combined feeding - no idea where to start?

roo85 · Aug 16, 2011 3:53PM

i want to combine breast feeding and formula. i have my reasons and i know it will better for me and my family, however i dont know how, when or where to start.

my DS is 1 week old so at the mo i am exclusively breast feeding and am more than happy to continue this until we are well established with latching on, my milk supply is up etc etc.

my question is how do you start mixing? which feed is best to start with? will it effect my milk supply at other times of the day - e.g if i want to let my hubby do the evening feeds will i still have enouogh milk in the night/morning to then do breastfeeding?

my ideal would be to do night feeds and morning feeds with breast milk and afternoon evening with formula but i am worried if i do this my body wont have enough milk in the night and morning....

am i making sense? it us hard to get advice from anyone as every HV has to promote pure breast feeding.

advice would be very welcome, thanks xxx

KazzieM · Jul 11, 2011 11:34AM

Combined feeding doesn't have to be difficult though how and when you go about it will all depend on what works for you and your baby. With DD I started to introduce combination feeds to enable DH to share the experience of feeding when she was about 10-12wks old. It took a little patience to introduce her to the idea of a bottle as well as breast but after expressing some breastmilk into a bottle and showing her it was the same feed she took to it and then it was simple to introduce the formula from there. We used SMA gold in the end, though again it will depend on your own preference as there are now plenty of options about. Once you start reducing Bfing your body should start recognising when you are giving a feed from breast and adjust your milk production to suit those needs, you may leak occasionally whilst this adaptation takes place so pack extra breast pads if out and about. It will generally work best if you can alternate between the two types of feed but again it all depends on you and your LO, how often they feed and when they rest.

GlitterBug09 · Aug 7, 2011 3:11PM

I had my baby a week ago and I have fed both breast and bottle from day one. I usually start by breast feeding and then just top her up with an ounce or two of formula. In the first few days it ensured she was getting food when all I was producing was colostrum. In the last few days she is taking more from the breast and less from the bottle. My milk is fairly weak so it doesnt keep her full for very long. Hubby and I ventured out for the first time the other day and she woke up hungry and took 3oz from a bottle and it didnt actually affect my milk at all. Im starting to express to increase my flow. At night sometimes if my nipples are hurting or Im empty I bottle feed her and she sleeps for a little longer which is nice. I dont really know if what I am doing is 'right' but it is working for us. She was weighed for the first time on friday and she had actually gained 3oz from her birth weight rather than lost!

piggypops · Aug 14, 2011 6:42AM

we are combine feeding, we introduced a formula at bedtime which is when i express and now do a middle of the night formula too, i try to feed myself or give expressed in the day which seems to be working fine

Gail1977 · Aug 16, 2011 3:53PM

Any formula will have an effect on how much milk you make. Breast feeding is supply and demand. If your baby takes a certain amount one day, your body makes that for the next. So if you give formula and miss a feed your body won't make that milk up. However that only matters if you intend on going back to exclusively breast feeding again, where you would need to make your supply back up to full if that makes sense. If you want to give two bottle of formula in the afternoon and evening and do that every day but still breast feed for all the other feeds your body will make enough for those other feeds. I feed my baby all day and all the night feeds but my husband does do one formula feed at 10 to five me a 4 hour break which I need as my baby 1t 17 weeks still feeds 2 hourly day and night. You won't run out as long as you keep up other feeds. Dont worry x

combined feeding - no idea where to start?

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