So here I am again, with baby number two: Makaio.  Our breastfeeding journey was an easy one at the beginning, even with him having a posterior tongue tie at birth (I was taking a lot of folate – I’ll talk about this more in another blog).

Around 4 months I felt like my milk supply was dropping.  I really focused on the Blood Building Diet to increase my milk supply and it worked beautifully.  I would notice a boost in supply within 1-3 days; it was great.  However, by 5 months I noticed another big drop.  At this time, my efforts with diet weren’t helping.  Even taking herbs, power pumping sessions, seeing my lactation consultant, increased herbal teas, and acupuncture didn’t produce much change.

I went away for a girl’s night that month and 24 hrs later my little one decided he was done with my low supply/slow let down and wanted the bottle.  Koa, my eldest did the exact same thing, literally at the same age.

As much as I feel relieved with not needing to be close to home every 3 hours, I also feel an immense amount of guilt.  I know the benefits of breastmilk and I thought I could get through the first 12 months this time around.  Nope, It’s not within my control and surrendering is hard.

What I can control is what I feed my baby, so I pulled out my recipe to start making my own goat milk formula again.  My eldest loved the taste and did really well on it.  Since information on nutrition is always evolving, I felt there were some tweaks that needed to be made for this batch.

Additions to Goat Milk Formula:

• Collagen
  • easy to digest, healing for the gut, building block of connective tissues, good for bones, joints, hair, skin
• Cold Pressed, Unrefined Sunflower Oil
  • healthy monounsaturated fat, high in vitamin E
• Acerola Cherry Powder
  • whole food vitamin C source: build immune system health
• HMF Baby F Probiotics (with prebiotics: galacto-oligosaccharides)
  • contains prebiotics, similarly found in breastmilk, to feed and colonize healthy gut bacteria for baby

 

GOAT MILK RECIPE 6-9 months old (yields 32 oz)

5 Tbsp – Mt. Capra Whole Goat Milk Powder  (I purchase from Iherb.com – full fat milk)

1 Tbsp – Organic Virgin Coconut Oil (I use Nutiva brand)

2 tsp – Cold Pressed, Virgin Sunflower Oil (make sure it’s unrefined)

1 tsp – Organic Flax Oil

2 tsp – Collagen Powder (I use Great Lakes Gelatin Collagen)

2-3 Tbsp – Organic Maple Syrup (I use medium or dark grade)

1/2 tsp – Organic Unsulfured Molasses

1/4 tsp – Organic Acerola Cherry Powder (I use Flora brand)

2-3 droppers – Dr. Christopher’s Kid-e-Mins Glycerine Extract (glycerine based whole food multi-vitamin)

4 cups warm filtered water

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I gave this ONCE per day, put into a bottle just prior to feeding

500-1000 iu – Thorne Vitamin D/K2 Liquid   www.thorne.com

1 level scoop – Genestra HMF Baby F Probiotics  www.seroyal.com

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients into glass measuring cup (except Vit D & probiotics).

2. Heat filtered water in kettle, pour in, and whisk until well combined.

3. Pour into glass bottles. Store in fridge for up to 1-2 days.

4.  Voila! A day’s worth of food made in under 5 minutes.

 

Do you think about making your own formula?  Anything holding you back.  Or do you have some great tips to share.  Please comment below.