"How do others give instructions to new parents when it (supplementation)
looks like it isn't
needed but it is ordered?"

I tell mothers, among other things, that when a baby is down to
"needing"/taking only 1/2 - 1 oz., they probably can stop giving it. I
actually am not shy about putting in my 2 cents' worth with the parents
(and/or the doc) on this sort of thing - if, in my best estimate &
evaluation it isn't needed, I just say so. But I am not practicing within a
hospital or a physician's office setting, so I can afford to be pretty
straightforward about this.

The other thing I always tell parents who have been "ordered" (I hate that
word when it comes to how parents should feed their babies!) to supplement
is to be sure to ask the doctor when they can STOP the supp. Like a
measurable parameter - "for 2 days", or "till he starts having 8 wet
diapers/day" or whatever. The docs never remember to tell parents that part,
so the poor souls thaink they have to keep jamming that "extra" 2 oz. in
there after every feed. In the absence of any other guidelines, I go back to
the "till he's only taking less than an ounce".

Cathy Bargar, RN, IBCLC Ithaca NY

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