"They told me I needed to start giving formula to my exclusively breastfed baby ??"
Lately, I've been hearing a common theme from my clients. They contact me frustrated and heartbroken because they were told during a well-child check that their exclusively breastfed baby was not gaining weight as is expected. And rather than referring the mother and baby to a Board Certified Lactation Consultant or "breastfeeding expert," their pediatrician/NP/or family physicians were recommending that these exclusively breastfed infants should be started on formula supplementation. Although these babies were petite, they were gaining weight at the typical rate of an exclusively breastfed baby. After my assessment of an entire feeding in their home, and assessment of each baby's developmental milestones (which were both excellent) I determined that we could help these babies gain a slightly higher percentage of weight, without the use of artificial baby milk (formula.) With some very minor changes in how these moms feed (maybe even a fun little trick or two that...