Shared by a mother and it's so true. Please do read through her advise.

Off late I come across many who are saying that their milk didnt come in fully till the 3rd or 4th day, so they had to start formula. But the fact is milk won't come in in the first couple of days. Its the colostrum that comes in during the beginning, and tats probably very few drops of thick liquid. You'll not be able to see it even if u squeeze. And those few drops of colostrum is more than enough to keep the baby full. The baby is born with a natural ability to not feel hungry for the first couple of days; until the meconium is completely flushed out of their system they dont know hunger. The point here is as much as u let the baby suck from you in the first few days, the more milk you ll produce. Instead if you resort to giving formula from day one obviously the baby wont suck from you and you'll end up with less milk production. So all that is required is to keep the baby on your breast as much as possible. This is what my paed told, and the group keeps reiterating. A new born keeps on crying, not because of hunger but because everything is alien to it in this world. All that the baby knows and needs is the mother's warmth. Skin to skin and Kangaroo care will soothe the baby. The FED IS BEST is a marketing trick followed by the formula manufacturers, and even many doctors fall prey to this marketing gimmick. And regarding jaundice levels, most of the babies get neo natal jaundice, its not because milk supply is less, but the babies liver is not so matured to break all the waste cells and hence results in accumulation of waste rbc causing jaundice. The liver starts its function only from 5th day. So when left naturally and given proper exposure to sun, it will take atleast a week for jaundice to go away. But since the exposure to sun is less now a days the babies are put for photo therapy on the 1st week itself. This is just to be on a safer side by the doctors. And regarding baby weight falling below 10%, that is also not due to lack of milk. That is mainly because many babies are born with elevated weight due to the fluids recieved by the mother during delivery. So babies tend to lose all those extra fluids. My baby lost more than 12% of her birth weight, and got admitted for phototherapy as well. Plus I had flat nipples, and baby found it difficult to latch initially. But I never gave her any formula. I just kept her on my breasts as much as possible and everything was sorted within a week. Since I knew about deep latching, I kept on correcting it and she learnt the technique pretty quickly. Luckily my doctor was well read about all these and he never tried to push formula. And I had also read everything from this group during my pregnancy itself so I was able to make an informed decision.
I'm not saying formula feeding is wrong, but it should be a mother's choice after she is made aware of all information. It shouldn't be pushed unnecessarily. So whenever you come across a pregnant woman, please make her aware of all these things so that she can make an informed decision and not fall prey to all the marketing gimmicks.