to move his arms and stretch. In such a situation, he will have the opportunity to act instinctively correctly - look for the nipple, latch on correctly, suck effectively.

3. If the room is hot , and the child is swaddled tightly, there are a lot of diapers, he rarely sucks, sucking in itself is not effective, for various reasons, the child will lose a lot of weight, his body temperature will rise, and his mucous membranes will “dry out.” This condition is called “transient hyperthermia” in neonatology manuals. “Transient hyperthermia under optimal conditions for caring for a child is very rare. There is an increase in body temperature, sometimes up to 38 and above, the child is restless, drinks greedily, has dry mucous membranes, severe weight loss and other signs of dehydration. The most common point of view about the causes of transient hyperthermia is dehydration and water imbalance. Overheating contributes to the development of transient hyperthermia (at an air temperature above 24 C in a ward for healthy full-term newborns, the bed is located near a heating radiator, in direct sunlight). With free, exclusive breastfeeding, transient hyperthermia practically does not occur. Transient hyperthermia requires interventions - the child is left free from diapers, an additional amount of fluid is prescribed, and in rare cases, intramuscular administration of analgesics is used.” pp. 13-14, (Practical guide to neonatology / Edited by G.V. Yatsyk, - M.: Medical Information Agency LLC, 2008. - 344 p.)

How to change this - you need to know about the prevention of this condition. Mothers will not be able to regulate the temperature in the room, but they can undress and ventilate the baby, and they can once again let him suckle, offer to do this. It would be nice to talk to mothers in maternity hospitals about how to prevent this condition, and not about how to give water or formula...

An additional liquid in this situation should be mother's milk, in second place is expressed mother's milk, in third place is donor milk, in fourth place is an adapted formula; optimally, if it is a hypoallergenic mixture - protein hydrolyzate, there is less risk of developing sensitization to foreign proteins and developing allergic reactions. reactions in the future.. In the conditions of our maternity hospital, unfortunately, the mixture comes first. But many mothers take childbirth preparation courses for this purpose, in order to know more and be able, thanks to the knowledge gained, to act more effectively.

4. There is a widespread belief that there is no need to wake up a child for feeding ; if he is sleeping, let him sleep as much as he wants. This recommendation is one step towards transient hyperthermia, hypoglycemia and more severe jaundice.

According to my and not only my observations of children born during natural childbirth and who are in absolute health and have no problems, and who are in physical contact with their mother for most of the day, it is noted that they do not take long “fall asleep” and long breaks between sucking. And often they have almost no weight loss, they regain it very quickly, often by the end of the first day.

Mothers of children with the slightest problems during childbirth, or with problems with the baby’s health, need to focus on the behavior of healthy children, not wait for the baby to wake up on his own if he falls asleep for a long time. 3 hours may already be the limit when the baby’s hypoglycemia and water-electrolyte imbalance will increase. Once a day, the mother can allow the baby and herself to sleep like this, but no more. There is nothing good in the fact that a child sleeps for 5-6 hours in a row during the first day of life. Yes, it’s convenient, but in this case, trouble may not be far off. It is especially worth emphasizing the benefit of such long sleep in babies with severe jaundice. Such children often sleep for a long time, they are sleepy and this is an important reason for mother’s concern, additional feedings and supplementary feeding with expressed colostrum/transitional milk.

For various reasons, many babies still do not want to wake up. In these cases, the mother needs to encourage them to suck: with physical contact with herself, loose clothing, skin-to-skin contact, and supplementary feeding with colostrum.

How to change this - it would be good for mothers to remember that a good sleep for a newborn is a shallow sleep next to the mother with the opportunity to suck. A newborn baby can and most likely will sleep for an unnaturally long time if he is swaddled “maternity hospital style” and lies alone. A newborn who receives what he needs after birth due to his physiological and psychological characteristics - a lot of mother and ease of finding the nipple and suction - will sleep more shallowly and suck more often. It is better for the mother to encourage the child to behave naturally, rather than to remain calm. It is fundamentally important to focus the mother not on peace and relaxation, but on the baby’s behavior, his desire to suck. In order for your baby to behave more actively, you can and should do the following:

• maximum possible physical contact between baby and mother after birth.
• Greater freedom of movement for baby
• Sucking and awakening are facilitated by the position for “self-attachment” of the baby and “biological feeding”
• Supplement your baby with expressed colostrum/transitional milk. Sometimes just a teaspoon of mother's colostrum helps the baby become more active.

5. We got to the topic of supplementary feeding .

If all of the above is taken into account, additional feeding will not be needed, and the mother will most likely not have a rapid flow of milk with pronounced engorgement.

But if it turns out that the baby’s weight loss is increasing, it has already gone beyond the limits of physiology, he sucks ineffectively, the mother’s nipples hurt, then the hand reaches out to supplementary feeding. In this situation, you need not only to supplement, but also to seek help from a lactation consultant to help with effective attachment, and possibly physiological methods of supplementation. I cannot take responsibility for always recommending formula supplementation to mothers in this case. You need to make sure that this is the only way out of the situation. And such a situation, when a mixture is the only way out, is a rare case. I also well understand and accept the three “golden rules of counseling”, which always tell me what to do: 1. feed the child 2. Solve the problem 3. Support the mother. And all my colleagues - breastfeeding and baby care consultants - also know and apply these rules. It is also necessary to remember that the mixture, no matter how “perfect” and “modern” it is, consists of foreign proteins. The gastrointestinal tract of a child in the first days of life is designed in such a way that it is designed to absorb large molecules of immunoglobulins from maternal colostrum - this is necessary and vital for him. And just like the necessary substances of colostrum, the child will receive through such an “open” intestine proteins of a mammal of another species that are completely foreign to him, with many resulting unpleasant consequences that may not manifest themselves very soon, and are not noticeable to the people giving the mixture to the baby first days of life. We must remember this all the time. Unfortunately, it seems to me that people often work according to the principle “after us, even a flood”...

6. Using a pacifier if mom is “tired.” I feel sorry for the tired mother. But if you do everything so that feeding does not cause big problems for the mother, then she will have nothing to get tired of. If the mother feels comfortable and comfortable with feeding without experiencing any inconvenience, will she even have the idea of ​​a pacifier?

If we get closer to the realities of today, then again, if the hand reaches for a pacifier, and there is no other option, then the mother should be aware of the WHO recommendations and the likely risks (link to WHO recommendations and an article about the pacifier)

7. When examining the baby for the first time, it is necessary to immediately identify a potential obstacle to successful sucking - a short frenulum of the tongue . There may be other inconveniences, but they are less common, while a short frenulum is common. And identifying and cutting it back in the maternity hospital makes mother’s life many times easier. Unfortunately, in our maternity hospitals they have stopped trimming short frenulums of the tongue. If you have this problem, contact your doctor as soon as possible for trimming. This is usually done by a pediatric dentist or surgeon.

8. If some big difficulties , and the baby is taken away from the mother and he does not suckle immediately after birth, the mother MUST start pumping NO LATER 6 hours after birth! The earlier the better. This is necessary both to stimulate normal lactation and to prevent engorgement and lactostasis. Colostrum is not as scarce as is commonly believed. But it very easily, in the absence of breast emptying, causes congestion in the ducts of the mammary gland.

Kazakova L.V. Pediatrician, Center for Natural Development and Child Health, Head of Maternity Support Department

Kazakova Liliya Valentinovna

Pediatrician, neonatologist, head of the breastfeeding consultant service
Experience: 27 years Reviews: 31

Make an appointment Call at home

You can consult by calling our breastfeeding hotline (daily from 7.00 to 23.00).

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When to introduce supplementary feeding to an infant

When the baby does not have enough mother's milk, he is fed the same product of animal origin, from another woman, or a ready-made formula.

Supplementary feeding is necessary if the child does not eat what he is supposed to. This is determined by weighing the baby monthly. In 1 month, the baby should gain at least 0.5 kilograms. The fact that the baby does not have enough mother's milk is indicated by the fact that he constantly cries and pees less than 12 times a day.

If the baby is no more than 2 months old, it should be simultaneously applied to the breast and given 60 milliliters of the mixture per day, the amount should be 1/5 of the body weight. Even when a child gains weight slowly, but has bowel movements as many times as normal, complementary foods are not needed.

If the baby is 4 months old and pees 8 times a day, it is recommended to give 160 milliliters of nutritional formula, distributing this amount over equal periods of time. It is better to start feeding the child at 6 am and give the formula every 4 hours.

If the baby is 5 months old, the dose of complementary foods is increased by 10 milliliters, and the same amount is added after the next 4 weeks. Pediatricians do not recommend giving formula to a baby at night, since it is during this period of the day that the mother produces more breast milk.

After 6 months and up to a year, the amount of complementary foods should not exceed a ninth of the baby’s body weight. You need to weigh him before and after putting him to the breast, which will help you find out the amount of milk you drink and calculate whether the baby is getting enough proteins and fats.

When should you think about supplementary feeding?

If you have tested for wet diapers, and according to the results there are 6-8 of them, or at the next visit to the pediatrician the baby has gained little weight, less than 500 grams per month, then you should consult a pediatrician who supports breastfeeding, or invite a consultant on breastfeeding at home. Sometimes it is enough to receive advice over the Internet, sometimes by calling a hotline, but in most cases a consultant must be invited to your home. The consultant will assess the correctness of breastfeeding, look at the baby’s activity and ask you about all the details of the feeding process. If, after eliminating all factors that affect sucking and the amount of milk - improper attachment, introducing more frequent attachments and stimulating lactation, there is no effect, the issue of supplementary feeding is resolved. With the help of a consultant or doctor, you will decide which type of supplementation is preferable in your situation - expressed milk or formula, and also determine which type of formula should be chosen.

Frequent reasons for introducing supplementary feeding

Often after giving birth, women, worried that the baby is crying because he is hungry, begin to feed him. If an infant calms down after an additional portion, mothers believe that he is full, and supplementary feeding with formula is necessary.

In infants, the digestive system is just beginning to adapt to changes in the external environment, so such children are not yet able to absorb a lot of liquid. A woman who gives birth to a baby immediately receives thick and nourishing colostrum, which is enough for the baby. In order for lactation not to stop, but to intensify, it must be applied to the breast.

In parallel with mother's milk, the formula must be given to a baby who was born prematurely, when it is very difficult for a tiny person to suck.

There are other reasons why additional nutrition is introduced. These include the birth of twins, different Rh factors, and cesarean section. Many women refuse to breastfeed because they do not want to ruin their figure, and cracked nipples cause pain when touched.

When supplementary feeding is not required

The baby may cry and be nervous not because he is hungry, but because of severe colic and abdominal pain, which is not uncommon in babies. The baby is capricious when he doesn’t know how to take the nipple, and his mother didn’t teach him how to do it. In this case, it is necessary for the infant to be carefully examined by a doctor.

Sometimes it is enough not to give your baby a pacifier, and the problem will disappear on its own.

An abnormal tongue frenulum prevents the baby from latching on to the nipple. The surgeon performs a simple operation in just 5 minutes. Combining formula and breast milk is not advisable until the baby is six months old. A woman should decide whether to feed her child together with her pediatrician, based on medical indications.

Blend selection

Some parents don’t pay much attention to the nutrition of newborns, buying the first package they come across. Supplementary feeding for a child up to 6 months must be taken according to a prescription. The composition of the mixture should contain the largest amount of substances present in breast milk.

For babies with lactose allergies, soy-based foods are selected. For abdominal pain and problems with bowel movements, children are fed mixtures with probiotics.

It will take about 3 days to determine whether the composition of the package is suitable for an infant. You should not buy food with palm oil, since such a substance interferes with the absorption of calcium.

When choosing a mixture, you need to pay attention to whether it contains components in the form of:

• whey from milk;
• taurine;
• Omega 6 and 3 acids.

If there is a 1 on the package, this indicates that the composition of the product is close to human milk.

For supplementary feeding, pediatricians recommend the Russian Malyutka, which contains prebiotics, lactose and iodine. But soy lecithin often provokes allergies.

In addition to these components, the Semilak 1 mixture contains taurine. It is produced by a Spanish company and is suitable for infants who suffer from colic and constipation.

Nutrilon 1 is produced by a German company based on whey, but with the addition of palm oil. The powder dissolves well, is quickly absorbed, and helps strengthen the immune system.

Not every woman can afford Nanny 1. The cost of a package exceeds a thousand rubles, but this mixture does not cause allergies in an infant and is valued for the presence of prebiotics. This food is made from goat milk. For premature babies, doctors advise buying a mixture called Humana Expert.

Infants like to be given Hipp 1 as complementary food because it has a pleasant smell and taste, but pediatricians do not recommend this food for babies.

Agusha fermented milk mixture is produced in Russia. When consumed, an infant’s digestion is normalized and constipation goes away, but due to the presence of palm oil, there is a risk of allergies. Many positive reviews have been written about Nutrilak Premium, but buying it is problematic.

Nestozhen 1 has a beneficial effect on the digestive organs of the baby; the disadvantage of the mixture is the presence of soy lecithin.

When feeding an infant with a balanced composition of Nan 1 Premium, immunity improves (fish oil is added to it).

Quantity calculation

To know the amount of supplementary feeding for your baby, you need to contact a pediatrician who, taking into account the patient’s body weight, will calculate the amount of formula in milliliters for each age.

When artificial feeding:

• up to 2 months, 20% of the baby’s weight is taken;
• up to 4 – 1/6 of this value;
• up to six months – 1/8.

If the child is breastfeeding, the amount of supplementary feeding should not exceed 50% of the total nutrition. The daily volume calculated by the pediatrician is divided into 5 parts and the formula is given to the baby after the same number of hours. Milk - goat's or cow's, fermented baked milk or kefir - is not suitable for this purpose.

Having calculated the infant's need for additional feeding, they determine how much nutrients he needs. A four-month-old baby needs in grams per kilogram of weight:

• squirrel – 3;
• carbohydrates – 12;
• fats – 6.

Before buying food for an infant, it is advisable to find out reviews about it and carefully read the annotation. The mixture will have to be changed if the baby develops a rash, suffers from colic, diarrhea begins, or is constipated.

In some cases, a pediatrician may recommend breast milk from a donor, but this does not mean that you can ask any friend for it. In the children's kitchen, food will be prepared according to a prescription prescribed by a doctor.

How to correctly calculate the required volume of the mixture?

When artificial feeding, it is important to determine the required amount of nutrition for the child. The daily amount of food depending on the age of the baby is shown in table 1
. For example, if the baby is 1 month old and weighs 3500 g, then the daily amount of food is 1/5 of body weight, i.e. 700 ml.

To determine how much formula you need per feeding, divide the daily amount of food by the number of feedings.

Approximate number of feedings per day:

• first week of life - 7-10;
• 1 week - 2 months - 7-8;
• 2-4 months - 6-7;
• 4-9 months - 5-6;
• 9-12 months - 4-5.

It should be noted that if during breastfeeding before introducing complementary foods it is not necessary to additionally supplement the child with boiled water, then during artificial and mixed feeding this is permissible, and the volume of water is not taken into account in the total volume of food.

What to feed from

Many mothers prefer to give the mixture to the baby in a bottle with a nipple. This is very convenient, but it is dangerous because he will stop taking the breast, because then you have to work, the milk itself will not flow into the mouth. There are other ways to satisfy a little person’s hunger.

teaspoon

In pharmacies and specialized stores you can purchase not only medicinal mixtures from domestic and foreign manufacturers, but even devices and systems for feeding. A teaspoon is a good and fairly simple option for a small amount of nutrition. If you feed the baby with it, the baby will not stop suckling.

Syringe pipette

When, for some reason, your little son uses the formula only reclining on his mother’s lap or in an upright position, it makes sense to purchase a product such as a plastic syringe pipette. True, in order to feed the baby, you will need a lot of time and patience.

Cup

If the tongue muscles work normally in infancy, it will be possible to avoid both abnormal bite and incorrect diction in the future. The baby's cup forces them to develop, because in order to eat, the baby has to work. This device, like a spoon, is easy to wash, but the liquid spills out of such dishes, making it impossible to use it while walking.

SNS system

A technology is popular in foreign countries, thanks to which, according to experts, an infant receives the required volume of formula and has direct contact with the mother. The SNS system has been developed for feeding babies.

A small tube is inserted into a bottle filled with formula and directed towards the nipple. This option has its drawbacks, since it cannot be used if a woman temporarily stops putting her son or daughter to her breast. The baby often spits out the tube. It takes a long time to wash and clean the system.

bottle

Neither a cup, nor a syringe, nor a spoon will help your son stop suckling. Only a bottle can provoke refusal. In order to satisfy hunger in this way, by drinking milk, the baby does not need to work.

Rules for introducing supplementary feeding

The baby's digestive organs have not yet adapted to the use of special food, and may react to its intake with stool disorders, allergies and other unpleasant phenomena. Before introducing supplementary feeding with a mixture, you need to study the basic rules.

Regardless of how much milk a mother has, her son or daughter should be breastfed immediately, and only when there is nothing left in her, should she be given formula. Otherwise, the baby will satisfy his hunger and will not take the nipple.

Many women, without waiting for the end of lactation, go to work and do business. The feeding process should be organized so that the infant consumes formula 2 times a day, and the remaining time the mother should feed him milk.

It is better to give additional nutrition to the baby from a spoon so that he does not refuse the breast. If there is a large amount of mixture, the beloved child is fed from a bottle, but they put a tight nipple on it and make a small hole. In this case, he will have to work hard with his tongue and lips to eat.

It is not necessary to use the proposed diet, but if an infant eats formula, the number of feedings should be reduced by one.

Cups, spoons, systems must be sterilized, and not just washed with boiling water. Food cannot be prepared in advance; this must be done before the actual process of feeding the baby.

Before going to work, a woman should check whether her son can handle a bottle. It is advisable to start supplementary feeding 2 weeks before the mother’s frequent and long-term absences.

Does the baby need supplementary feeding?

Before introducing supplementary feeding, make sure that it is really necessary. Extra feeding without a good reason is a sure way to reduce your milk supply. The baby will be full of supplementary feeding, so he will suck less milk from the breast. If the child is truly malnourished, and the cause of malnutrition cannot be quickly eliminated, supplementary feeding is needed so that he can grow, develop normally and, ultimately, suckle at the breast. Yes, yes, it is difficult for a hungry child to get milk from the breast. Babies latch well when they are calm and content, rather than screaming from hunger, so supplementary feeding can help establish breastfeeding while you address the cause of malnutrition.

What you can’t supplement with

You should not give formula to an infant without consulting a pediatrician. It can cause allergies, diarrhea or constipation. The doctor selects additional nutrition based on the baby’s age and indications. If the baby cannot tolerate milk protein, the pediatrician will recommend a soy-based formula; for colic and abdominal pain, a diet containing prebiotics. During breastfeeding (breastfeeding), it is forbidden to give infants milk from animals.

How to calculate the amount of milk needed?

How much milk or formula should be given in one supplementary feeding, how much supplementary feeding is needed per day, how to stimulate lactation, how not to go completely to artificial feeding, but to return full breastfeeding - these questions immediately arise when prescribing supplementary feeding. So, it is necessary to carry out special nutrition calculations in order to determine the amount of supplementary feeding and its administration. It is necessary to establish the exact lack of milk in order to supplement it with formula, but not to overfeed the baby with formula, not to reduce the amount of breast milk, but to stimulate lactation. Attention, it is impossible to give the mixture “by eye”, by the mother herself, without making calculations - this will lead to a quick transition to artificial feeding.

What to do if your baby doesn't like the bottle

It is often very difficult to understand why a baby is capricious, cries, or refuses supplementary feeding. The transition from breastfeeding to formula feeding often becomes a serious problem. If your little son refuses the bottle, sometimes you just need to change the nipple or start pouring expressed breast milk into it.

The mixture must be heated to 37°. Your beloved child will enjoy the food better if it is warm. When he still doesn't want to drink from a bottle, the woman will have to withhold breastfeeding from him for a day. When very hungry, the baby will take up the mixture.

Some children enjoy supplementary feeding when they are in the position in which they suck mother's milk.

What to do if your baby doesn't latch on after a bottle?

Much more often the opposite happens. Having tried a tasty mixture, which does not require work to obtain, the baby turns away from the nipple and does not want to take the breast, since it is much more difficult to obtain nutrition from it than from a bottle. Not always, even when very hungry, the little son will begin to suck breast milk, and the woman will have to switch him to artificial feeding.

In any case, you need to try to do something. If you make the hole in the nipple very small, your son or daughter will have to make an effort. Then the baby often takes the breast again.

They start complementary feeding no earlier than their beloved child turns 4 months old. The diet does not include formula milk, but pureed vegetables and meat, and liquid porridge. When consuming such products, the baby quickly gets used to adult food.

When a baby is born, a woman should try not to worry, then she will not have problems with lactation, her beloved child will drink breast milk and grow and develop well.