Formula top up or early solids?

personally I would give her a formula top up first rather than starting her on solids early.

 

good luck.

Yup, given that she's obviously a wee greedy guts, I'd personally go with a FF topup since you seem OK with that. She's still pretty young for solids.

I would be inclined to try formula first.. as chickoin said, incase of reaction and her digestive system is still bit little for solids

Re the quality of your milk... my GP told me that is an old theory that has since been rubbished. The fact that your having the problem with your teeth shows that your body is starving you of nuturients to feed your baby iygwim.

And just so you know you are not alone, Jake was sleeping through until his 12week growth spurt then he spent 2 weeks feeding every 3 hours around the clock with 1-2 nour cluster feeding from about 4pm to 10pm. At 14 weeks he started feeding 2.5 hourly through the day until about 4pm then he would feed hourly and crash about 6.30pm sleep until about 1am and then back to 2.5/3 hourly feeds until getting up at 6-7am. Even with EBM top ups and solids he still feeds 3 hourly during the day and wake once or twice a night for feeds. So comping and solids may not make her sleep through the night again.....

GL hun, its a horrible feeling thinking your bubba is hungry!

The reason I wasn't going to go into detail, was to avoid answers from judgemental "breast is best" people ... I know breast is best, I BFd my son til 10.5 months with 1 formula / day from 6 months by choice, not necessity. And that was thru heart failure and open heart surgery, and a month in hosp where I had to express 3 hourly round the clock for his naso-gastric tube top-ups and bf in between ... with a baby who was still at his birth weight at 7 weeks, and I still didn't go to formula!!!!
But for me personally, and for my family, sleep is best! She slept thru from 5-12wks and I have had almost a month of broken sleep since - yes I know its normal - but I also know that she is capable of sleeping thru the night, and she is not getting enough milk during the day now so waking genuinely hungry. I do try to rest during the day as Jake has a big sleep still, but Morgan has some days of very short sleeps so that combined with being up in the night is exhausting. I eat HEAPS, and have used blessed thistle earlier but that made me even hungrier, and I had an oversupply so she had wind issues then. I have been using complan to help also. But I do think it makes sense my milk is less fatty in the evening when I'm more tired and shes wanting more feeds ---- and if my teeth are feeling the effects, I'm sure the rest of my body is!!
And no - there is no one else who can feed her in the night for me (without going to formula) - I have no problems with the day feeds - she can feed as much as she likes during waking hours!
So anyway - my question was not about increasing milk supply, just what others would do in my situation.

She was over 9lbs at birth and has always been able to hold her head up and has lost the tongue poking out reflex - hence me thinking she will be ready soon after 4 months for solids.

She did however sleep 7.30-5.30 last night .... so I managed to express twice last night and a little this morning, so have enough ebm for tonight and a little extra. Thats 3 out of 5 nights, so hopefully things are improving and she won't need extra ebm top ups the next few nights so I can get ahead again!!

Sorry if you thought I was judging you... I wasnt it!

I am not pro BF, I am pro feeding!

Just wanted to share my experience as it sounded similiar to mine and what my GP said about the myth of poor milk quality....

Oh and how sadly the solids did not help my Jake sleep through...

Glad Morgan did a big sleep for you last night, I totally get the sleep deprivation too. That was the breaking point for PND when Jake stopped sleeping thru and went on 3 hourly feeds again.. I snapped.

Again, I am sorry if you thought I was juding you I promise you that is NOT what I was doing.

Out of the 2 options I would go for the formula option and hold off solids until closer to 6 months. It's simply too soon for them.

melnel - snap again! Yeah, when the dentist told me about my teeth thats when I started to think about my own health too!

Hopefully your Jake will be like mine and sleep through again soon .... my Jake did exactly what yours did - it took 2 nights to drop his dreamfeed at 6 months and he slept 7-7 from then on.

I would try the formula first if I were you.
Just one word of warning though, formula and/or solids might not make any difference to how much she sleeps for you. She may not take to solids either, Kyle showed no interest till 8 months despite showing all the signs of being ready much earlier, he would not take food off a spoon and finger food was hit and miss for a while as well. Also now he is eating 3 meals a day plus snacks and BF on demand and he still doesn't sleep through, he goes to bed at 7 and then wakes either at 10pm or sleeps through till 2.30ish and then either way wakes again around 5ish.

edit to put in a missing word

Edited by cuppatea

Even if quality is not the problem, there is definitely a quantity problem by that time of night. I never had a problem with Jake because of the way he fed (more consistent times), but I could always express double in the morning than the evening .... and Morgan is a bigger hungrier bub who has a more random / frequent feeding pattern.

Thanks for the responses ..... I was just curious about what option others would choose (not wanting to start a debate on BF vs FF or early solids) and it looks like you'd all do what I thought - formula first if needed .... hopefully I can get ahead on ebm again and wait a month or two longer like originally planned. I have no issue with the odd formula feed once shes on solids - I did that with Jake and it worked for us.