Parents – September 2019

I’ve been supplementing

and pumping, but my baby still

isn’t nursing well. I don’t think

we’re going to get back to

breastfeeding exclusively, and I’m

feeling guilty about that.

Your baby can have a hard time nursing

for many reasons—the shape of your

breast or nipples, a slight tongue-tie, or

simply disinterest. “Despite being a

doctor and working with patients all

the time to get babies back on the breast,

I wasn’t able to with either of my kids,”

says Jessica Grant, M.D., a pediatrician

in New York City, who pumped and

bottle-fed breast milk for much of their

first years. “I tell my patients that a

mom’s health and well-being is number

one,” says Rachel Barton, a certified

pediatric nurse-practitioner in Texas,

who switched to formula after having

difficulty breastfeeding. “Breastfeeding

is great if it works for you. You can

always offer the breast first if you still

wish to breastfeed and then supplement

with pumped milk or formula.”

Research shows that

formula-fed babies are more

likely to be overweight

and have lower IQs, right?

Well, like everything, there are lots of

factors (and many contradicting studies),

and the differences are minuscule,

especially on the IQ thing. “The higher

rate of obesity, which is different from

being overweight, is probably more about

overfeeding—you can hold a bottle in

a baby’s mouth, but you can’t always

shove a breast back in—than the fact

that it’s formula instead of breast milk,”

says Dr. Grant. Pay attention to your

baby’s cues that he’s full. Breastfed

babies do have a slightly lower risk of

gastrointestinal infections, ear

infections, and upper-respiratory

infections because they get their mom’s

antibodies, but some formulas now

contain specific nutrients that try to

help build immunity.

I want to add in a bottle of

formula here and there to give

myself a break from nursing,

but I’m afraid my baby will stop

liking breast milk.

No chance, say our experts. If your baby

is used to breast milk, it’s more likely

FORMULA FEEDING

PARENTS 110 SEPTEMBER 2019

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