If you are worried about your milk supply talk to a lactation consultant, Public Health Nurse or your Health Care Provider. Sometimes babies need more calories and you will need to give your baby a supplement. This can be done with expressed breast milk by hand or with a pump. If you are thinking of giving formula to your breast/chest fed baby it can further decrease your breastmilk supply and could cause you to stop breast/chest feeding before you planned. It is recommended to breast/chest feed your baby first then if extra calories are still needed, to give a top up. If you are supplementing your baby (topping up), it is recommended to try this order of supplementation:
- Your own fresh expressed breast milk.
- Your own expressed breast milk that was frozen and has been thawed.
- Commercial formula that is a cow milk base and iron fortified.
Note: Specialized formulas should only be used if your health care provider has recommended it.
Ways to feed your baby a supplement:
For information on skin to skin click here.
Important information for keeping equipment clean:
- How to sterilize your breast pumping equipment
- Is your tap water safe for making infant formula
- How to sterilize your formula feeding equipment
Reference:
Infant Formula: What you need to know- A best start Ontario Resource
