I can't produce enough breast milk. Should I consider infant formula?

Actually you need to know how much is enough. For me, enough is when baby is satisfied and producing enough wet nappies. Don't compare yourself to mummies who produce more than enough to have a stash in the freezer. Having low supply is a rare problem when breastfeeding because most mummies are naturally able to produce to meet baby's demand. If you decide to supplement with infant formula then you may fall into the top up trap, and you will end up having even lesser breastmilk because baby is satisfied with formula and doesn't demand at your breast. To increase your breastmilk, try taking boosters like fenugreek, lecithin (for quicker and faster letdown), oats, milo, almond milk, salmon and other fishes. Do hot compress before feeding/pumping and massage your breasts regularly. Power pumping also helps a lot in boosting up milk supply and the effect is more lasting in my opinion.

For me personally, no matter how hard I tried, despite countless visits to the lactation consultant, despite stuffing my self with milk boosting food like fenugreek and chia seeds, despite buying gimmicks that claim to help boost milk supplies and despite my endless pumping, I still couldn't produce enough yield after 6 weeks. I got into post natal depression and cried whenever my son cried. I also felt extremely guilty that I wasn't able to breastfeed like other mummies. But one day, when my sister started helping out with the baby, it occured to me that I should be cherishing these moments and filling it with happiness instead of such guilt and sorrow. I switched to formula milk ever since then and never looked back irregardless of what others might say. Now I get to spend lots of time being happy with my kids instead.

You can try to do power pumping method to see if your milk supply will increase. Otherwise, just let your baby to latch more often as baby's suckle is the most powerful pump. If you are stressed over milk production, it is perfectly fine to feed infant formula to your baby, as happy mother=happy baby. You do not need to feel guilty and you have to take care of your mental health. I have a friend who was insisted on giving breastmilk and spent time doing pumping and neglected her baby. During the pumping, she always stressed over the milk supply. Now her reflected back and told me how she wished to let go a bit on giving breastmilk and spend more time with baby during his newborn period.

No. Your body produces as much as your baby needs so put him more often to your breast. Instead of giving your baby formula, drink some nursing tea or even beer (I know it sounds strange but it helps producing more milk and it doesn't affect your baby). If you include formula in your baby's menu, you have more chances to lose your milk completely because for a baby is easier to drink from bottle then work on your breast :)

for me its a no .. there are many ways to produce more milk like unli latch more water eat healthy foods and try malunggay cap .. dont loose hope mommy breastmilk is much better than formula just think positive ! goodluck .. #sweetbaby

Same thing happened to me... Changed my baby to formula when she was 2months old... As hard as it was I had to because I really would have loved to breastfeed. She's 5months now.

I feed my baby formula if I dont have enough milk but I also hook up to my breast pump to help Express more milk so I can make more later or mix it with formula

Drink more rooibos tea it helps boost breast milk and there's nothing wrong with feeding formula at the same time while breastfeeding mine does both

Try to pump every 2 hours,at least 9-10 time a day for a month, it will produce more, the more you pump the more you get. Goodluck!

Demand = supply. However, if the lo still doesn have enough to drink, u may TOP up with formula. Nth wrong with it :)