Taking A Stand - Breastfeeding

Here goes another blog about Levi's weight and breastfeeding! :)

These last 3 months have been quite a challenge for me. I've really struggled with what to do as far as formula vs. breastfeeding a small baby. There are so many opinions out there and I've had a hard time making a stand on what I'm going to do. I've been wishy-washy because I'm afraid of making the wrong choice.. I'm just like any other mom who wants the best for her baby... but I'm struggling to decide what is "best".

Around Thanksgiving I really started bumping up his formula intake, but then backed off a little bit, then around Christmas went back to giving him a lot of formula. I thought if I could do half breast-feeding and half formula things would even themselves out, like the best of both worlds. It was ideal.. in my head. I started noticing I wasn't producing very much milk and last weekend had a good cry as I decided I would wean Levi completely off the breast.

I was still nursing at night and whenever I felt "full" during the day. I had him weighed on Wednesday and according to the growth chart he's still in the tenth percentile. So I got down right mad. Why am I giving up breast-feeding to formula and getting the same results?! Because I wanted to make everyone happy; my husband, the lactation consultant, the doctor, my family and friends...

So I've decided to take a stand. I want to exclusively breast-feed. The trouble now will be getting my milk supply back up so I can be successful. I've done some research and talked with some friends and family and found that fenugreek is a great herb to help increase my milk. My wonderful husband ordered 5 bottles of the capsules offline today! (Some website was having a great sale!) I might also be able to try Motherlove special blend to help increase my supply. This is totally different than anything I've done before, but I'm excited.

I'll post an update in the next two weeks to let you all know how the herbs are helping.