There is a place and a time for this kind of supplementation.   The original
post didn’t provide enough information for anyone to be so adamant against
it!

 

I had a mom whose baby would ONLY eat 3 oz every 3 hours.  The pedi tried to
increase her appetite with a medication, but when that didn’t work they
needed to increase the calories somehow as the baby refused to increase the
quantity. (this was now a 5-6 month old falling off the charts and no,
solids wouldn’t be the answer, as most of their calories still need to come
from milk) She was a very tiny baby weight-wise and had been cleared by the
GI and by lab tests as nothing being wrong metabolically or structurally.
The only thing that worked was to “fortify” the EBM with formula as mom did
not have enough extra to scoop off fat from stored milk to add to EBM.  (we
had also tried the lactaid, but baby didn’t go for it)

 

There are “recipes” to increase the calories of EBM.  

*	22 calories =  ½ teaspoon formula to 3 oz EBM
*	24 calories =  1 teaspoon formula to 3 oz EBM
*	26 calories =  2 teaspoon formula to 3 oz EBM

 

Just like there are “recipes” to increase the calories of formula

*	22 calories =  3 scoops powder to 5 ½ cups water
*	24 calories =  3 scoops powder to 5 cups water
*	26 calories =  3 scoops powder to 4 ½ cups water

 

Now, agreeably, to use the breastmilk in place of the water is totally
different and merits further investigation … not every mom produces rich
fatty satisfying copious amounts of breastmilk!  And sometimes,
doctors/health care workers have to be a little creative in increasing the
calories without disrupting the beautiful breastfeeding relationship.
(case in point:  I had another mom who made just enough, but no extra, and
mom would comply with giving a couple formula bottles a day.  Those bottles
had to be mixed to 26 calories to keep the baby from falling off the charts)


 

Linda Hill RN, IBCLC

Austin, Tx

 


             ***********************************************

Archives: http://community.lsoft.com/archives/LACTNET.html
To reach list owners: [log in to unmask]
Mail all list management commands to: [log in to unmask]
COMMANDS:
1. To temporarily stop your subscription write in the body of an email: set lactnet nomail
2. To start it again: set lactnet mail
3. To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
4. To get a comprehensive list of rules and directions: get lactnet welcome