How to drop the formula top ups?

[leigh5tom]

Hi ladies!

After a tricky start, my lb is finally back to his birth weight! I've never had a great supply unfortunately, and my doctor has prescribed some medication (domperidone), and by taking this along with formula top ups my baby has stopped losing weight.

My question now though, is how can I stop the formula too ups? I'm obviously not making enough milk still as after a feed he is still crying and rooting.

Thank you! Xxx

 

[MommyJogger]

https://kellymom.com/bf/got-milk/basics/decrease-formula/

Here's a good resource/plan for dropping top-ups. Really the main thing is to make sure that the amount of time/frequency at the breast is increasing and the volume of formula each day is decreasing. There are a good number of growth spurts/developmental leaps coming up for you where baby is going to seem fussier, less satisfied, wanting to be fed for longer/more often and you really just have to put the effort in to make sure that the growth spurts are satisfied at the breast rather than at the bottle in addition to increasing your supply by slowly decreasing formula top-ups.
It's also a good idea to make sure that the top-ups are given using paced bottle feeding methods-- help them eat slowly, give them breaks, burp often during feed, etc, to let them sense their fullness more easily. Bottles are pretty quick and paced feeding will help to prevent baby from overeating when they're using a bottle, because it's pretty common for a bottle fed baby to take too much without realizing right away and it becomes a bit of a vicious cycle.
Then just watch those diapers. I like to tell people worried about supply to keep a written/digital record of diaper output-- this will give you peace of mind that baby is getting enough even if their fussy behavior is confusing and it's something useful you can provide to an IBCLC/health care provider should you ever have to bring it up with them so that they have a good picture of baby's output.