When Your Baby Needs Infant Formula…

For the last couple of weeks I’ve seen some blogs talked about infant formula while dropping EC. I wish I could find some useful info for me as I’m nursing my second child, but apparently those are paid post so what I got was just the same repetitive information, same website, same quotes, same statistics, etc. Still good info, just wish they did more than just copy paste the advertiser’s requirements. So boring.

Anyway, there are many reasons why mothers choose to bottle-feed instead of breastfeed. I myself use formula as supplement, so I still breastfeed my baby. Here’s my personal experience why I don’t exclusively breastfeed my baby.

I started giving infant formula to my now three-week-old baby boy since day one because he didn’t respond well when I tried to breastfeed him. He didn’t suck much. This happened to my firstborn also and, just like what we did with his older brother, we told the nurses to give my newborn an infant formula. They reminded me about breastfeed was the best along with the government program to endorse exclusive breastfeeding. But I told them that I didn’t want my baby to starve so they needed to give him formula.

By the time we left the hospital, my baby already get used to breastfeeding, so I planned to stop the formula. I was told by the pediatrician if I wanted to exclusively breastfeed my baby I had to nurse him every two hours, which then I did.

However, on our first check-up a week later, we found out the baby’s bilirubin was going up from 7 (when checked out from the hospital) to 12, which is high. High bilirubin reading can lead to jaundice. The doctor said it because the baby didn’t get enough milk. So breastfeeding every two hours doesn’t guarantee that the baby gets enough food as we can’t measure exactly how much milk he takes. Later I was told to add 300 cc infant formula per day and continue breastfeeding as usual.

My pediatrician didn’t recommend any brand of formula and I can’t remember what brand they used at the hospital. It usually depends on the “sponsor of the month” anyway. As for my baby I bought Nutrilon Royal 1 from Nutricia. At first I tried to look for S-26 Gold from Wyeth, I used this one on my first child four years ago and it was good. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it at nearby store that day so I bought Nutrilon instead. This is the first time I use Nutrilon though I’m quite familiar with Nutricia products as my eldest child has been using Bebelac 4 for almost a year now. I’m glad it turns out well also, my baby likes it.

Infant formula

One thing I like about using infant formula is now I can be sure my baby gets enough food as it’s measurable. Enough feeding helps my baby to recover from high bilirubin. When we went back to the hospital for the second check-up a week later, his bilirubin reading already went down to 6.

So when your baby needs infant formula, go ahead give them. Don’t let the “breastfeeding is the gold standard” fact confuse you. As for the brand, I learned from the hospital that they don’t have preference, so I won’t refer any brands either. All I can say is those two well known brands are good for my kids. And for my own precaution, I won’t buy formula from China, remember the melamine-tainted formula case last year?